1905.] AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES. 215 



comitries, 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 " Tilcampo " 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 Tilcampo itself is much prized as an article of food, 

 and in the markets fetches more than tv/o 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 liveiy 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. 



Basilisci(,s vittatus. — 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 noi-th 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 alow 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 ai'e 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 adoiii 

 the male only, serve as a sail is a fable. 



Cori/tho2)hanes het'nandezi, " Teterete." — From Chiapas and 



