156 
FASCICULI MALATENSES 
want of suitable habitats makes its occurrence sporadic, and renders it generally 
rare in the south of the Peninsula. I am now certain that it is monogamic, 
a single pair inhabiting a burrow, which is shared by several young ones, 
probably hatched in March or April, at least for some weeks. If an 
individual is surprised away from home, it does not bolt down the nearest 
burrow, but makes its way to. its own, running with the fore part of the 
body somewhat depressed and the tail raised high in the air. Within the 
mouth of its burrow it often turns to view the cause of its disturbance, 
before disappearing. Mr. Laidlaw has found vegetable matter in the 
stomach of specimens from Trengganu,^ but the ordinary food of the species 
consists largely of the small Acridiids common in the localities it frequents. 
A specimen was taken by Mr. Robinson climbing a tree-trunk at Sai Kau ; 
but this is a most unusual position. 
‘ I have already commented upon the purple and orange cross-bars on 
the sides of this species at some length but I may add, that when the 
males are fighting they make themselves as flat as possible, thus, incidentally, 
displaying the brilliant coloration on their sides. They stand facing one 
another, with the forequarters and head raised as high as possible, and each 
tries to slip past his adversary’s guard and seize him by the shoulder. At 
last one catches the other with his jaw, either on the shoulder or the snout, 
and commences to worry him. If the individual so seized can shake himself 
free, he bolts. The victor does not pursue, but stands with uplifted head, 
which he bows repeatedly in the direction of his adversary’s flight, for some 
minutes, and then makes off in the opposite direction. 
‘ The brilliant coloration of the young of this lizard affords a good 
instance of a phenomenon which has not received the attention it merits among 
students of animal coloration, I mean the fact that young reptiles are very 
often more brilliantly or more conspicuously coloured than adults of the 
same species. To give other examples from species actually collected by Mr. 
Robinson and myself in the Malay Peninsula, the young of Cyclemys annandalii 
has yellow streaks on the head, as well as markings on the carapace, which 
disappear in the adult ; the young of Crocodilus porosus and Varanus salvator 
exhibit greater contrasts of colour on their dorsal surface than do the adults ; 
many Malay Scincidae Mahuia multifasciatd) have longitudinal pale 
stripes on the dorsal surface of the young that become broken up into 
inconspicuous spots or blotches, or altogether disappear, in the adults ; the 
young of the snake Hypsirhina bocourtii are marked with black and yellow 
1. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1900, p. 309. 
2. Proc. Zool. Soc.y 1900, pp. 857, 858. 
