Of the Agamas without pores in the thighs, the principal species are, the Spinous Apulia (A. aculeata) of a yellowish gray colour with numerous transverse brown bands. All the upper parts of the body are covered with elevated scales, forming small pointed pyramids of four-sides ; the body is short and thick, the tail likewise short, the head broad and flat, and the belly protuberant. Excepting in the length of the tail, and the body being covered with scales, the whole animal has much of the form and appearance of a frog or toad : it is found at the Cape of Good Hope, and is of larger size than the generality of the other species.
The Tapayaxin (A. orbicularia) of South America is very similar to the species last described in its form and proportions, but is still shorter and thicker. The extraordinary figure of this reptile, approaching almost to the form of a perfect sphere, its broad flat head, its akin covered with small tubercles or warts inters versed among the scales, and the faculty which it perm:sees of distending its body with air, and to a certain degree assuming different shades of colour, have caused it to be sometimes compared to a toad, and sometimes to a chameleon ; but the truth is, that it has no actual relation or affinity to either of these animals, but is indebted solely to its naturally dispiriting aspect fur the calumnies which the early Spanish writers have heaped upon it. The Tap ayaxin inhabits the mountainous and rocky parts
of South America, from the Isthmus of Aolen to Patagonia.
Other sub-genera and species belonging to this division of the Agrunas are—Trapelus (A..,Egyptican), remarkable for its change of colour, oven more sudden than that of the true chameleon ; the A. calote.R, of a bright blue colour with transverse white marks on the sides, from the Molucca Islands; the Lophgres (A. gigaatea, Kuhl), with a crest of long elevated spines on the neck ; and the Lyriocephalus (A. sesta:a), which has a similar elevated crest along the back, and the tail keel shaped. This latter species, in many respects a most singular reptile, inhabits Bengal, and lives upon fruits.
For ample details concerning the specific differences of the Agamas, NVO refer the reader to the works of Cevier, Daudin, and Merrem.