184 REPTILIA. 



rather of recurved, compressed, and pointed scales; beneath the throat a 

 pendent, compressed dewlap, the edge of which is supported by a cartila- 

 ginous process of the hyoid bone; a series of porous tubercles on their thighs 

 as in the true Lizards; the head covered with plates. Each jaw is surround- 

 ed with a row of compressed, triangular teeth, whose cutting edge is den- 

 ticulate; two small rows of the same on the posterior edge of the palate. 



Ig. tuberculata, Laur. (The Common American Iguana.) Yellowish 

 green above, marbled with pure green; the tail annulated with brown, &c. ; 

 from four to five feet in length, and common in South America where its flesh 

 is esteemed delicious; although unwholesome. It lives mostly on trees, 

 occasionally visits the water and feeds on fruit, grain, and leaves; the female 

 lays her eggs in the sand, they are the size of those of a Pigeon, agreeable 

 to the taste and almost without white. 



The remaining genera are Ophyressa, Basiliscus, Polychrus, Echphimotus, 

 Opiums, and Jlnolius, the last of which is remarkable for the skin of the 

 toes, which is spread out into a disk, that enables them to cling to various 

 surfaces. 



It is to this family of the Iguana) with palatine teeth, that belongs 

 an enormous fossil reptile known by the name of the Maestricht 

 Animal, and for which the new name of MOSASAURUS has recently 

 been coined. 



FAMILY IV. 



GECKOTIDA. 



This family is composed of nocturnal Lizards which are so similar 

 that they may be left in one genus. 



GECKO, Daud.(l) ASKALAROTES, Cuv. 



The Geckos are Saurians which do not possess the elongated graceful form 

 of those of which we have hitherto spoken, but on the contrary are flattened, 

 the head particularly. Their feet are moderate, and the toes almost equal; 

 their gait is a heavy kind of crawling; very large eyes, whose pupil becomes 

 narrowed at the approach of light like that of a Cat, render them nocturnal 

 animals, which secrete themselves during the day in dark places. Their 

 very short eye-lids are completely withdrawn between the eye and the orbit, 

 which gives them a different aspect from other Saurians. Their tongue is 

 fleshy and non-extensible; their tympanum somewhat sunk; their jaws every 



(1) Gecko, a name given to a species in India, in imitation of its cry, just 

 as another one is termed Tockaie at Siam, and a third Geitje at the Cape; 

 Greek name of the Geckotte, Lacep. 



