140 THE: VIVARIUM. 
is Basilicus americanus; there are three other species. These 
Lizards are herbivorous. 
Anyone who is lucky enough to possess a living specimen of this 
curious and interesting Reptile, and should wish to keep it in 
confinement, ought to place it in a large and well-heated Vivarium 
in which there are some growing trees, and offer it as food young 
lettuces, young cabbages, watercress, fruit and berries. The 
case should be kept at a temperature of about 85deg. Fahr. 
Among the most beautiful of the ZIywantdw are the Anoles. 
The males have gular appendages. All have their toes 
more or less dilated, and have, therefore, great powers of 
climbing. The tail is very long, compressed, or cylindrical, and 
sometimes extremely slender. It is not prehensile; but it is 
frequently reproduced when broken, the new part being at first 
of a black colour. 
The genus Anolis is so large as to number about 106 species. 
Some of the Anoles make very charming pets. Personally, I 
think them to be the most beautiful of all Lizards. Those I have 
been fortunate enough to possess have proved themselves hardy 
while in confinement. They are extraordinarily active, and, for 
Reptiles, very intelligent: they soon become tame enough to take 
a fly from the fingers. Owing to their great activity and power 
of changing colour, mine have several times escaped from their 
case. For instance, when the case has been opened for cleaning 
purposes or for a change of water, the little creatures while 
clinging to the leaf of an orange tree, and having assumed the 
exact hue of the leaf, have been unnoticed until, like a flash of 
green light, if such an expression may be used here, they have 
gone. However, I have always been lucky enough to re-capture 
them. One lived, unobserved, for at least two months, on a vine 
in a greenhouse. As a rule, my Anoles sleep, hanging head 
downwards, on the outside of a large leaf of an orange-tree. 
Speaking of these Lizards, Mr. Gosse, in his ‘‘ A Naturalist’s 
Sojourn in Jamaica,’ says, ‘‘The little Anoles are chasing each 
other in and cut between the jalousies, now stopping to protrude 
from the throat a broad disc of brilliant colour, crimson or orange, 
like the petal of a flower, then withdrawing it, and again dis- 
playing it in coquettish sport. Then one leaps a yard or two 
