36 
NATURAL HISTORY. [^UPPER FLOOR. 
as the Amboina Lophyrus ( Lacerta amboinensis'), which has 
been confounded with the Basilisk. 
The last group of Agamee are peculiar for the tail being 
surrounded with verticillate bands of scales. In some of 
these ( Uromastyx ), the caudal scales are large and spinous; 
as the Common Uromastyx ( Stellio spinipes ), from Egypt, 
and Hardwicke’s Uromastyx ( Uromastyx Hardwickii ), 
from India; while in the Chinese Uromastyx ( Uromastyx 
Revesi ) they are small and smooth. 
In the lower part of the Case are the Chameleons, ani¬ 
mals long celebrated on account of the rapidity with which 
they change their colour; but most of the other Saurian 
Reptiles have the same faculty, and many in as great a 
degree. They are remarkable for the great distance to 
which they can protrude the tongue, in order to catch in¬ 
sects, which form their principal food. Chameleons are 
only found in the warm parts of the Old world, and the 
species are chiefly distinguished from each other by the 
form of the head. In the common Chameleon, the occiput 
is arched and compressed, whilst, in the Senegal species, 
it is flat; some of the species, as the Eared and Hooded 
Chameleons, have the back part of the occiput furnished 
with two fleshy lobes ; whilst the Panther and Cape Cha¬ 
meleon have the front of the chin furnished with fleshy 
processes. Others have the head armed with horns, which 
in some are placed over the eye-brow, as in Brookes’s Cha¬ 
meleon, and in others on the tip of the nose, as in the Two¬ 
horned Chameleon. 
Case 5 contains the Ophisauri, or Snake-Lizards, reptiles 
which much resemble snakes in appearance, and are covered 
with regular and uniform scales. These are divided into 
two sections, according to the form of the scales on the 
sides, which in some ( Ptygopleurce) are small, making a 
fold which is dilated when the animal has eaten a full 
meal; and in others the scales of the sides are similar to 
those on the body. 
The Zonuri ( Zonuri ) have four distinct, moderately 
long legs, and exposed ears. 
The African Lizards of this group are distinguished by 
their thighs being marked with a line of pores on the 
under side. In some of these, as the common Zonurus, 
the tail is furnished with armed scales, whilst in others, as 
the common Cicigna, the caudal scales are unarmed. 
