rilE LIZARD 357 



northern continents it is relatively poorly represented. Most 

 lizards have an elongated body, four legs, eyelids, and a breast- 

 bone or sternum. Lizards are, as a rule, carnivorous, and since 

 they destroy insects injurious to vegetation they may be 

 considered as beneficial to man. 



Most of our lizards Ijelong to the family Iguan'idse,* a 

 family that is most abundant in the Western Hemisphere. 

 They are known by the thick tongue, by a large scale in the 



Fig. 335. — Phrynosoma, the horned toad. Photo, hy E. R. D. 



middle of the head in front of the eyes, and by the fact that all 

 four legs are well developed. The genus Anolis, known as the 

 American chameleon, contains eighty tropical species. Our 

 species lives in pine woods from the latitude of Tennessee 

 south to the Gulf and the island of Cuba. Its graceful form 

 and bright colors make it one of the most beautiful of lizards. 

 It lives on trees, eats insects, is not timid, can live well in con- 

 finement, and, hke the chameleon of Europe, has the power of 

 changing its colors from bright green to dirty brown. Besides 

 Anolis, we have various other lizards of the family Iguanidse. 

 The horned toad of the Southwest, which has a broad, flattened 



' Native name. 



