LIZARDS 



287 



Lizards, when alarmed, will often cast off their tails, which they 

 have the power of reproducing. 



There are a great many different species of lizards, and some 



Lizard 



of them are very beautiful and varied in colour. Others, too, 

 change their colours like the chameleon. 



These animals are sometimes caught and kept as pets, and 

 they become quite tame. 



THE IGUANA (Family IGUANID^) 



This family of lizards may be taken as a typical group. It is 

 a large family, embracing at least 300 species, and these are placed 

 in about fifty genera; which shows us that the study of lizards 

 proper might alone occupy a lifetime. The Iguanas, whose chief 

 home is South America and the West Indies, like most true lizards, 

 are mainly either insect or vegetable feeders. 



The Iguana is not a handsome animal. Its body is large and 

 rather clumsy-looking, and is much too heavy for its limbs to 

 support in ordinary fashion. A row of spines, too, that runs along 



