CHAXXEL ISLAXD LIZARDS. 311 



aud the under side is white. As the season advances, say 

 about August, by which time they are from four to six inches 

 long, the brown becomes tinged with green, which gradually 

 spreads upwards from the sides, and the under side has 

 changed from white to yellow. In some specimens at this time 

 the brown has entirely given place to green. Whether it is 

 the retention of this coloration, or whether it is the loss after 

 ucquirement of the next development of pattern that constitutes 

 the unicolorous, or almost unicolorous varieties I have 

 described, I have not been able to determine, but it seems to 

 me probable that the latter alternative is the correct one. 



By the month of June or July in the following year all, 

 or nearly all, these young ones, now eight or nine inches long, 

 have assumed four white lines which run from the neck to 

 nearly the end of the tail. These lines, each about one- 

 sixteenth of an inch wide, are placed one on each side of the 

 back, and one low down tbe side Avhere the yellow joins the 

 green. There is a marbling of white on the neck, and often 

 on the front limbs also. 



Later in the year, and in full evidence the following 

 spring, when the lizards are two years old there is a further 

 change. The young males, while still retaining their white 

 lines, will (if developing into the ty[)e form) gradually acquire 

 tho speckling of black and gold, and now reach their highest 

 point of beauty. It is impossible to describe them in words, 

 and even an artist's brush would utterly fail to reproduce their 

 brilliancy. But try to picture this reptile as he flattens 

 his body to bask in the sunshine ; he is about nine inches long 

 and an inch across the back, clad in what appears at a distance 

 a coat of mail of brilliant green, but which on closer view 

 shows a spangling of black and gold on a green ground. 

 xSarrow lines of purest white run down the back and sides, 

 and the bright yellow of the under part just shows up as a 

 contrasting border. Surely few if any creatures of the tropics 

 could surpass this lizard in beauty. 



Towards the end of the year tlie Avhite lines disappear, 

 and their place is usurped by the predominant coloration — 

 while the white marbling on the throat gradually gives way to 

 blue. Then the following s])ring, when the lizards are three 

 years old, they have acquired their final adult colours and 

 markings. 



While the young males have been going through these 

 changes, the young females have also been undergoing certain 

 variations in their dress. Between the white dorsal lines thev 

 show at first a double row^ of almost rectangular brown, oi* 



