1905. | AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES. 215 
countries, from Yucatan to Tampico and on the Pacific side 
as far as Southern California. It does not take to the water, 
preferring rocky bush-land or savannahs. According to the 
locality, it makes its home in a hollow tree, in the roof of a house, 
or on the ground, where, among rocks or trees, it digs out a 
permanent burrow, heaping up the soil above and around it. 
This “Iguana,” or ‘‘Tileampo” of the Zapotecs, is very fierce, 
bites, and lashes out furiously with its tail. Its food is varied, 
from all kinds of lizards, snakes, and insects to grass and flowers ; 
in turn the Tileampo itself is much prized as an article of food, 
and in the markets fetches more than two fowls. 
The young are entirely vivid green ; in their second and third 
years the back and sides develop blackish patches upon the green 
ground, and in this stage they are often very beautiful. With 
approaching maturity the green colour disappears, being en- 
croached upon and then entirely suppressed by the spreading 
black and brown pigment. But in certain localities, where these 
lizards live amongst luscious growth of evergreen trees, many 
individuals retain their green livery throughout life. I caught a 
young Tilcampo, which belonged to a green family, as shown by 
the parents, at San Juan Evangelista, on the eastern side of the 
Isthmus, where the green colour was normal; within less than 
18 months my captive had lost all the green, and had assumed the 
dusky brownish and patchy garb. 
Ctenosaura quinquecarinata.—This much smaller, brownish- 
yellow species is not arboreal, ranging from Honduras into the 
southern hot parts of Oaxaca. It becomes very tame, takes a 
varied diet, and defends itself in its burrow by sideward strokes 
of its spiny tail, much like the Indian Uromastix, which it greatly 
resembles in habits and outward appearance. 
Basiliscus vittatws.—Closely allied to the Central American 
B. americanus, ranges from Ecuador into the Tierra Caliente of 
Mexico, where it is, however, restricted to the southern part, not 
going further north than Cordoba. Until I found it at Teque- 
sixtlan and Tierra Colorada in the centre of Guerrero, it was not 
known from the Pacific side. The locality “ Orizaba” in the 
‘ Biol. Centr.-Am.’ is erroneous; Sumichrast states clearly, and 
correctly, that this species extends only up to 3300 feet. The 
‘“‘ Pasarios,” its universal Spanish name, lives always on the banks 
of rivers or pools. I generally found them busy on the ground 
close to the water’s edge, or upon a low overhanging branch. On 
the slightest alarm, they plunge or rush into the water, rapidly 
running over the surface in a slightly erect position, splashing 
the water with their long-toed hind limbs and the long wriggling 
tail, whilst the arms are adpressed to the body. They do not 
dive; arrived on the other side, they climb up the bank and hide 
in the tangled vegetation. The usual statement that they propel 
themselves by rapid strokes of the fore-limbs is erroneous, and 
the notion that the high dorsal and caudal crests, which adorn 
the male only, serve as a sail is a fable. 
Corythophanes hernandexi, ‘'Veteréte.,-—From Chiapas and 
