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Family. IGUANIDA. Dumeril et B'lbron. 



CHARACTERS. 



1. The body is covered above with horny plates or scales, which are without 



knobs or tubercles; most commonly, however, there is either a dorsal or 

 caudal crest. The abdomen is covered with small plates. 



2. The head is destitute of large plates. 



3. The eyes are furnished with two movable lids. 



4. The teeth are placed sometimes in a common socket or groove; at others, 



they are not set in the bone, but only united firmly to its free border. 



5. The tongue is thick, fleshy, flattened, and covered with papillae; is destitute of 



a sheath at its root, and is only movable at its tip. 



6. The fingers and toes are free, distinct, of unequal length, and are all furnished 



with nails. 



The family Iguanida, according to Dumeril and Bibron, includes about forty- 

 six genera, arranged in two sub-families or sections. 



I. Teeth mostly conical, and received in a cylindrical groove of the jaws. 



V. 2—8* 



