LIZARDS 6s 



said to consist exclusively of ants, which, according to 

 Saville Kent, they devour in amazing quantities ; this 

 naturalist, who studied the creature in its native land, 

 calculating that a single individual consumed as many as 

 fifteen hundred at a single meal, each ant being picked up 

 separately with the tongue. 



The family IguanidjE, with the exception of two genera 

 in Madagascar, and one in the Fiji Islands, is restricted to 

 the New World, there replacing the Agamidce, from which 

 it is distinguished by the pleurodont dentition. With 

 the exception of the " flying " lizards, all the principal 

 forms represented amongst the Agamids are repeated in 

 the Iguanids. 



The lizards are generally insectivorous or herbivorous, a 

 few only feeding on both animal and vegetable matter ; 

 Amblyrhynchus cristatus, the only lizard known to enter 

 salt water, feeds exclusively on sea-weeds. 



Anolis is a genus composed of small arboreal lizards 

 inhabiting the tropical and semi-tropical parts of America. 

 The body is slender and more or less compressed ; the 

 head is usually long and flattened, superficially resembling 

 in shape that of a crocodile, and is provided with a large 

 fold of skin, or dewlap, on the throat, which is distensible 

 at will, but not inflatable as in Draco. The fingers are 

 more or less dilated, enabling the creatures to attach 

 themselves to smooth surfaces. 



I The Carolina Anolis, A. carolinensis, a common species 

 in Florida, where it goes under the misnomer of " chame- 

 leon," is remarkable for its colour changes. It is most 

 frequently bright green in colour, but may be greenish- 



