Lizards. REPTILES. Slbnder-tokgued Lizards. 21 
sides rounded. The legs are weak and placed far 
apart, and the feet have three toes which are unequal, 
and furnished at their extremities with claws. 
THE CICIGNA, or Three-toed Seps (Seps tridacty- 
lus), represented in Plate 1, fig. 7, is a snake-like 
lizard, about a foot long, the tail being conical, pointed, 
and not quite so long as the body. It has weak small 
legs ; they are four in number, two placed very near 
the head, and two far back near the commencement of 
the tail. They are about two lines long in individuals 
twelve inches in length. The animal appears scarcely 
to be able to touch the ground with them ; and yet, 
notwithstanding their apparent inutility, it moves them 
with considerable quickness, and seems to derive much 
advantage from them when it walks. The general 
colour of the body is a steel-grey above, with four 
longitudinal brown rays, two on each side of the 
back, and whitish-grey beneath. It is a native of the 
south of France, Italy, Spain, all the islands of the 
Archipelago, and the shores of Africa bordering the 
Mediterranean. It lives in holes which it digs in 
the ground, concealing itself in them in winter, and com- 
ing forth in spring to take up its abode in gr.assy spots 
and near marshes. In such situations it spends the 
summer, feeding upon spiders, small snails, and insects. 
The ancients regarded this poor little reptile as highly 
venomous, but Sauvages has demonstrated the erro- 
neous nature of this belief, and Cetti, in his “ Natural 
History of Sardinia,” says that throughout that country 
he had never heard of its bite being attended with any 
bad consequences, and that by the natives it is con- 
sidered perfectly harmless. He asserts, however, that 
when cattle, and especially horses, have swallowed them 
in the grass they have been eating, their belly swells 
up, and they are in danger of dying, unless they 
have administered to them a draught composed of 
oil, vinegar, and sulphur. Like the slow-worm, the 
Cicigna appears to produce its young alive and fully 
formed. 
The family of Acontias {Acontiidee)* contains only 
three species, which are either entirely destitute of 
limbs, or have them extremely rudimentary. They 
were formerly arranged amongst the true serpents, but 
Cuvier separated them from the Ophidians, and later 
Naturalists have shown their true position to be 
amongst the thick-tongued Saurians. Their body is 
C 3 dindrical and elongate, like that of the Slow-worm, 
but the tail is short, being only about the fifth or sixth 
part the length of the body. They have a conical- 
shaped head, with the muzzle inclosed as it were in a 
cap-shaped shield. Their eyes are very small, and 
they have only one eyelid, the lower one. The ears 
are hidden under the skin, and the tongue is scaly and 
nicked at the end. 
THE SPOTTED ACONTLAS (Acontias meleagris) is a 
native of South Africa, in the neighbourhood of the 
Cape of Good Hope, where it is very common. The 
body is of a brown colour, and the centre of each scale 
is marked with a chestnut spot. It has no visible 
external limbs, and the tail is cylindrical, short, and 
rounded at the end. The eyes are very small, and the 
* From the Greek word akontias (xxotTiccf), a javelin — the 
name given by the Greeks to a serpent. 
only eyelid it has (the lower one) is short, scaly, and 
opaque. 
The family of Blind Lizards (Typhlopsidce \ is 
more frequently arranged amongst the serpents, but 
various characters have decided later naturalists to 
place the different species which compose it amongst 
the Saurian reptiles. The body is covered with small 
imbricated scales, like those of the Slow-worm, but the 
head is depressed, broad, rounded in front, with a large 
oblong, erect plate on the muzzle. The mouth is 
small, and they have teeth only in one jaw, sometimes 
the lower, at others the upper. The tongue is rather 
long, flat, and forked at the tip, and the eyes are either 
wanting or only visible through the scales which cover 
them. One lung is four times the size of the other. 
The body is slender, cylindrical, sometimes rather 
larger behind, and the tail is cylindrical, suddenly con- 
tracted, obliquely convex, and scaly at the extremity, 
and the tip is covered with a conical or spinose shield. 
As Cuvier — who places them amongst the Ophidia — 
observes, these animals are “ little serpents which on, 
a careless glance, resemble earthworms.” They live 
in moist places, or under stones, and like earth-worms 
burrow under the soil and form little subterranean 
galleries, sometimes three or four feet deep. They are 
natives of the warmer portions of the globe, move with 
considerable celerity, and are quite innocent, not 
appearing even inclined to bite. Dr. Gray observes, 
that the diameter of the body of these reptiles, after a 
certain age, appears to increase during growth, much 
more rapidly than the length. 
The Claw-headed Snakes ( Onycliophis) | are 
natives of Africa and India, and have short round 
tails. Two or three species are described by Sir 
Andrew Smith as natives of South Africa. 
lAIAND’S CLAW-HEADED SNAKE (0. Delalandii) 
is found at the Cape of Good Hope, and is pretty 
widely distributed over the southern parts of Africa. 
“ It is generally found under large stones and trunks of 
decayed trees, or in soil broken up by the plough, or 
otherwise displaced by the spade or pick-axe, as often 
happens in digging up shrubs and dwarf trees for the 
purpose of clearing ground for cultivation. When it 
is exposed to view, it endeavours to conceal itself under 
whatever is nearest to it, and if unsuccessful, it rolls 
itself into a mass, and remains quiet unless seized, when 
it immediately endeavours to escape.” Another species 
is found in Western Africa at Cape Coast. Mrs. Lee 
(formerly Mrs. Bowdich) relates an amusing anecdote 
of an individual of this species, at the capture of which 
she appears to have been present. “A report was 
spread,” she says “ that the large tank on which the 
inhabitants of the castle solely depended for the supply 
of water was infested by an enormous serpent ; and not 
only was the idea of drinking the water repugnant, but 
many decla'red the water would be poisoned. The 
governor determined to have the tank examined, 
although he was told that the serpent was so fierce it 
would kill any one who would dare to approach it; that 
it was some great fetish (false god) ; and that no one 
f From the Greek word typhlops blind. 
i From the Greek words onux a claw, and ophis (o?<5), 
a snake. 
