102 SAURIA. IGUANADiE. 



away, and vegetation starts into universal verdure, 

 the sportsmen are seen with a noose and a stick 

 wandering along the sides of the river to take 

 the Iguana. The animal, though apparently 

 formed for combat, is the most harmless creature 

 of all the forest: it lives among the trees, or 

 sports on the water, without ever offering to 

 offend ; there having fed upon the flowers of the 

 Mahot {Hibiscus tiliaceus), and the leaves of the 

 Mapou {Eriodendron anfractuosum), that grow 

 along the banks of the stream, it goes to repose 

 upon the branches of the trees that hang over the 

 water. Upon the land the animal is swift of 

 foot; but when once in possession of a tree, it 

 seems conscious of the security of its situation, 

 and never offers to stir. There the sportsman 

 easily finds it, and as easily fastens his noose, 

 round its neck : if the head be placed in such a 

 manner that the noose cannot readily be fastened, 

 by hitting the animal a blow on the nose with a 

 stick, it lifts the head, and offers it in some 

 measure to the noose. In this manner, and also 

 by the tail, the Iguana is di-agged from the tree 

 and killed by repeated blows on the head."* 



The mode in which the animal is induced to 

 permit the placing of the fatal noose over its head 

 has been described as follows ; and we can in 

 some measure confirm its credibility from per- 

 sonal experience, having often captured Dactyloa 

 Edwardsii, and other West Indian IguanadcE by 

 this very artifice. " They are in the habit of 

 sitting on the branches of trees, facing the sun, 

 with only the front part of their head exposed. 

 On these occasions the following method is re- 



* " Animated Nature," book ii., chap. 3. 



