Guide to the galleries of reptiles and fishes in the Department of zoology of the British museum (Natural history) : Illustrated by 101 woodcuts and 1 plan.
- British Museum (Natural History). Department of Zoology.
- Date:
- 1893
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Guide to the galleries of reptiles and fishes in the Department of zoology of the British museum (Natural history) : Illustrated by 101 woodcuts and 1 plan. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![[Cases 11-17.] Indian Archipelago, utters a shrill cry, sounding like tokee or tock.” The Varanid(E, or Water Lizards, are the largest of Lizards, some exceeding a length of six feet. A few [Varanus griseust Case 11) are terrestrial, but the majority semi-aquatic, the former having a rounded, the latter a compressed tail, with a sharp saw- like upper edge, which assists them greatly in swimming, and at the same time constitutes a formidable weapon with which these powerful animals can inflict deep wounds on the incautious captor. They range all over Africa, the Indian region, and Australia. Their prey consists of other vertebrate animals—small mammals, birds, frogs, fishes, and eggs. In India they are well known under the misnomer “ Iguanas as dangerous neighbours to poultry-yards. Among the species which grow to the largest size may be men- ioned the gigantic Monitor {Varanus giganteus, Case 16), from N. Australia; the two-streaked Monitor (V. salvator, Cases 15-17), common in the East-Indian Archipelago; the common Indian Water-Lizard [V. bengulensis)) and the African Monitor [V. niloticus), ranging over the whole of Tropical Africa (Case 14). The HelodermatidcE contain a single genus, the remarkable [Case 18.] Heloderma horridum, an inhabitant of the western parts of Mexico. As far as is known at present, it is the only Lizard whose bite is poisonous. Its teeth are fang-like, provided with a deep groove as in some Snakes, and the submaxil!ary gland is enormously developed and secretes the poisonous fluid. It is about two feet long. The Tejida (bottom of Case 18) are the American represen- [Case 18.] tatives of the Lizards proper, from which they somewhat differ in their dentition. The Teguexins [Tupinambis teguexim and nigra- punctatus) are the largest, attaining to a length of about four feet, and found in most parts of the South-American continent. The Dracmna guianensis is a rare Lizard, found in the Guianas and Brazil, and was considered a kind of Crocodile by old authors, who saw a distinct resemblance to those animals in its compressed, keeled tail, as well as in the large tubercles which are arranged pretty regularly on its back. Of the Amphisbcenidce, singular worm-like Beptiles, a few [Case 18 ] specimens and a skeleton are exhibited. All their external cha- racters testify to their mode of life; they are burrowing animals,](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28104663_0019.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
