128 REPTILES OF THE WORLD 



and known as the Chuckawalla, Sauromalus ater. The 

 feeding habits of captive Mastigures are rather eccen- 

 tric and hard to understand. While a variety of food 

 may be presented, something greatly craved appears 

 lacking and difficult to imitate. If fresh lettuce leaves 

 are thrown into the pen there is an immediate show of 

 interest. The lizards run up to these, nibble a few 

 mouthfuls, then wander away with a clearly disappointed 

 air. A saucer of meal worms produces the same effect. 

 The lizards feed sparingly — yet they act hungry and 

 ever on the watch for something. Some of the writer's 

 specimens have eaten very young birds. 



Family Iguanidce: In the way of introduction to 

 this family we can say little, or repeat what has been 

 already said about the Agamidce, as the general struc- 

 ture follows closely the extreme variation of the latter. 

 This strange parallelism has already been explained un- 

 der the head of the Agamidce. The members of the 

 Iguanidce differ chiefly in their pleurodont dentition. 

 The tongue is pink, thick and viscid. With the excep- 

 tion of the species of Holbrookia and a few of the 

 horned "toads" — Phrynosoma — all repesentatives of the 

 Iguanidce have an exposed and well-developed ear-drum 

 — tympanum. 



Habits are as varied as structure. Some species are 

 entirely arboreal; others live in the deserts, while a few 

 are semi-aquatic. We have, in fact, a complete repeti- 

 tion of the habits noted with the Agamidce, except mem- 

 bers with parachute-like wings like the Dragons. Yet 

 the Iguanidce has species with expanded and adhesive 

 digits — the Anoles — differing from any of the forms 

 of the Agamidce. 



The Iguanidce is a New World family with the re- 

 markable exception of two genera occurring in Mada- 



