PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE WEST INDIES. 



195 



fried eels and pork fritters. There are two species one in eastern 

 Cuba, with spines all the way down to its tail-tip, and in Hayti a 

 smaller one, with a smoother tail, but with an exaggerated throat-bag 

 and wattles like a turkey gobbler. 



Lagartos vastecos, or " tree alligators," the Cuban Creoles call the 

 scampering forest dwellers, that attain a length of four feet, and 

 can stampede foreigners by leaping to terra firma with an aplomb 

 that scatters the dry leaves in all directions. If chased, they will 

 take to water like frogs. They are first-class swimmers, their throat- 

 bag serving the purpose of a float, and once in the ripple of the 

 stream are hard to keep in sight, as they have a trick of keeping their 

 legs close to the body and navigating by means of their submerged 

 tails. Like the rainbow hues of the coryphene (miscalled dolphin), 

 the bright colors of the iguana soon fade after death, and the shriveled 

 greenish-brown specimens of our taxidermists give no idea of the 

 appearance of the living animal in the sunlight of its native land. 

 The Iguana tuberculata (eastern Cuba) is velvet-green above, with 

 saffron flanks, ringed with blue, black, and brown stripes, and the pet 

 specimens, basking on the porch of a coffee planter, can challenge 



FER-DE-LANCE. 



comparison with the paroquets that flutter about the eaves of the 

 outbuildings like swifts around a martin box. 



Cuba has also acclimatized a horned frog, and one species of 

 those curious half-lizards whose shapes may have suggested the 

 dragon fables of antiquity. The " basilisk " (Cyclura carinata) is 

 only half a yard long, but can erect its crest and raise its pronged tail 



