52 Bibliographical Notices. 



chair, and scampers nimbly along the collar of his coat. It jumps on 

 the table ; — can it be the same ? An instant ago it was of the most 

 beautiful golden green, except the base of the tail, which was of a 

 soft, light, purple hue : now, as if changed by an enchanter's wand, 

 it is of a sordid sooty brown all over, and becomes momentarily 

 darker and darker, or mottled with dark and pale patches of a most 

 unpleasing aspect. Presently, however, the mental emotion, what- 

 ever it was, anger, or fear, or dislike, has passed away, and the lovely 

 green hue sparkles in the glancing sunlight as before. 



" He lifts the window-sash ; and instantly there run out on the sill 

 two or three minute lizards of a new kind, allied to the Gecko, the 

 common Pallette-tip (Spheeriodactylus Argus). It is scarcely more 

 than 2 inches long, more nimble than fleet in its movements, and not 

 very attractive. 



" In the woods he would meet with other kinds. On the trunks 

 of the trees he might frequently see the Venus (Dactyloa Edwardsii), 

 as it is provincially called ; a lizard much like the Anoles of the 

 houses, of a rich grass-green colour, with orange throat-disk, but 

 much larger and fiercer : or in the eastern parts of the island the 

 great Iguana (Cyclura lophoma), with its dorsal crest like the teeth 

 of a saw running all down its back, might be seen lying out on the 

 branches of the trees, or playing bo-peep from a hole in the trunk : 

 or in the swamps and morasses of Westmoreland the yellow Galliwasp 

 (Celestus occiduus), so much dreaded and abhorred, yet without rea- 

 son, might be observed sitting idly in the mouth of its burrow, or 

 feeding on the wild fruits and marshy plants that constitute its 

 food." 



As might be expected from this extract, the natural history of the 

 lizards forms a very important portion of Mr. Gosse's work, which 

 accordingly contains many interesting observations on this somewhat 

 despised class of animals, including a long and valuable communi- 

 cation from the author's friend, Mr. Hill, on the Alligator or native 

 Crocodile. Let us turn now to a class more generally attractive, and 

 see one of the most beautiful of the feathered inhabitants of the air 

 in a state of nature : — 



" While I was up in the calabash-tree," says Mr. Gosse (p. 48), 

 " engaged in detaching the bunches of Oncidium, the beautiful Long- 

 tailed Humming-bird (Trochilus polytmus) came shooting by, with 

 its two long velvet-black feathers fluttering like streamers behind it, 

 and began to suck at the blossoms of the tree in which I was. Quite 

 regardless of my presence, consciously secure in its power of wing, 

 the lovely little gem hovered around the trunk, and threaded the 

 branches, now probing here, now there, its cloudy wings on each side 

 vibrating with a noise like that of a spinning-wheel, and its emerald 

 breast for a moment flashing brilliantly in the sun's ray ; then appa- 

 rently black, all the light being absorbed ; then, as it slightly turned, 

 becoming a dark olive ; then in an instant blazing forth again with 

 emerald effulgence. Several times it came close to me, as I sat mo- 

 tionless with delight, and holding my breath for fear of alarming it and 

 driving it away ; it seemed almost worth a voyage across the sea to 



