Lizard

“ The tiny brown lizard which runs over our heaths, while its legless relation, the slowworm, burrows in the ground,—the few snakes which glide through the grass of our meadows, and the stray turtles thrown at rare intervals on our shores,—tell us very little about true reptile life. ”

“ Flitting overhead are curious birds with rows of sharp teeth in their long beaks, and still more curious reptiles of the air with fleshy wings, like overgrown bats. What are they looking down at? There is a stir among the greenery. A lizard, fifty feet long, is wallowing in his muddy bed ”

“ The common lizard, about six inches long, with very bright eyes, has a tail which is so brittle, that if you were to catch hold of it, it would break right off, and its late owner would dart away to its hiding-place, leaving the old tail in your hand; itself growing a new one.
The Sand-lizard, also found in England, is about twice the length of the common lizard: it lives on sandy heaths, and like the turtle, lays its eggs in the sand, to be hatched by the sun. But neither of our lizards is so pretty as the little green one so common in the warmer countries of Europe. ”

“ The lizard is about 11⁄2 ft. long, with a fat, fleshy body, a round tail ending in a blunt point, and a flat head with squared sides, resembling a small padlock. The whole body is covered with a curious coat of scales, like black and pink beads, arranged in an arabesque pattern. In its daily life it is a dull and stupid creature, feeding mainly on eggs, which it breaks and laps with its tongue. ”

“ The fat of this bulky lizard is much prized by the natives, who apply it as a poultice to draw palm spines or even grains of shot from the flesh. Other lizards of repulsive aspect, about three feet in length when full grown, splashed about and swam in the water, sometimes emerging to crawl into hollow trees on the banks of the stream, where I once found a female and a nest of eggs. The lazy flapping flight of large blue and black morpho butterflies high in the air, the hum of insects, and many inanimate sounds, contributed their share to the total impression this strange solitude produced. ”

“ The first lizard possest the snout of a dolphin, the head of a lizard, the teeth and jaws of a crocodile, the backbone of a fish, paddles like those of a whale and the trunk and tail of a quadruped—a very monarch of the early seas. ”

“ The Eyed Lizard keeps extremely well in captivity, and in this respect is unlike the Green Lizard. A case has been recorded of its living thirteen years. This species is very intelligent. Although at first ferociously wild and biting furiously, these lizards soon become tame and take food regularly. One of my own, a half-grown male from Northern Spain, about one foot in length, made its home in a little niche of the greenhouse-wall, whence it emerged regularly to take the offered food from my hand. ”

“ For instance, a lizard, with its beautiful emerald-green back, its yellow underparts, and rich brown mottlings, might be introduced with its long tail wrapped and twisted round the stem of a plant, and its little head, with brilliant eyes, shown just peeping out from under one of the beautiful flowers. ”

“ Remember for a moment how weak the lizard’s limbs are, so that his body always drags upon the ground; and then look at the bird’s tight grasp of the bough and the rod-like legs which raise his body above it. Watch him as he beats the air with his wings, rising and sinking, turning and swerving at will, and you will see that he has earned freedom, strength, and active life, by means of the strong muscles which move these legs and wings, and the feathers which provide him with an instrument for beating the air. ”

“ Lizards are quite numerous and will be seen by any traveler who keeps his eye peeled along the roadside from which they suddenly dart, running swiftly to the other side of the highway. There are several species which consist of the rough, scaly rock lizard, the smooth, slender whip-tail, the brilliantly colored collared lizard, and the bar-tailed lizard. ”

“ Nearly all lizards lay eggs, which are warmed into life by the sun, and the young ones are able to take care of themselves as soon as hatched. But even in this part of its life-history the lizard shows the changefulness of its race,—as variable in all things as a chameleon’s coat. Some lizards have living young, which they nurse with assiduous care. ”

“ So by the waterside, on the land, and among the trees, the lizard tribe still flourish in spite of higher animals; and just as we found some legless kinds among the amphibia burrowing in the ground, so here, too, we find legless lizards, some with small scaly spikes in the place of hind legs, others, like the glass-snake of America82 and our English slowworm83 (or blindworm) , which have no trace of feet outside the skin, but glide along under grass and leaves, eating slugs and other small creatures, though they are true lizards with shoulder bones and breastbones under the skin. ”

“ There is a species of lizard, which we have called the horned lizard, about the size and much resembling in figure the ordinary black lizard. The belly is, notwithstanding, broader, the tail shorter, and the action much slower than the ordinary lizard. It crawls like the toad, is of a brown colour, and interspersed with yellowish brown spots ”

“ This lizard is small and dark, subsists on insects, and is a veritable living barometer. It has a loud voice that is never heard except just previous to bad weather: this is so well authenticated that, even if the weather is fair, no sailor will venture out when warned by that lizard. ”

“ If we compare the foot of these creatures with that of the true lizards, the difference of structure will be found to be considerable. The foot of the true lizard is provided with five toes to both the fore and hind members, while attached to the hinder members of crocodiles and alligators we find but four toes. The toes of the lizard are not connected by a membrane, but are separate, and armed with nails, for these creatures live on land, and have need of well-constructed locomotive organs to enable them to catch their active prey. ”

“ There is a certain lizard that does much the same thing, for the skin at the angle of its mouth, on each side, is puckered up into a little red flower, just like one that grows in the sand, where it lives. Insects, thinking to come to the flower, come to the lizard’s mouth instead, and are soon gobbled up. ”

“ It must not, however, be supposed that they live on fish. When in the water this lizard swims with perfect ease and quickness, by a serpentine movement of its body and flattened tail—the legs being motionless and closely collapsed on its sides. ”

“ The tail-flip described is characteristically given at the instant the lizard reaches shelter such as a crevice, or hole, and just before it disappears. By the instantaneous pivoting of its body, throwing its tail in an arc, in the direction of its original course, the lizard creates the optical illusion of having moved beyond the point where it has taken to shelter. ”

“ What a still, hot, perfect day! What a golden desert this spreading moor! Everywhere sunshine. I wished I could live in it and on it. I saw a lizard run over the crag; I saw a bee busy among the sweet bilberries. I would fain at the moment have become bee or lizard, that I might have found fitting nutriment, permanent shelter here. But I was a human being, and had a human being’s wants: I must not linger where there was nothing to supply them. ”

“ LITTLE GOLDSTAR
(Adapted)
In a southern garden lived a family of green lizards, under the roots of a palm-tree. They were merry little creatures, and their parents loved them dearly.
One day Father Lizard said to his children: “Your mother and I must go away this morning; now be good children; stay close together, and be sure that one of you keeps watch for fear of snakes and hawks!”
The little lizards promised; and for some time they were very careful; first one kept watch, and then another; but at length Sprightly said: “There is no danger near. ”

“ Another very curious habit which this lizard has is that of walking upright on its hind legs, in the attitude of a dog when "begging." It will even run in this position, and most odd it then looks. It is a capital climber, and spends most of its life in the trees, to which it always tries to escape when it thinks itself in danger. ”

“ A tiny lizard, for example, may at any moment have to scamper for his life in search of an equally tiny crack in the rock, where it may take refuge from some larger animal which wants it for breakfast. Naturally, oftentimes, the lizard so hardly escapes being “it,” that just as he whisks into safety, his pursuer snaps off his entire tail. ”

“ The Lizards also took an immense fancy to him, and when he grew tired of running about and flung himself down on the grass to rest, they played and romped all over him, and tried to amuse him in the best way they could. ‘Every one cannot be as beautiful as a lizard,’ they cried ”

“ A lizard with smooth scales and lithe, restless tail, ears of corn, a serpent holding a bird by its look as it rears itself for a spring, birds fighting and birds preening their breasts,—all these delicate beings, that move amid a design of admirable grace, are a field pilgrim’s scrip laid open for239 all who will read. ”

“ The lizards and snakes in these stories, by the way, are not confined to the usual ducts and cavities of the human body, but seem to have freedom of movement throughout the whole structure. This lizard, according to the "doctor," would start from the man's shoulder, descend to his hand, return to the shoulder, and pass down the side of the body to the leg. ”

“ All these things, taken together, make the reptile a very poor stove, and render him incapable of any prolonged exertion. The serpent darts like an arrow upon his prey; but he could not pursue it for half a mile without stopping, not even over the burning soil of the equator. The lizard is very nimble, is it not? and the quickness of its movements rather reminds one of the agility of a bird. But watch it, and you will see it only moves in jerks, and keeps stopping every minute; it cannot escape you if there is no hole near into which it can disappear. ”

“ The extent to which memory persists through the season of dormancy is little known, but great change takes place in the habitat during the colder half of the year when the lizard’s activity is suspended. Even if the area is one that is free from gross disturbance by man or large animals, the changes occurring are so great that the area might be scarcely recognizable from the lizard’s viewpoint. ”

“ The tail of the ground-lizard is of extreme length, and trails along the ground, giving the creature, when walking, a kind of snake-like motion; when, however, it is attacked by a dog, or frightened by the sound of approaching footsteps, it throws this unwieldy member over its back, and starts away with the greatest activity. ”

“ Perhaps the tamest, if not the most beautiful among the smaller reptiles, are the odd little palm-lizards which have recently arrived at the Zoo. They are vegetable feeders, and their appetite for cabbage-leaves is so keen, and the diet supplied so liberal, that after a hearty meal they resemble a well-stuffed oval pincushion with a small lizard’s head, feet, and tail attached to the padding. ”

“ Popularly a lizard is any four-legged reptile covered with scales, but such a definition is not strictly correct, since some lizards are legless and some other four-legged reptiles are covered with horny scales, notably the tuatera or Sphenodon of New Zealand, a reptile long classed with lizards, but now known to belong to quite a different order. ”

“ In catching—or attempting to catch—a Lizard, he should be grasped by the shoulders. If the tail be held instead, it will probably come away in the hand, snapping at the base as readily as though it were glass or sealing wax. ”

“ The sombre and lurid appearance of this Lizard, its stealthy motions, its nocturnal activity, and singular harsh cry, and especially a certain sinister aspect, produced by its large globular eye, unprotected by an eyelid, and divided by its linear pupil, have doubtless combined to give to it in the popular mind a character for evil, which its fellows in other regions possess, but to which it seems to have no rightful claim; for though dreaded, and vulgarly reputed poisonous, we have every reason to believe that it is a perfectly innocuous reptile. ”

“ As useful as it is graceful in form, the little gray lizard lives on flies, crickets, grasshoppers, earthworms, and nearly all insects that prey upon our fruit and grain; thus it would be much to our advantage [271] if the species were more widely scattered. The greater our supply of gray lizards, the faster should we see the enemies of our gardens disappear. ”

“ Of land vertebrates, lizards are the first to attract the attention of the traveler on the equator. Great in number and variety, they are met every where—crawling up the walls of buildings, scampering over the hot, dusty roads, gliding through the forest. They stand up on their legs, carry their tails cocked up in the air, and run with the activity of a warm-blooded animal. ”

“ THE LETÂÂH OR LIZARD. Difficulty of identifying the Letââh—Probability that it is a collective and not a specific term—Various Lizards of Palestine—The Green or Jersey Lizard—The Cyprius, its appearance and habits—The Glass Snake or Scheltopusic—Translation of the word chomet—Probability that it signifies the Skink—Medicinal uses of the Lizard—The Seps tribe—The common Cicigna, and the popular belief concerning its habits—The Sphænops and its shallow tunnel. ”

“ It is said, that the lizard, the greatest enemy of all to the snail, never prolongs its life beyond six months. The lizards of Arabia are a cubit in length,1873 while those upon Nysa,1874 a mountain of India, are twenty-four feet long, their colour being either yellow, purple, or azure blue. ”

“ Another member of the Saurian or Lizard race is disporting himself in a little bay close by. The imagination of man never called up a shape so weird and fantastic as this, in which we see combined, a fish-like body, a long serpentine neck, and the tapering tail of a lizard. ”