A laced lizard in Australia. Etching by S.T. Edwards, 1789.

"This most elegant species is in length, from the nose to the end of the tail, about forty inches: in the mouth are a few weak teeth, though rather sharp, at about a quarter of an inch distance one from another: the tongue is long and forked: the general shape is slender; and the ground colour of the skin, on the upper parts, a brownish or bluish black, whimsically marked with golden yellow; in some parts this colour is beautifully mottled or freckled, like some kinds of lace-work; in others, striped in various directions, particularly on the legs, which seem as if striped across with black and white: the under parts are yellow, crossed with single bars of black on the chin and throat, and double clouded ones on the belly: the toes are five in number on each foot, barred across with black and yellow, as the legs, and each furnished with a crooked black claw: the tail measures more in length than the whole of the body; towards the base, clouded and marked as the rest; but the further half banded with black and yellow, each band three inches broad, the end running to a very sharp point. This beautiful Lizard is not uncommon at Port Jackson, where it is reputed a harmless species. Individuals vary much one from another, in respect to the length of the tail, as also in the colour of the markings; some having those parts marked with a pure silvery white, which in the above described are yellow."--Philip, op. cit., p. 279