132 LIZARDS. 



at it, but seized it only by the leg. The spider instantly ran round and round the 



creature's mouth, weaving a very thick web round both jaws, and then gave it a 



very severe bite in the lip, just as this species of spider usually does with any 



large insect it has taken. The lizard was greatly distressed, and I removed the 



spider and rubbed off the web, the confinement of which appeared to give it great 



annoyance ; but in a few days it died, though previously in as perfect health as its 



companion. The lizard was evidently unused to the wiles of the British spider." 



The crested anolis (A. cwvieri), belonging to a small group, with compressed 



and crested bodies and tails, is remarkable for the great extent to which the pouch 



on the throat can be inflated, — probably for the purpose of terrifying foes. 



Two lizards, respectively from Jamaica and Colombia, differ 

 Allied Genera. ... 



from all the species of true anolis in having prehensile tails, in 



consequence of which they are referred to a distinct genus — Xiphocercus. In a 



third genus, Chamcelolis, the cheek-teeth have smooth and nearly spherical crowns. 



The strange form of the members of the present genus of 

 Basilisks. , . ~ . .... 



iguanoids probably suggested to the earlier naturalists the imposition 



of the name basilisk, — a term which, as all our readers are doubtless aware, 

 originally denoted a fabulous snake-like reptile before whose deadly glance every 

 living being save the cock perished. Be this as it may, the reptiles now known 

 as basilisks are large, although perfectly harmless members of the present family, 

 belonging to a group distinguished from the preceding one by the absence of 

 dilatation of the toes, and the more or less marked backward prolongation of the 

 hinder portion of the head. In the presence of a large crest on the upper surface 

 of the tail, the basilisks recall the sail-tailed lizards in the agamoid group, of 

 which, indeed, they may be regarded as the representatives in the present family. 

 As a genus, they are characterised by the head in the adult males being produced 

 backwards into a large cartilaginous lobe ; by the compressed form of the body 

 and tail, which are covered with small overlapping scales ; and by the presence of 

 a crest on the back and tail in the males, such crests being always supported on 

 the back by the prolonged spines of the vertebrae, and frequently also in the tail. 

 Although there is a transverse fold on the throat, the pouch characterising the 

 anolis lizards is wanting. The long limbs are covered with keeled scales ; and the 

 outer sides of the hind-toes have a much developed lobe of skin. The cheek-teeth 

 have three-cusped crowns ; and teeth are borne on the pterygoid bones. Internally, 

 the basilisks form an exception to the members of this and the two preceding 

 families in that the inner extremities of the collar-bones have a loop-like expan- 

 sion, as in the geckos; while they differ from the anolis lizards in the absence 

 of the false abdominal ribs so frequently present in this and the preceding families. 

 The basilisks are represented by four species from Tropical America, among 

 which the figured helmeted basilisk (Basiliscus americanus) is the one most 

 commonly known. It is the largest representative of the genus, attaining a length 

 of about 31 inches, of which nearly three-quarters is taken up hy the tail ; and is 

 one of two species characterised by the great height of the crest of the tail in 

 the males, which is supported by prolongations of the spines of the vertebrae. 

 Inhabiting Panama and Costa Rica, it is specially characterised by the undivided 

 head-crest of the males ; while the scales on the under surface of the body are 



