46 



AGAMI. 



form the chief means of distinction between the aga- 

 mas and the stellios, are of small value, inasmuch as 

 we do not know the use of the difference in the eco- 

 nomy of the animals ; but the difference between the 

 family and that of the lizards, in the structure of the 

 tongue, is of importance, as indicative of a different 

 mode of feeding ; as the absence of teeth in the 

 palate of the agamas, and their presence in the iguanas, 

 is also a good distinctive character. 



The purpose which the inflation of the body may 

 serve in the economy of the animals, whether it 

 enables them to capture insects by beating them down 

 with a current of air, as some fishes are said to do by 

 a discharge of water from the mouth, is not known ; 

 and, indeed, the greater part of the history of the 

 race is as obscure as the name, which hangs some- 

 what in doubt between Ayaput, " to be wondered at," 

 and Ayapis, " unmarried ;" but which, in all probability, 

 has no connexion either with the one or the other. 



But, whatever function those reptiles perform must 

 be an important one in the general economy of nature, 

 as they are numerous in species, abundant as in- 

 dividuals, and very generally distributed over the 

 warmer parts of the world in America, in Africa, in 

 Asia, and in New Holland. Many of them are found 

 on the ground only, where they frequent dry and 

 stony places ; but there are others which climb with 

 great readiness, and seek their food among the branches 

 of trees. The former have the toes comparatively 

 short : the latter have them much produced. Their 

 food is supposed to consist of insects and other small 

 animals, and also vegetable substances in some of the 

 species. 



A list of the sub-gertera and species into which the 

 genus has been divided (very differently by different 

 authors) would, for the reasons above stated, be in- 

 consistent with the plan of this work. All of them 

 have the power of inflating the'body to some extent, 

 and the inflation is often accompanied by changes of 

 colour, similar to those that have long been known in 

 the cameleon. The greater part of the skin appears 

 to consist of gelatine, which has the power of decom- 

 posing light, a power which increases with the thin- 

 ness of the pellicles, and the convexity of their surface ; 

 and thus, as any portion alters its form, all the pris- 

 matic colours may in succession be given out by it. 

 This property is of course the most perfect in those 

 that have the finest scales, of which there is a remark- 

 able instance in the variable Agama of Egypt (Tra- 

 pelus sEgypticiis of Cuvier). It is a small species, 

 destitute of scales when young ; and having them 

 small, scattered, and spineless in the adult state. 



One of the most remarkable, as well as most beau- 

 tiful, species is the blue " helmeted iguana " of the 

 south-east of Asia, known as the cameleon in that 

 part of the world. The body and tail, which is very 

 long, are covered with small reticulated scales ; and 

 there are two rows of spurious scales behind the 

 openings of the ears, which form an crectable crest. 

 The colour is a beautiful blue, with transverse white 

 bands on the sides ; and the changes are to green 

 and purple ; but they are very limited, and reflections 

 rather than any thing else. The eggs of this species 

 are spindle shaped, or much produced and pointed at 

 both ends. 



This must suffice as a specimen of this very plen- 

 tiful genus of living creatures of the tropical climates, 

 a genus of which the history, if once satisfactorily 

 mado out, would perhaps throw considerable light 



upon other points in natural history. None of them 

 are sea animals, and they do not inhabit those parts 

 of the different continents which nearly approach 

 each other, neither could they easily pass from the one 

 to the other upon the sea ; and yet in the eastern and 

 western continent and also in New Holland, they re- 

 semble each other much more than the mammalia, 

 or even the birds. 



AGAMI (Psophia, Lmn(Eux.) A very interesting 

 genus of birds belonging to the gruidce, or natural 



Golden-breasted Agarui. 



family of cranes, at least sometimes so classed, and 

 certainly partaking of many of the characters of that 

 family, but combining with them also some of the 

 characters of the gallinidrr, and also of the running 

 birds. It is a peculiar genus, and cannot easly be 

 brought into any part of a regular system of Orni- 

 thology. It bears some resemblance to the cranes, 

 the pheasants, and the bustards ; and yet it belongs 

 to neither. They have one habit of the crane 

 family, that of sleeping upon one leg, with the other 

 drawn up so as not to be visible, and the head bent 

 back between the shoulders. They have also en- 

 largements at the bronchial end of the traechea, by 

 which the peculiar sound afterwards to be noticed 

 appears to be produced. 



The generic characters are : the bill short, conical, 

 curved, bent at the tip, and the upper mandible 

 larger than the under ; the nasal grooves dilated ; the 

 nostrils near the middle of the bill, wide, oblique, 

 curved in front, and closed behind by a naked mem- 

 brane. The legs long and slender ; the tibiae naked 

 for some distance above the articulations of the tarsi ; 

 the toes of moderate length ; the outer one in front free, 

 the middle and inner united at their bases ; the hind 

 toe articulated on the same plane with the others ; 

 the claws not much produced, but sharper and more 

 crooked than those of the gallinidae. The wings are 

 short and concave, and the bird not adapted for long 

 flights. There is but one known species, A. crepilans, 

 the trumpeter, or golden-breasted agami, a native of 

 the forests of tropical America. They are very hand- 

 some and very interesting birds ; abundant in those 

 peculiar localities which they inhabit, easily turned 

 and very much attached to man when domesticated, 

 thev are very prolific, and their flesh is excellent. 



The general plumage is black ; the back gray, the 

 breast glossy green with bronze and gold reflections, 

 and a portion of skin round the eyes naked, and of a 

 bright vermillion red, especially during the breeding 

 season. The feathers on the head are downy, those 



