Tree Dragon, Amphibolurus muricatus

Plate 111. The Blood-Sucker, Grammatophora muricata (now known as the Tree Dragon, Amphibolurus muricatus) found in the Goulbourn district

This is the commonest lizard about Melbourne, especially in the sandy districts on the south coast, where it may often be seen, as represented in our plate, on a stump of Tee-tree, which it resembles in color and marking so nearly that it is almost impossible to distinguish it, unless the sun happens to glance from its bright eyes. When seen it will remain so immovable as almost to induce a belief that it is a withered stump; if your eye should leave it for an instant, it is gone like a flash. It is fond also of basking in the sun on shady paths, &c. The eggs are laid in the sand.

Why the popular name of "Blood-sucker" should be so universally given to this harmless creature by the colonists, I cannot conceive. In confinement it feeds readily on flies, and makes an elegant little pet in a Wardian Fern-case.