106 SAURIA. AGAMAD^. 



cited from Bro^^^l, belong to the Cyclura^ which 

 we know to be an inhabitant of the district men- 

 tioned by the former. In another passage, how- 

 ever, it appears to have been a true Iguana, 

 which he speaks of as having been brought from 

 the Isle of Pines, " of a wonderful size, being, 

 as they judged, between six and seven feet in 

 length. . . The hind quarter weighed five 

 pounds, whence they concluded that the Iguana 

 must have w^eighed twenty pounds." 



Family IV. Agamad^. 



(^Agamas.) 



The subjects of the present group are by some 

 zoologists (among whom are the great French 

 herj^etologists we have so often cited) considered 

 as forming a division of the Iguanadce ; but they 

 are by others elevated to the rank of a Family, 

 and as such we prefer to treat of them. Their 

 most important distinctions are to be found in 

 the teeth ; these are entirely wanting in the 

 palate ; and those of the jaw, instead of being im- 

 planted on its inner side, are seated on the ridge 

 of the jaw-bone, to which they are soldered, and 

 of which they appear to be a continuation. 



In the form of the head and of the teeth the 

 AgamadcE resemble the true Lizards, but differ 

 from them in the imbricated scales with which 

 their tails are clothed. The body is for the most 

 part thicker and shorter than the usual propor- 

 tions ; the skin is loose and capable of being in- 

 flated with air at pleasure ; the head is short, 

 flat, and broad, particularly behind ; the neck 



