OLD AND NEW WORLD 
LIZARDS 
OLD WORLD LIZARDS 
The true lizards of the Old World are most numerous in Africa. They 
are also found in Europe and Asia as far northward as the region of per¬ 
manently frozen sub-soil. Members of this family live chiefly on the ground. 
For the most part they subsist on insects and grubs, but some species are 
cannibalistic. Their well-developed limbs are equipped with five toes each; 
their tongues are cleft, and they all possess efficient eyes and ears. Some 
of these small-scaled lizards bring forth their young alive, but most lay 
soft, oval eggs which they bury in the ground for the sun to hatch. 
SAND LIZARD 
A denizen of England and northern Europe, the eight-inch sand lizard 
darts so rapidly over the broken ground that the eye has difficulty in fol¬ 
lowing it. The male of this species is a bright emerald green, while the 
female is brown with black and white spots. Male and female are said 
to pair for life and to share in tending the six or twelve thin-skinned eggs 
brought forth each year. 
At the approach of winter the sand lizards burrow into the earth, 
where they hibernate until spring. 
COMMON OR VIVIPAROUS 
LIZARD 
The fawn-colored common lizard is also known as the viviparous lizard 
because it brings forth its young alive, either free or wrapped in a mem¬ 
branous covering. The newborn, less than an inch in length, arrive in 
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