228 CLASS REPTILIA. 



formation to the grey lizard. It never grows large, and 

 attains to the length only of a few inches. 



It lives generally in gardens ; its agility is excessive, and 

 it climbs with great facility, by the assistance of its crooked 

 and long claws. It seeks out humid places, and runs among 

 the stones. It holds the tail habitually raised above the back. 



When it has run considerably, and is fatigued, it opens its 

 mouth and lolls out the tongue just like a dog. This pro- 

 bably is the reason why it has been called in French roquet 

 (a cur-dog). It destroys numbers of insects, and we are even 

 assured that it feeds on the eggs of tortoises, and of other 

 lizards. When it is angry, or violently agitated, it swells its 

 throat, which becomes red, and utters a kind of dull sound, 

 rather singular in its effect. 



These lizards often fight together. When two of these 

 animals attack each other, says M. de Lacepede, it is always 

 with boldness. They appear to threaten, by rapidly agitat- 

 ing the head. The throat swells; their eyes sparkle, and 

 they seize each other with fury, and fight with bitterness. 

 They usually have, as spectators of their combats, and per- 

 haps as witnesses of their power, the females who are to con- 

 stitute the prize of victory. The weakest takes to flight, his 

 enemy pursues him with vivacity, and devours, if he over- 

 takes him. But sometimes he is only able to seize him by 

 the tail, which breaks easily in his mouth, and which he 

 swallows. Those which have been thus mutilated, grow timid, 

 feeble, and languishing. Pere Nicolson has given the same 

 details in his history of St. Domingo. 



We have inserted the figure of an Anolis from a specimen 

 in the British Museum. It is the Anolis Edwardsii of 

 Merrem, from the West Indies. 



We shall now consider the Geckos, which our author has 

 so considerably subdivided. This genus contains a great 

 number of species, spread throughout the hot countries of 

 both continents. Their singular conformation, their dull and 



