128 JUNGLE ISLAND 



loosely around the body just in front of the hind 

 legs. 



My first Anolis had a dull brown back, faintly 

 patterned, but I found that they were not always 

 the same color. Sometimes they might be brown, 

 or a dull gray, or a light green, and often they 

 would mix colors, with a brown stripe down the 

 spine while the rest of the body was green. 



Many people believe that these lizards which 

 change color are always the color of whatever 

 they are standing on. This is not true. One of 

 my lizards was a Hght gra^dsh green when I 

 decided to place him on a little plant of the same 

 color. He immediately turned to a rich brown, 

 but even then I must give him credit for not 

 being easily seen as he stood, "frozen," head 

 downward. A brown lizard that I found curled 

 around a white nut was well hidden, too. It was 

 much easier to see the nut than the lizard. 



AnoHs' color seems to be controlled partly by 

 light, partly by heat, and partly by excitement. 

 Whenever he is excited he puffs out bright yellow 

 skin under his throat. 



Mr. Ditmars, the "snake man" of the New 

 York Zoological Gardens, tells of watching two 

 dull brown male Anolis lizards as they met each 

 other. Both extended their yellow throat fans 

 and approached each other with dancing steps, 

 nodding their heads. As they came closer both 

 changed to an ashen gray. Then they charged 



