3H 



SYSTEMATIC ZOOLOGY 



as they spring from one object to another, and these act as a 

 parachute to sustain them in the air, — they are known as flying 



geckos. There are other lizards with simi- 

 lar structures, such as the flying dragons 

 of the East Indies, which are about twenty 

 centimeters in length. Australia is the home 

 of many curious species, such as the frilled 

 lizard, which has a broad frill or collar about 

 its neck and attains a length of nearly a 

 meter ; and the moloch, Moloch korridus, 

 said to be perfectly harmless, but having 

 the whole body covered with long, conical 

 spines. 



The iguana of the warmer portions of 

 America, a vegetarian, is much sought after 

 as an article of food ; it is one of the larger 

 lizards, being over a meter and a half in 

 length. A pretty little lizard in our South- 

 ern states is called the American chameleon, 

 of the genus Anolis. It has a short body, 

 rarely over nine centimeters long, but a much longer tail, and 

 is of considerable importance because of the large number of 

 insects injurious to vegetation which it eats. It can change 

 its color from a bright green to bronze. Cats are said to be 

 extremely fond of it. Another of our lizards, which is pretty 

 generally known, is the horned toad, — not a toad at all, — 

 which is found west of the Mississippi and from Mexico to 

 British America ; there are many species, all perfectly harmless, 

 although repulsive in appearance; they are all viviparous. The 

 glass-snake found east of the Mississippi and south of the Ohio 

 is a legless lizard, which has received its popular name from the 

 readiness with which its tail breaks off. The only poisonous 

 lizard known is found in New Mexico and Arizona and regions 

 southward ; it belongs to the genus Heloderma and is the largest 

 North American lizard, being about forty centimeters long. The 

 color is black with irregular orange spots. 



The true chameleons live in Africa and some adjoining coun- 

 tries and belong to the genus Chamseleo. They have a very long, 

 vermiform tongue, and are best known because of their ability to 



Fig. 322. Platydactylus 

 mauritdnicus, a gecko liz- 

 ard. (After Claus and 



Sedgwick.) 



