THE CHESTED ANOLIS. 133 



but as soon as the creature becomes excited by the 

 approach of a rival male, the membrane is puffed 

 out till nearly the size of a penny -piece. 



The anolis is extremely pugnacious in its habits ; 

 and during the spring and early part of the summer 

 two adult males rarely meet without a contest. On 

 first seeing one another, they nod their heads up 

 and down three or four times, at the same time 

 expanding their frills ; their eyes glisten with rage, 

 and after waving their tails from side to side for a 

 few seconds, as if to gather energy, they dart at 

 each other furiously, rolling over and over, and 

 holding firmly with their teeth. The conflict 

 generally ends in one of the combatants losing his 

 tail, which is often devoured by the victor. The 

 vanquished lizard obtains another tail in the space 

 of a month or two, though it always continues 

 shorter than the one lost, and differs from it further 

 in the arrangement of the scales, which in the 

 renewed tail are always arranged in semicircular 

 whorls. 



In order to provide my specimens with a dwelling 

 adapted as nearly as possible to their natural habits, 



1 had a vivarium made of plate glass, measuring then 



2 ft. 6 in. in length by 2 ft. in height and breadth, 

 being also fitted with a zinc cover ; at the bottom 

 of the case I placed a layer of earth and sand mixed 

 together, and planted various flowers and creeping 



