172 REPTILES OF THE WORLD 



ment it laps the dish fairly clean. When it first arrived 

 at the Reptile House it was lean and starved, ferociously 

 eating small chickens and rats. It has since grown so 

 fat it refuses to eat unless the food is prepared as de- 

 scribed. Judging from the development of the cheek 

 pouches this is a very old sj)ecimen, much thicker of body 

 and consequentljr more sluggish than is normal with the 

 species. Though its jaws have strength enough to crush 

 a man's hand, the creature is so quiet the keepers handle 

 it with no thought of caution. Younger specimens are 

 dangerously vicious, actually chasing the keepers. They 

 fight with other lizards, quickly killing them by a tena- 

 cious grasp, shaking and twisting. The species rep- 

 resented is found generally in South America from the 

 Guianas to Uruguay, also in the West Indian Islands. 

 A nearly allied species is the Yellow-Banded Tegu, 

 T. nigro-punctatus. This has larger scales and looks 

 more shiny. The cross-bands are dull yellow. The ab- 

 domen lacks cross-bands, being immaculate dull yellow 

 or sprinkled with black spots. Confined to the Conti- 

 nent, this species occurs over the same areas as the former 

 one and is equally abundant. It is a vicious creature. 

 Ameiva and Cnemidoplwrus are closely allied genera, 

 made up of a considerable number of species bearing a 

 marked likeness to the European sand lizards and wall 

 lizards of the genus Lacerta. These are slender lizards 

 with an elongate tail. They have two folds of skin 

 under the neck. The body is covered with fine, granular 

 scales; the scales on the tail are coarse and in rings; 

 on the head are large, regular plates. Few species of 

 either genus grow over a foot long. The majority of 

 them are marked with narrow yellow stripes running 

 longitudinal^. Some have rows of yellow dots. A 

 few species of Cnemidoplwrus are boldly tessellated. 



