LIZARDS. . 139 
habit, except perhaps when water is near, of remaining perfectly 
still while danger is at hand, combine to help them to escape the 
eye of man. 
The tail of these Lizards is frequently of great length, some- 
times longer than twice the head and body of the animal. It is 
also very flexible, and compressed. Some of these creatures are 
able to give a severe wound, especially in the face, by furiously 
lashing their tail. Certain species can reproduce a lost portion of 
tail. Some of the Jguwanide have prehensile tails; but most of 
them possess tails which are not prehensile. The teeth of the 
herbivorous members of this family are wonderfully adapted for 
their duties: the lateral ones are denticulated, and so arranged 
that as the mouth closes upon a leaf they overlap each other and 
cut it through with the greatest ease. 
One of the most remarkable of the Jguanide is the Basilisk, 
probably so called after the fabulous king of serpents, whose very 
look was said to be sudden death. Perhaps the name Basilisk, a 
corruption apparently of basileus, the Greek for a king, was given 
to this strange animal because of its crown-like head-crest. It 
‘‘might be taken for an heraldic rather than a real and living 
active tree-lizard. If it were 12ft. in length instead of as many 
inches, it would not be unlike a medizval dragon without wings, 
and even in its small development it looks very uncanny. Its 
broad and rather sharp-pointed scaly head has a tall, cap-like 
crest sticking up and back from the hinder part. A tall, thin, 
fin-like, movable crest, with spines on it, passes along the back, 
being highest over the loins, and there is a corresponding one on 
the top of the long tail. The body is scaly and marked in zigzag. 
There is a very marked fold of the skin on the throat, and the 
hind digits are fringed at their sides. It inhabits Central 
America.’’ The above is so good a description of this extra- 
ordinary-looking beast that I have ventured to copy it from 
Cassell’s ‘‘ Natural History.”” Only the males have crests on the 
back and tail. The dorsal crest, which sometimes is as deep as 
the animal’s body, bears, in certain respects, not a little 
resemblance to the erected dorsal fin of a perch. 
The Basilisk occasionally reaches a length of over 30in., of 
which at least 22in. are owned by the tail. The species described 
