AFFECTIONS AND JEALOUSIES OF LIZARDS. 397 



Both, however, became very familiar with me, but Pedro more 

 than Pierre. They would run to me, when I called them, from 

 one end of the room to the other ; but I had to hold out a meal 

 worm for bait to bring Pierre, while Pedro would come when my 

 hands were empty. This was not because he was stupid, for when 

 he saw that I had no worm, and I drew back, he would follow me 

 like a dog, and would climb upon me when I stretched out my leg. 



M. Dineur sent me the next year several lizards at different 

 times, all of which were received with an ill grace. Among them 

 was a much larger one than Pedro, which he disliked along with 

 the others. One day this lizard took Pedro up and gave him a good 

 shaking, after which Pedro was very cautious in his annoyances, 

 and would run away the instant the other turned toward him. 



One lizard was respected by Pedro. It had been sent me from 

 Algeria by M. Forel, of Zurich, of a species we had not been able 

 to identify a tree liver, small but even fiercer than Pedro, and 

 quite untamable. After devouring one fine specimen and half 

 eating another, it became a marked terror to all the other mem- 

 bers df the collection. Only one of my lizards was fond of gentles ; 

 the others spit them out as soon as they had tasted them. As we 

 may say of a company of men, " So many heads, so many minds," 

 so we might say, with a little variation, of my pets, " So many 

 lizards, so many dispositions." 



Several of my lizards have died ; Pedro, a few months ago, of 

 a disease that first affected the eyes, after having been with me 

 five years. Pierre is still living with me, but has long had a 

 tumor on his leg, has lost his tail once by my fault and twice by 

 his own, and no longer likes honey, but shakes his head with an 

 air of disgust when it is put upon his nose a fact that shows that 

 the taste of lizards, too, may change with the years. 



As to the longevity of lizards : I do not think I am much mis- 

 taken when I suppose that they may live twenty or thirty years, 

 or even longer. As they advance in years the plates of the head, 

 smooth when they are young, show wrinkles and cavities which 

 become more marked and numerous. Those with me have not 

 grown much, and though I weighed them often usually about 

 once a month the results were too irregular to permit of any con- 

 clusions being drawn from them. The weight of the larger lizards 

 varied to the extent of thirty grammes, according as they were 

 well or sparingly fed. Pierre now weighs one hundred and six 

 grammes, another one one hundred and twenty-eight grammes, 

 and another thirty-eight grammes weights which are evidently 

 proportional to the cubes of their lengths ; but, according to my 

 figures, they have not gained any in five years. I conclude from 

 this that many years must have passed before the larger ones at- 

 tained the weight they have. 



