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Show 2-10 MR. R. SWINHOE ON THE REPTILES OF CHINA. [Apr. 28, 4. DRACO, sp. ? The little Flying Lizard appears only to be found in the jungly district of Nychow (South Hainan), where it is an article of trade. The natives say that it is usually met with during spring in the forests in pairs flying from tree to tree. They are caught with a net; and when one is taken the other falls to the ground and allows itself to be captured without difficulty. They are pinned out like Butterflies and dried for the market. Their chief use is to hasten childbirth, the dried reptile being placed on the forehead of the woman in labour. They are called Fei-shay, or " Flying Snake," and sell for one shilling apiece. I bought six of the prepared specimens; but Dr. Gunther says that in their dried state it is impossible to determine the species. 5. CALOTES VERSICOLOR (Daud.) ; Giinth. op. cit. p. 140. This long-tailed green Tree-lizard, with a combed back, was very common in all the woody parts of the island, and I secured a good series. It is very agile in its movements, running with great celerity along the ground and up trees, and leaping from bough to bough like a Squirrel. The Chinese are very loth to touch it, declaring it to be venomous. 6. LIOLEPIS GUTTATUS, CUV. ; Giinth. op. cit. p. 154. On the low sandy hill, partly covered with Cocoa-nut trees, that bounds on the south the Lingshuy lagoon (S. E. Hainan) I first met with this large, showy, white-spotted Lizard. They were very numerous, and the sandy soil was riddled with their holes. They lay basking in the sun, and when disturbed would run with great speed to the mouths of their holes, where they would stop short and turn their heads about. If not satisfied with what they saw, they popped at once into their holes. If surprised far from their holes, they spring into the air while running, and, expanding the loose red skin of their sides, skim along the surface of the sand for a considerable distance (say, often twenty yards at a time) and thus reach their retreats at greater speed. Their flight is not continued by flaps, but seems to be merely a long sustained leap, the body being made buoyant by the expanded side skin, and is analogous to the flight of the Flying-fish. They have a peculiar smell about them, which affects the taste of their flesh ; and they are in consequence not eaten by the Chinese, except when in great distress for food. I met them again in the Nychow district, and in many warm sandy nooks along the west coast-never in the neighbourhood of woods, and I do not believe that they ever scale trees. W e saw hundreds of them, and took great interest in watching their habits. The British Museum has specimens of this Lizard from the Malayan peninsula, from Mergui, from Cambodia, and from China. II. Ophidia. 7. SIMOTES or OLIGODON, sp. ? A red Snake about 1\ foot in length, Dr. Gunther says, belongs |
