LIZARDS 



177 



Ph,, 



A rare species from the Fiji Islands, Male to the right ; female -without bands to the 

 left. The example crouching between them is a bearded lizard 



and cannot be safely kept in company with other less 

 powerful species. 



The attribute of bipedal locomotion is possessed by the 

 tcguexin. That this singular method of progression was an 

 accomplishment possessed by one of the larger tropical 

 American lizards was first reported to the writer from 

 Trinidad. Some species of iguana was, in the first instance, 

 anticipated to be the acrobatic performer. Several ex- 

 amples of this family group were accordingly put through 

 their paces at the Zoo, to ascertain if they could lay claim 

 to the distinction. None of the iguanas available, however, 

 rose (on their hind legs) to the occasion, and it was only 

 on experimenting, as a dcrnttrc rcssoitrce, with the teguexin 

 that a successful demonstration was accomplished. This 

 lizard was found, in fact, to run bipedally more freely and persistently, when sufficient space 

 was allotted it, than the Agamas. It seems singular that this bipedal power of locomotion 

 should have so long remained undiscovered, and yet is possessed by lizards which have for a 



number of years been the denizens of many 



""^Hf^^^fl zoological gardens and other menageries. 



The fact that a comparatively large level area 

 ^K is a '* qua "0" for the exhibition of this 



J B. phenomenon affords no doubt the explanation 



-' of this anomaly ; but the anomaly itself at the 



^ " fPHHF* same time serv es to accentuate the desirability, 



^WjB!Sy>^ ' n l ^ e '"terests of both science and the animals' 



comfort, that exists for providing them in cap- 

 tivity with a more liberal and reasonably sufficient 

 space for their indulgence in those methods of 

 locomotion that are natural to them in their 

 native land. 



ph.,. h tc. s.,v:i;,.K,n,, F.Z.S. ( The Greaved Lizard Family includes some- 



SOUTH AFRICAN GIRDLED LIZARD w h at ove r one hundred species. While the 



Remarkable for ,he sp.ny armature, vhich is arranged , n concentric ma J Orit y a g r ee with the tegliexill in the pOS- 



s ir <U" session of well-developed limbs, there are a few 



