LAC 
proportion than that of the fcirik. The head is covered 
in front with large angular fcales; the bod)'-, limbs, and 
tail, with rounded ones, which are more diftinctly ex- 
prelled, or not quite fo glofiy and clofely prefled to the 
ikin as in the true fcink : the legs are thort and thick, 
the feet pentadabtyle, and furniihed with fmall claws. 
The general colour is filver grey, clouded with orange, 
growing whiter at the fides. Like moft other animals, the 
brilliancy of its colours fades after death; but, while 
animated by the vital warmth, they have a very fplendid 
appearance, like burnifhed gold, from which circumftance 
the trivial name is derived ; and thefe colours are rendered 
confiderably brighter, in confequence of the furface being 
covered all over by a flimy fluid, which has the effedt.of 
a fine varnifh. It is faid, in the Syftema Naturae, to in¬ 
habit the ifland of Jerfev, on the authority of Edwards ; 
but the fpecies, cited from the works of that naturalift, 
appears eflentially different from this. It is found in the 
ifle of Cyprus; but its principal habitation is America 
and the Weft-India Ifiands ; to which Dr. Shaw adds Ara¬ 
bia and Egypt, quoting Seba’s L. maritima maxima for 
this fpecies, which feems to belong to the common fcink. 
Dr. S. alfo objects to the name golden or gilded lizard, 
preferring that of L. rufefcens, and greater fcink ; yet he 
immediately produces a fpecies greater ftill, which how¬ 
ever Cepede includes under the prefent fpecies, and moft 
probably it is the full-grown animal: we have thought belt 
to note it as a variety. 
L. occidua, the galliwafp, is probably the L. auratus 
•when full-grown ; for Dr. Shaw obferves, that hardly any 
appearance of gold-yellow is obferved on that fpecies ex¬ 
cept in the young or half-grown fpecimens ; for which 
reafon he changed the name from auratus to rufefcens. Both 
are of a brownilh colour; and the galliwafp is defcribed 
only as being of a larger fize, and thicker form, and the 
tail appearing fomewhat Ihorter in proportion; and ac¬ 
cordingly Cepede includes the galliwafp in his account of 
the auratus. The general length of the galliwafp is nearly 
two feet from the nofe to the tip of the tail, which, like 
the body, is thick and ftrong, tapering pretty fuddenly 
towards the tip : the limbs are (hort, and the whole ap¬ 
pearance of the animal remarkably ftout and plump: the 
teeth are fmall in front, but as they approach the back 
part of the jaws they gradually increafe in fize, and much 
referable the molares in the Mammalia. The galliwafp is 
a native of the American iflands, and feems to be parti¬ 
cularly common in Jamaica, where it is faid to frequent 
woody and marftiy diftribts. It is commonly of a paiilh- 
brown colour, clouded with fomewhat-irregular bands of 
a deeper call;; but it is faid occafionally to change its co¬ 
lour into a lively golden yellow. The galliwafp, accord¬ 
ing to Browne, in his Natural Kiftory of Jamaica, is rec¬ 
koned the moft venomous reptile in that ifland, and it is 
laid that no creature can recover from its bite ; but this 
he very properly confiders as a popular error. 
L. fcincoides, the Auftralafian galliwafp. This, fays 
Dr. Shaw, I confider as a variety of the preceding, with 
which it agrees in fize and general appearance, but has 
larger fcales, a longer tail in proportion, and is of a fome¬ 
what darker colour; the fides and tail being variegated 
with deep brown and fomewhat irregular tranfverfe bands, 
and on each fide the neck is commonly - a longitudinal 
brown fpot or patch. It is a native of New Holland, and 
is- very accurately figured in White’s Journal. The 
tongue, in this as well as in the other fcinks, is (hort, flat, 
rounded, and entire; not forked as in moft lizards. Dr. 
Turton has introduced it after the aurata, and as a diftinbt 
fpecies. 
82. Lacerta guttata, the fpotted fcink : colour grey, 
fpotted with white ; tail long, marked with four tranfverfe 
black bands and with black tip ; feet five-toed, with 
claws. A very fmall fpecies, not much exceeding three 
inches in length : native of the Ural defert, where it was 
obferved by Lepechin. 
ERTA, 63 
XI. Crawling on tie belly ; refembling both the lizard and the 
ferptnt. 
83. Lacerta cbalcides, the chalcides lizard ; tail long 
and round, not verticillated: legs very (hort. The Jeps, 
or eft, is not the only animal which forms a connecting 
link between lizards anc! ferpents, by the length and flen- 
dernefs of its body, and the diftance and minutenefs of 
its almoft-invifible legs. The chalcides is equally remark¬ 
able by the fmallnefs and pofition of its legs, and by the 
great length of its body. Linnaeus and feveral other na- 
turalifls, who confider the ftps and chalcides as diftinft 
fpecies, have endeavoured to ebarafterife them by faying, 
that in the feps the tail is verticillated , while in the chal¬ 
cides it is round, and longer than the body. Whatever 
fenfe may be affixed to the term verticillated, it can never 
be intended as a vague and unobvious character. Cepede 
therefore concludes the lizard named chalcides by Lin¬ 
naeus to be only a variety of the feps; and accordingly 
removes all the fynonymes from the chalcides to the feps; 
while the lizard he calls chalcides is a very different ani¬ 
mal, which we have placed at the end of this article as a 
variety. 
The Linncean chalcides is a native of many of the 
warmer parts of Europe, as well as of Africa, and is 
found of different fizes, from the length of a few inches 
to that of afoot, or even more. Its general length, how¬ 
ever, feems to be eight or nine inches. The head is co¬ 
vered in front with large fcales, and is terminated by a 
(lightly-tapering, but not pointed, fnout. The eyes are 
fmall, and the openings of the ears very diltinbt: there 
is, properly fpeaking, no •tek, the diameter continuing 
nearly equal from the head to the beginning of the tail, 
which is often longer than the body, and gradually ta¬ 
pers to a fmall point. The legs are very fliort, and the 
feet ftill more fo in proportion, confiding each of three 
toes, terminated by minute claws : the leales, on every 
part of the body, legs, and tail, are of a (hape nearly re¬ 
fembling thofe of the fcinks, lying fmocthly over each 
other like thofe of a fifh. See fig. 13. The colour is 
pale ferruginous orchefnut-brown, lighter, orofayellow- 
brown, beneath: along the back are iix deep-brown lines, 
or narrow bands, viz. two fomewhat diftant down the 
middle, and two approximated down each fide. On the 
living animal the colour is generally faid to have a kind 
of metallic or brafly caff, which feems to have given rife 
to the old name chalcides and ckalcidica, from brafs. 
This Angular lizard is defcribed by Linnsus as having 
the feet furnifhed with five toes ; but, whatever may have 
been the cafe with the individual fpecimen which he ex¬ 
amined, it feems pretty certain that the general number 
is three. In the Britifh Mufeum is an elegant fpecimen, 
with three toes only ; and Columna calls it tridadyla, or 
three-toed. The chalcides is an animal of a harmlefs na¬ 
ture, frequenting moift fhady places, moving rather llowly, 
and feeding on infebts, fmall worms, &c. It is a vivipa¬ 
rous fpecies, and is faid to produce a great many young. 
The ferpents to which it bears the neareft alliance, in 
point of form, are thofe of the genus Anguis, and parti¬ 
cularly the A. fragilis, or common flow-worm. 
The annulated chalcides, which is defcribed by Ce¬ 
pede under the name of chalcide, appears very nearly 
allied to the former; but, initead of having imbricated 
fiih-like fcales, as in that animal, it is marked into a con¬ 
tinued feries of rings throughout its whole length, the 
fcales being fquare inftead of rounded. The lpecimea 
defcribed was of a dark colour, with a brafly caft : the 
body meafured two inches fix lines in length, being fome¬ 
what fhorter than the tail: the feet ftill (hotter than in the 
former fpecies, meafuring fcarcely more than a line in. 
length, and being all tridabtyle : the number of annuli 
on the body was forty-eight. The native country of this 
kind feems unknown. 
* 84. Lacerta ferpens, the ferpent lizard : head, body, 
and tail, of a continued cylindric form, feet very fmall, 
remote. 
