Of the Australian agamas no other genus is so numerously represented
and widely distributed as _Grammatophora_, the species of which grow
to a length of from 8 to 18 in. Their scales are generally rough and
spinous; but otherwise they possess no strikingly distinguishing
peculiarity, unless the loose skin of their throat, which is
transversely folded and capable of inflation, be regarded as such. On
the other hand, two other Australian agamoids have attained some
celebrity by their grotesque appearance, due to the extraordinary
development of their integuments. One (fig. 1) is the frilled lizard
(_Chlamydosaurus kingi_), which is restricted to Queensland and the
north coast, and grows to a length of 3 ft., including the long
tapering tail. It is provided with a frill-like fold of the skin round
the neck, which, when erected, resembles a broad collar. This lizard
when startled rises with the fore-legs off the ground and squats and
runs on its hind-legs. The other lizard is one which most
appropriately has been called _Moloch horridus_. It is covered with
large and small spine-bearing tubercules; the head is small and the
tail short. It is sluggish in its movements, and so harmless that its
armature and (to a casual observer) repulsive appearance are its sole
means of defence. It grows only to a length of 10 in., and is not
uncommon in the flats of South and West Australia.
Family 2. _Iguanidae._--Pleurodont; tongue broad and thick, not
protractile; no osteoderms. America, Madagascar and Fiji Islands.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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