Page:Natural History, Reptiles.djvu/129

Rh pertinacity. It manifests much ferocity also in the seizure of its animal prey. Its flesh is eaten, and highly esteemed; nor are its excellences esteemed only by the epicure; for a medical value is attached to rings of the skin stripped from its tail, which are worn by the simple natives of those regions as preventives of paralysis, and curatives of painful humours.

The two species which constitute the only British representatives of the vast Saurian Order are members of this Family, which is known by the following characters:—

The body is long, slender, and elegant, without spines on any part; the toes are free, long, and very unequal; the tongue long, extensile, sheathed at the base, and terminating in two long slender points; there is a collar round the neck, formed by a transverse range of broad scales, separated from those of the breast by a space covered with minute ones, and overlapping them; a part of the bones of the skull projects over the temples and orbits; the palate is in general furnished with minute teeth, and those of the jaw are placed on the same line, and have a cutting edge.

The upper parts of the body are covered with small overlapping scales; the top of the head and the temples are covered with broad plates or shields, of various but regular forms, the margins of which are in contact. On the slight