Stump-tails make most good-natured and grotesque household pets. Of two examples which were for some years in the writer's possession a characteristic photograph is reproduced tail often becomes distended to enormous proportions.below. When basking in the sun, the The internal substance of this abnormally dilated organ consists chiefly of fatty tissue, and it seems probable that it fulfils the role of a reservoir for the storage of nutrient and heating materials, to be drawn upon during hibernation. The winter months in the southern districts of Western Australia are cold, and this lizard, in common with other local species, retires during that season into the sheltering recess of a hollow tree-stump or rock-crevice until the is practically omnivorous in its habits. Insun is again in the ascendant. The stump-tail captivity fruit, and more especially bananas, constitute a favourite diet, but it will also greedily devour worms, beetles, and garden-snails, and may consequently be turned to good account as a destroyer of garden-pests.

Of other Australian members of the Skink Family, the GREAT CYCLODUS, or BLUE-TONGUED LIZARD, may be mentioned. This species, which is about 18 inches long, presents no abnormal is smooth and sub-cylindrical,development of head or tail, as in the form last described. The body is a softand with its closely set scales resembles that of a snake. The dominant colour steel or silvery grey, variegated with darker or lighter cross-bands and reticulations that are most strongly marked on the sides; the under-surface, by way of contrast, is most usually pale

Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.] [Milford-on-Sea.

AUSTRALIAN STUMP-TAILED LIZARDS.

Two of the author's household pets.

Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S., MilJord-on-Sea.

salmon-pink. The tongue of this lizard, which gives to it its popular title, is somewhat remarkable. It is large and flat, and of a bright blue tint, resembling nothing so much as a piece of blue flannel. The animal, as it moves about, is in the habit of constantly protruding and retracting its tongue, which consequently constitutes a very conspicuous object. In common with the majority of its allies, the blue-tongued lizard is viviparous; but while the stump-tail only produces one at a time, which is nearly half as large as the parent, the present form gives birth to as many as ten or twelve. An example in the writer’s possession on one occasion presented him with a litter embracing the larger number, and afforded the material for the photograph here reproduced.

As a contrast to the two preceding forms, the SPINE-TAILED LIZARDS, with their short, flat, spiky tails, may be cited as a conclusion to this notice of the Skink Family. There are nine known members of the same genus, all inhabitants of Australia. The lower of the two forms here figured is especially abundant on one island of the Abrolhos group, off the Western Australian coast. This example is represented at about two-thirds of its natural size. It is an interesting fact that an allied but considerably larger species monopolises a neighbouring island of the same group, the two species not intermingling: probably the larger one would prey on the smaller. The largest member of the genus, known as CUNNINGHAM’S SPINE-TAIL, of a uniform black hue, peppered white, is not infrequently brought to Europe, and two examples which were for some years in the writer’s possession bred regularly, producing eight or ten young at a time for several consecutive years. The fact that these lizards enjoyed full liberty in a heated greenhouse, with a temperature and surrounding conditions closely identical with those to which they were naturally accustomed, no doubt contributed extensively to their fertility.

With this group we are compelled by lack of space to close our account of the true lizards, but the reader must understand that only a very few out of an enormous

number have been mentioned at all.

Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.] [Milford-on-Sea.

BLUE-TONGUED LIZARDS.

A female with her family of twelve.

Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.] [Milford-on-Sea.

SPINE-TAILED LIZARDS, WESTERN AUSTRALIA.

These lizards are essentially vegetarian in their habits.

CHAPTER IV.

CHAMELEONS AND TUATERA.

CHAMELEONS. rTIHE CHAM.ELEONS differ in so many important

I structural points from the ordinary lizards that they are usually regarded now by scientists as a distinct reptilian sub-order. The essential characters, externally recognisable, that

:serve to distinguish the chamaeleons are Firstly, the extraordinary development of their worm-like extensile tongue, the tip of it club-shaped and highly viscous, and the shaft cylindrical and as elastic in texture as india-rubber. Adapted for the special object of catching flies, this organ can be projected from the mouth to a distance of 6 or 8 inches or more with lightning-like rapidity, and rarely misses its quarry. Comparing small things with great, the chamseleon's tongue and its action might be likened to a schoolboy's popgun, having its pellet secured to the barrel by a long elastic ligament. Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S. [Mitford-on-Sea. Presuming further that the pellet is covered CHAMELEONS ASLEEP. likewith a viscid secretion such as bird-lime, and The tail of the sleeping chamseleon is frequently coiled spirally that the object shot at is hit and brought back the proboscis of a butterfly. to the shooter's pocket by virtue of the ligament's intrinsic elasticity, we have an almost veritable replica of the chameleon's fly-catching apparatus. The second remarkable structural of the chamaeleon is the independentpeculiarity relationship of the two eyes. The eyes themselves are unlike those of any other lizards; they are large, prominent, skin-covered cones, perforated only at their extreme apex for the minute pupil-opening: while one eye may be fixed on an rollingobject in front of it, the other may be around in search of a second quarry. This independent capacity of vision, while peculiar common toamong reptiles to the chamaeleon, is Amany fishes, such as blennies and flat-fishes. third anomaly in the chamseleon's structure is the character of the feet; these resemble those of a parrot, the toes being bound together in two opposable bundles. In the fore foot the Photo ly W, SavMe-Kent, F.Z.S.] [Milford-on-Sta. inner bundle contains three and the outer one A CHAMELEON IN A RAGE. two toes only, while in the hind foot the order Puffing and hissing at an approaching intruder. 581

of the World 582 The Living Animals

of their amalgamation is precisely reversed. In either case these feet subserve, as in parrots and other perching-birds, as most effective organs for maintaining a close grip upon the tree-tail of the chamoeleon is, finally, highly branches among which they habitually live. The fifth hand, wherewith prehensile, and, as with the New World monkeys, constitutes a veritable to ensure it against falling off its perch.

The colour-changing properties of the chamaeleon have been the subject of enthusiastic but in many instances exaggerated descriptions from the earliest times. As a matter of fact there are other lizard species which share this kaleidoscopic property to an equal or even greater degree. The Indian tree-geckos, referred to on a previous page, as also the calotes from the same region, are cases in point. Chamseleons are undoubtedly possessed of marvellous colour-changing faculties, and it would appear to be scarcely in all instances, as is more usually represented, a case of adapting themselves to the tints of their environment. The assumption of leaf-green, grey, brown, reddish, or yellowish tints, in accordance with their surroundings, is the ordinary record. Some examples which formed the subjects of the writer's experiments exhibited, however, interesting deviations from the beaten track. Male individuals, in particular, were observed to assume tints and decorative patterns that rendered them remarkably conspicuous objects, in spite of their leafy environment. The normal ground-colour of these specimens in full daylight was so dark a green that it might be almost characterised as black. Upon this were superimposed lines and spottings of strongly contrasting tints. The more dominant of these was a brilliant orange, that was distributed in bold lines along the head and cheeks, and formed a radiating pattern on the skin-covered eye-cones. The same colour formed somewhat broken-up bars across Pkoto by W. Sav'Me-Kent, F.Z.S.1 [Milford-on-Sea.

COMMON CHAMELEON OF SOUTH EUROPE AND NORTH AFRICA. all four limbs, and was dis-

A minute or more is often occupied by the chamaeleon in making a single forward step. persed in bold spots over the

: entire remaining body-surface along the tail these spots were concentrated in threes, giving it a semi-barred appearance. All among these orange limb- and body-spottings were distributed a secondary series of somewhat smaller spots, the tint of which was a pale but very brilliant emerald-green. This chamseleon asleep at night was a very different animal. The ground-colour was transformed from almost black to a bright grass-green. The orange lines became lighter in colour and broken up into patches; many of the orange spots on the body disappeared, but those remaining were of larger size and concentrated in threes in two lines along each side, these triple spots enclosing centrally a larger elongated spot or patch of bright pink or puce. The bright emerald-green secondary spots, as seen in daylight, were almost white. If handled during the daytime, the chamseleon was wont to assume a colour nearly identical with his night garb; the two lines of pink patches, previously invisible, would appear, and, while the orange spotting remained constant, the emerald-green changed to lemon-yellow.

A chameleon in a rage is a decidedly grotesque object. The back is arched, the body and more especially the throat-pouch are inflated to their fullest extent, the mouth is opened, the eyes roll, and the creature rocks itself to and fro and hisses in a most threatening manner. When, as often happens, it also simultaneously sits up on its haunches, the effect is doubtless as terrifying as it is intended to be to a rival chamaeleon or any small animal which may

J( Photo by IF. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.] [Milford-on-Sea.

A CHAMELEON SHOOTING OUT ITS TONGUE TO CAPTURE A FLY.

The tongue is capable of extension to a length of no less than 7 or 8 inches.

Photo by C. M. Martin] [Beckenliam.

A PHOTOGRAPH OF A CHAMELEON IN THE ACT OF CATCHING A BUTTERFLY.

The inflated extremity of the tongue is highly glutinous.

583

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