THE 
BROAD-TAILED LIZARD. 
Generic Character. 
Body four-footed, tailed., naked. 
Specific Character. 
LIZARD with a deprefled lanceolate tail, al- 
mofl fpiny on the margin; the body of a 
dufky grey color, and rough. 
The claws appear as if double ; the tongue is Jhort 
and broad, not forked, but fightly emarginatei 
at the tip. 
The Lacerta Platura or broad-tailed Lizard, a fpe- 
cies very lately difcovered, and which is a native of 
New Holland, is ftrikingly diftinguifhed by the un¬ 
common form of its tail, which is of a deprelfed or 
flattened fhape, with very thin edges, and gradually 
tapers to a fharp extremity. This deprefled form of the 
tail is extremely rare in lizards, there being fcarcely 
more than two or three other fpecies in which a fimi- 
lar ftructure takes place. This lizard is fomewhat 
more than four inches and a half in length ; the head 
is .large in proportion ; and the whole upper furface of 
the animal is befet with fmall tubercles, which in fome 
parts, efpecially towards the back of the head, and 
about the tail, are lengthened into fharpened points. 
The lower furface is of a pale color, or nearly white. 
