CHLAMYDOSAURUS, a genus of Saurian Reptiles, founded by Dr. J. E. Gray upon a apeciwen brought home by Captain Phillip Parker King, RN., F.R.S., &o., on his return from his survey of the intertropical and western coasts of Australia, performed between the years 1818 and 1822. The following is Dr. Gray's description : Animal scaly ; the bead depressed; the nostrils placed on the side, midway between the eyes and the end of the head ; the drum of the ear naked; the front teeth conical, awl-shaped (eight in the upper and four in the lower jaw), the hinder ones longest ; the side or cheek teeth compressed, short, forming a single ridge, gradually longer behind; tongue short, fleshy, with an oval smooth disc at each side of the lower part of its front part; neck rather long, furnished on each side with a large plaited frill, supported above by a crescent shaped cartilage, arising from the upper hinder part of the ear, and in the middle by an elongation of the side fork of the bone of the tongue ; body compressed; legs rather long, especially the hinder ones; destitute of femoral pores ; feet four, with five toes, the first having two, the second three, the third four, the fourth five, and the little finger and toe three joints; claws compressed, hooked; tail long, u6arly round, scaly.
Chlamydosaurus King ii. Colour yellowish-brown, variegated with black. Head depressed, with the sides erect, leaving a blunt ridge on the upper part wherein the eyes are placed. The ridge over the eyes is covered with larger scales than those over the head. The eyes are rather small, with a fleshy ridge above them, and the eyelids are covered with minute scales, and surrounded by a delicate serrated ridge of small upright ones. The lips are surrounded by a row of oblong 4-sided scales, arranged lengthways, the front scale of the upper lip being the largest. The chin is covered with narrow mid-ribbed scales, with a 5-sided one in the centre, and several of larger size just over the front of the fork of the lower jaw. The nostrils are sur rounded by a rather large orbicular scale, situated nearly midway be tween the eye and the end of the upper jaw, the tubes pointing forwards. The side of the face has a very obscure ridge extending from the angle of the mouth to the under part of the ear. The neck is covered with small scales. The frill arises from the hinder part of the head, just over the front of the ears, is attached to the sides of the neck, and extends down to the front part of the chest, supported above by a Innate cartilage arising from the hinder dorsal part of the ear, and in the centre by a bone which extends about half its length. Each frill has four plaits which converge on the under part of the chin, and fold it up on the side, and a fifth where the two are united in the centre of the lower part of the neck. The front part of its upper
edge is elegantly serrated, but the hinder or lower part is quite entire : the outer surface is covered with canted scales, those in the centre being the largest. The inner surface is quite smooth. The scales of the back are oval, and nearly smooth; those of the lower part of the body and upper part of the legs have a short mid-rib, and those of the sides and joints of the limbs are minute. The tail is twice as long as the body, roundish, covered with scales which have each a sharp mid-rib, and towards the termination, which is blunt, form six rows, so as to render that organ obscurely hexagonal. The toes aro long, very unequal, compressed, and scaly. The claws are hooked, and horn-coloured.
Dimensions.—Length of the tail 12 inches; of the body 5 inches ; of the head 5i inches. Breadth of the head over the eyes one inch. Length of the thigh Ill-, inch; of the foot and sole 21 inches ; of the outer edge of the frill 10 inches.
Locality and Habits.—We owe the discovery of this extraordinary Saurian to Mr. Allan Cunningham, who accompanied Captain King's expedition as his Majesty's botanical collector for New Gardens, and to whom naturalists in general are so much indebted for the zeal dis played by him in the pursuit of natural history, and for the liberality with which he has communicated the results of his labours. He found the specimen from which the description was taken on the branch of a tree in Careening Bay, at the bottom of Port Nelson, and sent it to Sir Everard Home, by whom it was deposited in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons. The following is the account of the capture in Mr. Cunningham's Journal :—"I secured a lizard of extraordinary appearance, which bad perched itself upon the stem of a small decayed tree ; it had a curious crenated membrane, like a ruff or tippet round its neck, covering its shoulders, and when expanded, which it was enabled to do by means of transverse slender cartilages, it spreads 5 inches in the form of an open umbrella. I regret that my eagerness to secure so interesting an animal did not admit of sufficient time to allow the lizard by its alarm or irritability to show how far it depended upon, or what use it made of, this extra ordinary membrane when its life was threatened. Its head was rather large, and eyes, whilst living, rather prominent ; its tongue, although bifid, was short and thick, and appeared to be tubular." According to Captain King, the colour of the tongue and inside of the mouth was yellow. Dr. J. E. Gray arranges this genus under the family Agantichr. [Acsms..)