8 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. 122 



Anolis lineatopus feeds on a wide range of sizes of prey, the larger 

 individuals eating more large prey than do the smaller ones. 



The sizes of prey found in the stomachs of 45 lizards examined are 

 recorded in table 2 in the following categories: <5 mm; 5-10 mm; 

 10-20 mm; and >20 mm. Entire insects were measured directly. 

 Fragments were compared with entire insects, either from stomachs 

 or in collections at the University of the West Indies. A few items 

 whose size could not be estimated were omitted. 



The increase in number of large prey with increase in lizard size 

 probably reflects a greater ability of large lizards to handle large prey, 

 since food is swallowed whole. 



The decrease in the number of small prey and the increase in rela- 

 tive numbers of ants (which is marked only in the largest lizards) 

 must reflect changes in the attitude of a lizard towards potential prey. 

 Ants, unlike most of the insects A. lineatopus catches, forage up and 

 down the branches, tree trunks, and fence posts where the larger 

 lizards regularly perch. To catch these ants, a lizard need move 

 only a short distance, if at all. Apparently larger lizards differ from 

 the smaller in taking small insects only when they can do so with 

 minimum effort. 



The decrease in number of prej^ per stomach with increased lizard 

 size is probably largely a reflection of the increase in size of the prey 

 items; however, the smaller lizards are gro\^dng more rapidly than the 

 larger ones and so may require more food. In the smallest size class, 

 both sexes are growing rapidly and, when the females' growth slows 

 down, they begin to produce eggs, an activity that must require 

 considerable food. Dessauer (1955) calculated for A. carolinensis 

 that 'Tn the course of its 5-month laying season, the individual 

 Anolis female must lay down the equivalent of her own total body 

 protein for egg production" (p. 12). The largest lizards are adult 

 males that are growing very slowly though expending considerable 

 energy in display. Harris (1964) foimd, however, that an Agama 

 agama took about the same weight of food per gram of lizard regard- 

 less of lizard size. 



There are differences in micro-habitat associated with anole size 

 (see p. 17) that may affect what is easily available for food to different 

 sized A. lineatopus. 



Whatever the reasons for it, A. lineatopus of different sizes living in 

 one relatively small and quite uniform area differed in what they had 

 eaten. The smallest took large numbers of small prey, which were 

 predominantly not ants, and the largest took fewer prey, many of 

 which were large, plus an appreciable number of small prey, which 

 were mostly ants. The change from one type of food to the other 

 seems to occur gradually. 



