THE LIZAUI) AND ITS ALLIES 269 



lives on trees, eats insects, is not timid, can live well in 

 confinement, and, like the chameleon of Europe, has the 

 power of changing its colors from bright green to dirty 

 brown. Besides Anolis we have various other lizards of 

 the family Iguanidse. The horned toad of the Southwest, 

 Avhich has a broad, flattened body and long spines on the 

 head, and lives in dry, sandy places, is a familiar object. 1 

 In the South Central and Southern States lives the elon- 

 gate " swift " of varying color, often with black, irregular 



FIG. 251. Phrynosoma, the horned toad. Photo, by E. R. D. 



cross bands above, with iridescent colors on the throat of 

 the male, and with large, strongly keeled scales and a 

 slender tail. The largest of the Iguanidae is the " leguaii " 

 of the West Indies and South America, which gains a 

 length of 1.75 metres, or over five feet. 



The family Varanidae, 2 or water-lizards, contains the 

 largest known lizards. The Nile varanus attains a length 

 of nearly two metres. It lives on the rivers of Africa, 

 feeds on small Crustacea, birds, birds' eggs, frogs, fish, and 

 occasionally also on young crocodiles and crocodile eggs. 



1 Fig. 251. 2 Latinized from the Arabic word waran, lizard. 



