26 



GuAKAs. KEPTILES. Guanas (Cyclures). 



caught. As long as the whistUng continued it was 

 very quiet, but when the sound ceased it became very 

 savage, and bit at everytliing within its reach ; its 

 green colour became blacl<ish, and at last changed 

 to a bluish-black, with darker bands upon the body, 

 brownish-black upon the tail, and the only trace left 

 of its original colour was about the eyes. It fiercely 

 seized a piece of linen, and would not let it go for 

 hours. When put into a cage it darted wildly about, 

 and tiied to bite everything it could lay hold of. At 

 night it became green, and the changes were very 

 rapid. After four weeks' confinement it changed its 

 skin, and died in the operation. In former days, when 

 those substances known under the name of Bezoars 

 were famed for their wonderful virtues in curing 

 diseases, that found in the stomach of the Iguana was 

 highly prized in America. In the present daj', these 

 concretions are fallen into the most complete disrepute. 



THE RHINOCEROS GUANA [Iguana rJdnolophus) is 

 distinguished from the preceding species by having on 

 the muzzle two short horns, with five or si.x tubercular 

 scales surrounding them, and being furnished with 

 fewer scales forming the dorsal crest. This species is 

 a native of the West Indies, and attains the length of 

 five, and sometimes even of six feet, the tail being 

 about one-half or three-quarters the length of the body. 

 The general colour is a bright gi-een in the young, 

 and a dirty gray in the old individuals, with about 

 six black streaks across the body, and fifteen across 

 the tail. 



The genus Cyclura has been separated from 

 Iguana, from its having no dewlap or true throat 

 pouch, but only a lax fold of skin plaited across, and 

 the tail being covered with scales forming rings, alter- 

 nating with rings of spines. The habits of the Cyclui es 

 are very similar to those of the true Guanas. 



THE CLOUDED CYCLURE, or Guana of Carolina 

 [Cyclura nubila), has been described at some length by 

 Catesby in his " Natural History of Carolina." " This 

 kind of lizard," he says, "somewhat resembles the 

 crocodile or alligator in shape, but has a shorter head, 

 and a serrated crest on the ridge of the back, extending 

 from behind its head to the middle of the tail. They are 

 of various sizes, from two to five feet in length ; their 

 mouths are furnished with exceeding small teeth, but 

 their jaws are armed with a bony beak, with which 

 tliey bite with great strength. They inhabit warm 

 coimtries only, and are rarely to be met with anywhere 

 north or south of the Troincs. Many of the Bahama 

 Islands abound with thera ; they nestle in hollow rocks 

 and trees; their eggs have not a hard shell like the 

 eggs of alligators, but a skin only, like those of turtle, 

 and are esteemed good food; they lay a great number 

 of them at a time in the earth, which are there hatched 

 by the sun's heat. These Guanas are a great part of 

 the subsistence of the inhabitants of the Bahama Islands, 

 for which purpose they visit many of the remote Kays 

 and islands in their sloops to catch them, which they 

 do by dogs trained up for that purpose, which are so 

 dexterous as not often to kill thera, which, if they do, 

 they serve only for present spending ; if otherwise, they 

 sew up their mouths to prevent their biting, and put 

 them into the hold of their sloop till they have catched 



a sufficient number, which they eitlier carry alive lor 

 sale to Carolina, or salt and barrel up for the use of 

 their families at home. These Guanas feed wholly on 

 vegetables and fruit, particularly on a kind of Fungus 

 growing at the roots of trees, and of this and others 

 of the Anona kind. Their flesh is easy of digestion, 

 delicate, and well tasted ; they are sometimes roasted, 

 but the more common way is to boil them, taking out 

 the leaves of fat, which they melt and clarify ; this they 

 put into a calabash or dish, into which they dip the 

 flesh of the Guana as they eat it. It is remarkable 

 that the fat which adheres to the inside of the abdomm, 

 imbibes the colour of the fruit they eat last, which I 

 have frequentlj- seen tinged with pale red, yellow, and 

 sometimes of a purple colour, which last was from 

 eating the Primus maritima, which fruit at the same 

 time I took out of them. Though they are not amplii- 

 bious, they are said to keep under water above an hour. 

 When they swim, they use not their feet, but clap them 

 close to their body, and guide themselves witli their 

 tails. They swallow all the}' eat whole. The}' cannot 

 run fast ; their holes being a greater security to them 

 than their heels. They are so impatient of cold that 

 they rarely appear out of their holes but when the sun 

 shines." 



THE SHOUIDER-CRESTED CYCLURA [Cyclura h- 

 phoma), a species found in the island of Jamaica, 

 has a very interesting account given of it by Mr. 

 Gosse in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society 

 for 1848. This animal is about three feet long, the 

 tail alone measuring twenty-one inches. It is of a 

 russet-green colour, with obscure, confluent, dark olive- 

 brown spots, and its crest is high along the upper 

 part of the back, and continued over the shoulders, 

 but interrupted over the loins. The skin of the throat 

 is loose and transversely wrinkled, is of considerable 

 size, and can be distended by the animal at will. 

 This Cyclure appears to be found only in particular 

 parts of the island. Mr. Hill, in a communication 

 addressed to Mr. Gosse, says that its ordinary hannt 

 is a low limestone c:hain of hills along the shore 

 from Kingston harbour and Goat Island, or to its 

 continuation in Vere. Sucoilent herbs, growing in 

 the forests of these hills, supply its food. These hills, 

 however, he says, are so little suited for this sort of vege- 

 tation, that hardly anything more than aromatic and 

 resinous trees and balsamic plants grow there. In the 

 occasional hollows a little mould has been collected 

 from decayed leaves, mingled with marl, extremely 

 stony and sterile, and there a little more succulent 

 herbage prevails. The rocks have numerous caverns ; 

 and the springs that break out at the foot of the clifi's 

 are an impure brackish water, though extremely trans- 

 parent. It is this district that is almost exclusively 

 the haunt of this creature. Wlien excited, it assumes 

 a menacing attitude, and directs its eye to the object 

 of attack with a peculiar sinister loolc " At this time," 

 says Mr. Hill, " it inflates its throat, erects the crest 

 and dentelations on the back, and opens the mouth so 

 as to show the line of its peculiarly-set white teeth, 

 with serrated edges," so well adapted for cutting and 

 cropping its vegetable food. " In defending itself from 

 attack, the Cyclure converts its long flexible tail into 



