SICINK TRIBE. 
167 
are attached to the sides of the jaws, may have either conical, bicuspid, or broad 
and spheroidal crowns ( Tiliqua ). The head is covered by large symmetrical 
shields, among which an unpaired occipital is generally wanting; and the over¬ 
lapping scales of the body are generally subhexagonal in form and arranged in 
a quincuncial manner. Worldwide in distribution, the skink tribe are most 
numerously represented in Australia, Oceania, the Oriental region, and Africa, 
while very few occur in South America, and there are not many in North America 
and Europe. Although their habits are not fully known, it appears that, with the 
exception of two genera, they bring forth living young, varying from two to ten 
in number. The majority are terrestrial, a few only being able to climb, while 
none are aquatic. They sedulously avoid the neighbourhood of water, frequenting 
STTTMP-TAILED LIZARDS (J- liat. size). 
dry situations, and more especially those where the soil is sandy with an admixture 
of pebbles or fragments of rock. Moreover, they generally possess the faculty— 
rare among lizards—of burrowing in the ground with the dexterity, if not with 
the power, of moles. From this habit the group is sometimes spoken of as the 
burrowing lizards; and it may be remarked that their spindle-shaped bodies, 
covered with highly polished scales, their short legs, and frequently abbreviated 
tail, as w T ell as the transparent window in the lower eyelid, are all features specially 
adapted for such a mode of life. From among the numerous genera, the limits of 
our space render it necessary to confine our remarks to four, which are selected as 
examples of very divergent types. 
stump-Taiied Described as far back as the year 1699, the stump-tailed lizard 
Lizard. (Trachysaurus rugosus), of Australia, is the sole representative of 
