FOOD AND GROWTH 51 



but since these reptiles are large, they have no difficulty in regard 

 to swallowing such delicacies, which are taken into the mouth, 

 when, with the head held well up, the shell is cracked and the 

 contents allowed to flow down the throat. A Bengal monitor 

 ( V. bengalensis) kept in the gardens of the Trivandrum Museum 

 devoured in the course of a twelvemonth sixty rats, 10 lb. of 

 beef, six eggs, and four guinea-pigs. Skinks form a large por- 

 tion of the food of monitors in some districts. 



All chamaeleons are insectivorous, and the same is the case 

 with a number of true lizards, such as the stellions (Agama) 

 and the typical lizards (Lacertd). Many lizards, however, such 

 as the stump-tailed skink (Trac/ij/saurus), subsist on a mixed 

 diet ; but, judging from the nature of their teeth, the large 

 Australian skinks of the genus Tiliqua are probably herbivor- 

 ous. The American iguanas exhibit that diversity of diet in 

 different groups already mentioned as a curious feature among 

 reptiles. For instance, whereas the anolis iguanas of the genus 

 Anolis are insectivorous, the true iguanas (Iguana), the basilisks 

 (Basiliscus), and the Galapagos iguanas (Conolophus and Ambly- 

 rhynchus) are herbivorous. The last-mentioned, or sea-iguana, 

 is peculiar among the group in feeding on sea-weeds. 



A superficial resemblance in the teeth of the dinosaur of 

 the Wealden to those of the iguanas suggested to Dr. Gideon 

 Mantell, its describer, the name of Iguanodon for the former ; 

 and it would appear that this resemblance is correlated with 

 the nature of the food in the two groups, for the iguanodons, as 

 proved by the manner in which their teeth became worn down, 

 were certainly herbivorous. Another group of dinosaurs, with 

 teeth of a somewhat similar type, as exemplified by the 

 European Pelorosaurus and Hoplosaurus and the American Bron- 

 tosaurus (Apatosaurus) and Diplodocns, are likewise generally 

 considered to have been herbivorous. In 1910 Mr. J. Versluys 

 suggested, however, that Diplodocns and its kin subsisted on 

 fishes. In support of this it is pointed out that the capacity of 

 the body-cavity is not large enough to have contained a suffi- 

 cient supply of vegetable food. Moreover, it is argued that the 

 length and mobility of the neck, coupled with its muscular power 

 (as demonstrated by the prominences on the bones), and the 

 small size of the head, apparently indicate rapid and definite 



