THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST. 143 
and depression of the frill may aptly be eitinaretl to the opening 
and closing of an umbrella. When pursued this lizard assumes 
uv semi-erect position and runs along on its hind legs. If closely 
pressed it turns at bay with its frill erected and its mouth wide 
open, and with its large teeth and powerful jaws it is an 
opponent not to be despised. 
Moloch horridus, the ‘* sand devil” of Western Australia, is a 
harmless little lizard of very fearsome aspect, through the 
great thornlike spines with which its head and body are 
covered. Its mouth is absurdly small; it lives chiefly on ants. 
Lyriocephalus is a very interesting Agamid, in that it closely 
resembles a chameleon. This is hax dly. a ease of mimicry, but 
simply one of convergent evolution. 
Draco volans, the ‘ flying dragon,” is a pretty little Agamid 
inhabiting the Malay peninsula and the neighbouring islands. 
Jt is furnished with natural wing-like membranes that fold up 
likea fan; they may be raised up over its back like the wings 
of a buttertly ; indeed, resting amongst the splendid foliage of 
its own native woods, with its wings over tts back, it very 
closely resembles a large buttertly. These wings act as para-, 
chutes, hardly as organs of active flight. 
The Iguanide is an American family of lizards.closely related 
to the Agamide, the chief difference between them being in the 
nature of the teeth. In the Agamide the teeth are acrodont, 
ie., situated on the summit of the jaws, while the Ignanidex 
have pleurodont teeth, fused to the sides of the jaws. his is 
a very large family with more than 300 species, the habits of 
which are very diverse. Some are terrestial, some burrowing, 
some arboreal or semi-aquatic, while one, Amblyrhynchus, is 
semi-marine and feeds on seaweeds. Many members of this 
family are very large; Iguana tuberculata, of Central and 
South America, grows six feet in length, and weighs 30 Ibs. It 
lives in trees, and when startled or in danger jumps into the 
water from overhanging trees, regardless of what may be 
beneath. Along some of the narrow, unfrequented ‘creeks of 
the mosquito country they are very numerous, and according to 
a writer of repute, the unwary traveller in a canoe is met by a 
regular shower of falling iguanas, and stands a very good 
chance of getting his neck broken. 
The family Scincide is a very large one, the members of 
which are only small or medium sized. It is a cosmopolitan 
family, most abundantly represented in Australia. Its members 
show a splendid series of gradations in the reduction of the 
limbs; even in the same genus, species oceur with perfectly 
developed limbs, while others may have the toes reduced to 
four, three or two, the limbs being correspondingly smaller and 
smaller, till, in some species, they are quite functionless. This 
limbless or yreduced-limb condition does not indicate any 
relationship within the family, but has happened independently 
