Dr. A. Giinther on Reptiles from St. Croix, West Indies. 215 



rate, the differences are probably only such as would be appre- 

 ciated by one who has had the opportunity of observing all three. 

 But we must bear witness to the extreme fidelity of Mr. Gosse's 

 notes — not a word of them but seems to be literally and entirely 

 true ; and especially must we remark on his account of the 

 ' goitre' in the species of this genus, the mechanical method of 

 displaying it practised by the animal, and its unvarying colour, 

 all of which is as accurate as the use of that remarkable append- 

 age is to us at present unknown. The brilliancy, however, of this 

 orange disk varies in different individuals. To describe generally 

 the hues of the rest of the body would be impossible, — they are 

 simply those of the rainbow, though never of any great intensity, 

 excepting when, in an irritated or alarmed animal, the prevail- 

 ing tint, whatever it may have been before, becomes a dull smoky 

 brown. This species is much fed upon by birds : a young Bare- 

 legged Owl {Gymnoglaux nudipes) which one of us possessed 

 would scarcely eat anything else ; and when offered to it alive, 

 these lizards would make a resistance which often ended in their 

 escape (^ Ibis,' 1859, p. 65) : we have found their remains also in 

 the stomachs of other birds, especially in the Green Heron {Bu- 

 torides virescens), which seems constantly to prey upon them. 

 The food of the species seems to consist chiefly of ants. There 

 is one peculiarity about it which Mr. Gosse has not recorded, — 

 and that is, that if a small pebble, the size of a pea or so, be 

 thrown near where an Anolis is sitting, it will run after it, pro- 

 bably under the idea that it is a living creature. Among the 

 specimens of this species sent to the Museum were a pair taken 

 in copuldJ' 



5. Spharodactylus macrolepisj n. sp. (PI. IV. fig. B.) 



Body surrounded by about forty longitudinal series of scales 

 of rather large size ; no vertebral streak of smaller ones, those 

 of the back keeled, of the belly smooth. Trunk and tail uniform 

 blackish -brown, in younger individuals some scales with blackish 

 tips ; head greyish-brown, marbled with black ; jaws and throat 

 striolated with blackish. 



Description. — The snout is of moderate extent, and slightly 

 pointed; all the upper surface of the head and the sides are 

 covered with scales of moderate size ; there is an exceedingly 

 small horn-like spine above the middle of the orbit. The rostral 

 shield is low, and bent backwards on the upper surface of the 

 snout ; the sides of the jaw are margined with three elongate 

 labials ; the nostril is situated above the posterior extremity of 

 the rostral shield and the first labial, and exceedingly small. 

 The anterior lower labial is single ; a series of three other shields 

 covers the lateral margin of the lower jaw. The scales of the 



