186 Naturalist at Large 



Thus the little lizard looked as if it wore old-fashioned lace 

 mitts. I never saw anything like it. At the risk of being 

 prolix, I quote from my notes: — 



The region is one of high, damp, humid forest, 

 gloomy and stifling except where some watercourse 

 cuts through the wooded lowlands, letting in the sun- 

 light. Decay of fallen wood and leaves is very rapid 

 and the dark forest floor is sodden and slippery. In 

 general, reptiles were surprisingly rare, and often a day 

 would pass when none of us would see a lizard, unless 

 when coming to the shore of some small stream the 

 bipedal basilisks would scurry away. The young far 

 outnumber the adults and all are well able to run with 

 equal ease over land or the face of the water. While 

 they are running over either surface the body is held 

 almost upright, the tail is raised as a balance, and the 

 fore limbs are tightly pressed to the sides. They move 

 and stop with a speed and precision which seems 

 mechanical rather than animate. The paucity of adults 

 and the shyness of both young and old bespeak abun- 

 dant enemies, but of what nature we were never able 

 to learn. 



One afternoon an Indian who had been gathering fire- 

 wood came in carrying a small lizard, and we then saw 

 for the first time the young of Diploglossiis 7;wnotropis, 

 already known from Costa Rica and Colombia. This little 

 creature, about seven inches long, was so gorgeously col- 

 ored while alive and so different from the preserved exam- 

 ples that my field notes are again worth quoting: "This 

 specimen, seven inches long, has a gray-green head, bril- 



