The green lizard is one of the most beautiful of its tribe, and, although not indigenous to Great Britain, is common in the Channel Islands. In Jersey, more especially during the summer months, it is one of the most familiar of the "common objects of the country," as it darts in and out of the hedgerows after flies and other insects, or basks in the bright sunshine on some stone wall, with its emerald-green body flattened out in order to absorb the greatest possible amount of heat. As the colder autumn days advance this lizard is rarely visible, and it finally retires into some rocky cleft or burrow in the hedge-bank, and is no more seen until the return of spring. Green lizards, liberated in suitably mild spots in the South of England, have been known to thrive for brief periods, but succumb to the cold of an extra-severe winter.
Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.] [Milford-on-Sea.
OCELLATED LIZARDS AT HOME.
The most brilliantly coloured of living lizards. The body is bright emerald-green, decorated on the sides with azure-blue spots.
The largest representatives of the green lizard are those inhabiting Eastern Europe and Asia Minor, where in size and colour they almost imperceptibly merge into the Pearly or Ocellated Lizard. This very handsome species, which, in company with examples of the green lizard, is frequently imported by London dealers, ranges from 16 inches to close upon 2 feet in length. In form it is stouter and more robust than a typical green lizard, the head in the old males more particularly being exceptionally massive. Whatever may be lacking in grace of form is, however, fully compensated for by brilliancy of colouring, no other lizard, in fact, out-rivalling it in this respect. To the brilliant shagreen-patterned emerald-green hues of the Jersey species it has superadded along its sides eye-like spots of brilliant turquoise or ultra-marine, with dark brown or black encircling lines. In the males the green ground-colour has a more distinctly golden hue, while in the young individuals the body is more usually olive-colour, dotted throughout with whitish or pearly-blue, black-edged spots. This beautiful lizard is unfortunately somewhat irascible in temper, and will not as a rule allow itself to be handled as freely as the majority of the members of its tribe; when biting, moreover, it has a tendency to fasten itself upon the object seized with bulldog-like tenacity, a grip from a powerful-jawed old male being a somewhat unpleasant experience. In addition to insects the ocellated lizard will prey upon any other small animals it can overpower, including the members of its own species; it is consequently not safe to entrust it in the company of other lizards of less size and strength.
The Skink Family, which next invites attention, contains no less than 400 known species, and, climatic conditions being favourable, enjoys an almost cosmopolitan distribution. The majority of its members have stoutish cylindrical bodies, with relatively short limbs and tail; the legs are sometimes reduced to two only, or altogether aborted, giving the animal a snakelike form.
The Common or "Medicinal" Skink—so called since it was regarded in the Middle Ages as an infallible medicinal nostrum—is an inhabitant of North Africa, and notable for its adaptation to a sand-burrowing existence. The body is short, cylindrical, exceedingly smooth through the close apposition of the minute surface-scales, and sharply conical at each extremity. The well-developed toes of all four feet are flattened and serrated at their edges in such a manner that they constitute most effective burrowing-tools in the loose sand these lizards frequent. The length of this skink rarely exceeds 3 or 4 inches. Its colour is rather exceptional for a lizard, but at the same time in keeping with its predominating subterranean habits. The ground-tint in the living examples in the writer's possession, one of which is photographed on page [579], was a light yellowish-white, like that of old polished ivory, with here and there a pale flesh-pink tinge. On the under-surface this light tint was persistent, while the back was traversed by some twelve broadish bands of pale slate-grey. The skink does not, like the mole and the Amphisbænas, obtain its food from subterranean sources. It comes out to bask on the surface of the sand when the sun is at its height, and keeps a brisk look-out for flies or other insects, which, if they approach sufficiently near, are pounced upon with remarkably agility. Should the sky become overcast or any cause for alarm manifest itself, the skink disappears beneath the sand as though by magic, not infrequently burrowing down to a depth of several feet. Even at the present day the skink is esteemed by the Arabs both for medicine and food, and in the latter association, well broiled, has won the commendation of European palates.
Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.] [Milford-on-Sea.