II S REPTILES AND BIRDS. 



food. Humboldt has remarked, that in intertropical South America, 

 all Lizards which inhabit dry regions are esteemed as delicacies for 

 the table. The inhabitants of the Galapagos say that those in- 

 habiting the damp region drink water, but that the others do not 

 travel up for it from the sterile country, like the gigantic Land Tor- 

 toises. At the time of our visit the females had within their bodies 

 numerous large elongated eggs. These they lay in their burrows, and 

 the inhabitants seek them for food." 



These two curious Lizards of the Galapagos agree nearly in 

 general structure, and in many of their habits ; and neither of them 

 has that rapidity of movement which is characteristic of various other 

 IguanidcE. The form of the head resembles a good deal that of a 

 Land Tortoise, and we find the same form of head, and again the 

 same disinclination to bite, in certain herbivorous Lizards, such as 

 the Uromastix and kindred forms, which are referred by Dr. Gray to 

 the corresponding Old World family of Agamida. 



In the family of Iguanas the Basilisk may be noted. According 

 to ancient authors, reproduced by writers of the Middle Ages, the 

 Basilisk, although such a small animal, could produce instant death 

 by its sting. The man whose eyes met theirs was supposed to be at 

 once devoured by an intense fire. Such are the fabulous ideas which 

 tradition has transmitted to us about these animals. It is to be re- 

 marked, however, that the Basilisk of modern herpetology is not the 

 Ba(Ti\i<rKos, or royal serpent, of the ancients, the cockatrice of Scrip- 

 ture. The Reptile which now bears the name is an inoffensive animal, 

 living in the forests of Guiana, Martinique, and Mexico, and leaping 

 from branch to branch, in order to gather the seeds or seize the 

 insects on which it feeds. 



The Basilisk is distinguished from the other iguanian Lizards by 

 the absence of the long and dilatable skin under the throat, and by 

 the presence of an elevated crest which runs along the whole length 

 of the back and tail. 



The Hooded Basilisk (JB. Americanus^ Fig. 28) measures seven or 

 eight inches from the nose to origin of the tail, which is itself nearly 

 three times as long, being nineteen or twenty inches in length. Upon 

 the occiput it has a sort of horn or bag, in shape like a hood, round 

 at the summit and slightly inclined towards the neck. This bag, 

 when distended, is about the size of a pullet's egg. In the male the 

 back and tail are surmounted by a raised crest, such as we have de- 

 scribed above, sustained in its thickness by the knotty process of the 

 vertebrae. The general colour is a mixture of sandy brown, slightly 

 marbled on the back and sides, with shades of blue on the upper part, 



