158 I'Ol'ULAR OFFICIAL GUIDE. 



House, the Tortoise room and outside runways. Among 

 these are the Tegns, Monitors and Iguanas. 



The Tegus, (genus Tupinambis), are powerful lizards, 

 growing to a length of four feet, and inhabiting tropical 

 South America. They are fleet of foot, mainly carnivorous 

 and very ciuarrelsome. It is impossible to keep any but the 

 larger lizards in the yard with them. Tegus are fond of 

 eggs, breaking the shell at one end and lapping up the con- 

 tents by means of the very broad, forked tongue. They will 

 also eat raw beef. 



The Australian Monitor, (Varaiius gonldii), is a good rep- 

 resentative of a genus of large and powerful lizards con- 

 fined to the Old World, where they occur in India, Malaysia, 

 Africa and Australia. Monitors grow to a length of eight 

 feet. They are swift runners, entirely carnivorous, and 

 usually dwell in thick jungles. They are able to swallow 

 entire an animal as large as a half-grown rabbit. All are 

 fond of eggs, swallowing them without breaking the shell, 

 which is soon dissolved by the powerful gastric juices. 



Among the Iguanas are several large and interesting liz- 

 ards. The largest of these is the Rhinoceros Ignana, {Cy- 

 clura cornuta), found in Hayti. Contrary to the general 

 belief, but like all the Iguanas, it is partly carnivorous, 

 though it feeds largely upon vegetables and fruit. This 

 species receives its name from the presence of three well- 

 defined horns upon the snout. 



The very popular Horned "Toad," (Phrynosoma) , of the 

 ■southwestern states, of which there are eight or nine species, 

 should be mentioned if for no other reason than to place 

 it where it belongs — with the lizards, and not with the 

 toads. 



The Mexican Iguana, (Ctcnosaura acanthnra), looks 

 unique in the possession of rings of sharp spines about the 

 tail. Most specimens are jet black when adult, but very 

 young examples are pale green. 



The South American Iguana, {Iguana tuherculata) , may be 

 readily distinguished by the very pronounced fringe of 

 erect spines which rise along the back-bone of male speci- 

 mens, and also by the presence of a rounded tubercle or 

 plate on each side of the head. This is a brightly colored 

 Iguana, having bars of green, gray and black. It is strictly 

 arboreal, and evinces stronger herbivorous habits than spe- 

 cies of the allied genera. A large male specimen is seven 

 feet long, but much of this length is taken up by the grad- 

 ually tapering tail. In South America— on the Orinoco, at 



