Ch. XIX.] LIZAEDS. 339 



kept alive until required for food. Tlie racoon-like 

 " pisoti ' is also fond of them, but cannot so easily 

 catch them. He has to climb every tree, and then, 

 unless he can surprise them asleep, they drop from the 

 branch to the ground and scuttle off to another tree. I 

 once saw a solitary pisoti hunting for iguanas amongst 

 some bushes near the lake where they were very 

 numerous, but during the quarter of an hour that I 

 watched him, he never caught one. It was like the 

 game of " puss in the corner." He would ascend a small 

 tree on which there were several; but down they would 

 drop when he had nearly reached them, and rush off to 

 another tree. Master " Pisoti/' however, seemed to 

 take all his disappointments with the greatest coolness, 

 and continued the pursuit unflaggingly. Doubtless expe- 

 rience had taught him that his perseverance would ulti- 

 mately be rewarded : that sooner or later he would 

 surprise a corpulent iguana fast asleep on some branch, 

 or too late in dropping from his resting-place. In the 

 forest I always saw the "pisoti 7 hunting in large 

 bands, from which an iguana would have small chance 

 of escape, for some were searching along the ground 

 whilst others ranged over the branches of the trees. 



Other tree lizards also try to escape their enemies by 

 dropping from great heights to the ground. I was once 

 standing near a large tree, the trunk of which rose fully 

 fifty feet before it threw off a branch, when a green 

 Anolis dropped past my face to the ground, followed by 

 a long green snake that had been pursuing.it amongst 

 the foliage above, and had not hesitated to precipitate 

 itself after its prey. The lizard alighted on its feet and 

 hurried away, the snake fell like a coiled- up watch- 



z 2 



