156 JOURNAL OF THE TRINIDAD 



from the dogs and had clambered up some fifteen feet and hung 

 clinging with his long crooked claws to some knotty protuber- 

 ances in the trunk. From this point of temporary safety 

 he was anxiously watching the dogs and ourselves. He was a 

 perfect specimen, some two feet in length, and the morning sun 

 shining on his brilliant coat showed him oft' to the greatest 

 advantage. He was beyond our reach, even when we had 

 climbed up part of the way, and the only method of capturing 

 him appeared to be to knock him down. The fall wquld not 

 damxge him but then the dogs would soon finish him if they 

 were ailowed to, so we cast about for a better plan to secure him 

 alive and unhurt. Several were suggested but rejected as being 

 too hazardous. At length Mr. Urich, who is fond of experiments, 

 made a startling proposition. A long stick was cut and split at 

 the end. In this was fastened a big piece of cotton wool which 

 Mr. Urich steeped in chloroform. This was presented to the 

 mat's nose and we watched the result with curiosity. After a 

 second or two the head drooped, the bright eyes partially closed 

 and the feet were relaxing their hold. We waited underneath 

 with an open bag ready to catch him as he fell. But the lizard's 

 drowsiness was only of a moment's duration, he raised his head 

 and tried to scramble higher but lost his hold, fell, and just as 

 we were pouncing upon him dived into the midst of the numerous 

 roots and was lost to sight in an instant. Not deterred, how- 

 ever, we went to work with our cutlasses lopping off the roots 

 and trying to find the half stupefied saurian. Soon one desisted, 

 then another, and then a third, until only two remained at work. 

 Suddenly there was a rush, and away went the mat helter 

 skelter, tail in air followed by the dogs and ourselves as quickly 

 as we could travel. The run was only a short one, for the lizard, 

 after covering fifteen or twenty yards, threw himself into a ravine 

 some eight feet deep and sought refuge in a small stream at the 

 bottom, where he remained under the surface perfectly motionless. 

 The water being clear we poked him until he began to swim with 

 horizontal, modulatory motions, the limbs close to the sides, up 

 and down, still keeping beneath the surface. At length he swam 

 into a shallow place and holding him down with the flat blade of 

 a cutlass he was soon secured and consigned to a bag, but not 

 before he had inflicted sundry long scratches upon his captor's 

 hands and wrists. Any of our members wishing to see this 

 identical lizard may do so when next in London by visiting the 

 Reptile House in the Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park, where 

 he arrived last October in splendid condition. He is an excep- 

 tionally fine reptile, being perfect in claws and tail which is not 

 the rule with lizards which are much addicted to fighting. 

 As we returned home we passed near the place where the 

 Mamural stream joins the Caparo river. Here there was a 



