ORDER SAURIA. S27 



The individual described and figured by Seba, formed a 

 part of the collection ceded by Holland to France, when 

 France was the plunderer of nations ; when, not contented 

 with stripping them of their treasures, and forcing their chil- 

 dren into her ranks, to combat for a perpetuity of bondage, 

 emulous of the rapacity of ancient Rome, she also robbed 

 them of the monuments of art, and the acquisitions of science. 

 The specimen in question is at present deposited in the 

 Museum of Natural History in Paris. 



Laurenti was the first writer who considered this lizard as 

 proper to form a separate genus. Linnaeus arranged it among 

 the stelliones. 



This genus is very easily distinguished from almost all the 

 other saurians, by the form of the tail, which is long, and 

 compressed from right to left ; from the crocodiles and the 

 dracaena, because the scales which cover its back are pretty 

 nearly similar to those of the rest of the body ; from the 

 monitors, by the crest which predominates along the entire 

 back ; and from the lophyri, because this crest is furnished 

 with osseous radii. 



The manners of the basilisks are very little known. The 

 form of their tails sufficiently indicates that they live on the 

 banks of waters, and that they can employ it for the purposes 

 of swimming. It is probable that they live on snails and 

 insects, like the majority of the lizards. 



We have illustrated this genus, as well as that of Poly- 

 CRUs, or the basilisks without crest, by figures from specimens 

 in the British Museum. 



The genus of the Anolis was first established by Daudin. 

 Our information concerning the manners of the species is 

 rather limited. The one called lacerta hullaris is very much 

 extended in the Antilles, in Mexico, and in Carolina, where 

 M. Bosc has frequently had occasion to observe it. M. de 

 Lacepcde is of opinion that it approximates very much in con- 



Q 2 



