184  MR.  W.  S.  MACLEAY  ON  THE  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  URANIA. 
bellies,  and  tails  turned  up  in  spiral,  peep  from  under  the  dusky  flat  stones,  which  are 
generally  sea-broken  and  time-worn  pieces  of  Madrepores, — when  those  beautiful  Land- 
crabs,  Gecarcinus  ruricola^,  Desm.,  and  Grapsus  pictus^,  Desm.,  are  running  about  over 
the  sea-weed  that  has  been  left  by  the  tide, — and  finally,  when  every  object  to  the 
dazzled  eye  seems  quivering  under  the  broiling  sun, — the  entomologist  will  have  a 
tolerably  correct  specimen  of  what  may  be  termed  the  general  appearance  of  a  sandy 
sea-shore  in  the  island  of  Cuba.    The  whole  scene  is  harmoniously  sultr^'. 
Here  order  in  variety  we  see, 
And  here,  though  all  things  differ,  all  agree. 
In  such  a  situation,  for  many  miles  at  least  on  each  side  of  the  Havana,  not  a  sound 
breaks  on  the  ear  except  the  melancholy  roar  of  the  surf  as  it  dashes  on  the  iron-bound 
coast ;  no  quadruped,  in  short,  is  to  be  seen,  and  scarcely  a  bird.  Here,  nevertheless, 
have  I  managed  to  pass  several  solitary  scorching  hours  with  pleasure,  as  many  valuable 
insects  may  be  collected,  and  among  them  Urania  Fernandirus. 
But  to  return  to  the  vegetation  of  such  a  place.  Of  all  the  shrubs  above  mentioned, 
perhaps  the  Omphalea  triandra,  Linn.,  or  Omphalea  nucifera,  Swartz,  is  the  most  in- 
teresting. It  is  the  Cob  or  Hog-nut  of  Jamaica,  and  Avellano  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Cuba.  Although  belonging  to  the  poisonous  family  of  Euphorbiaceee ,  it  affords  a  most 
delicious  and  wholesome  kernel,  from  eating  which  in  plenty  I  have  never  experienced 
species  of  his  genus  Anolis,  which,  by  the  way,  is  not  the  Anolis  of  Rochefort,  but  his  Gohemouche,  so  that 
the  confusion  is  almost  inextricable.  Our  Cuban  Lizard  resembles  the  genus  Anolis  in  no  respect  farther  than 
having  a  thick,  fleshy,  and  not  extensible  tongue,  and  so  belongs  to  Cuvier's  group  of  Saurian  Reptiles,  which 
he  calls  Iguaniens.  As  its  toes  are  free  and  unequal,  it  belongs  to  the  group  StelUones  of  Cu\^e^,  or  to  Mr.  Bell's 
tribe  of  Stellionina ;  and  as  it  has  no  teeth  in  the  palate,  and  the  toes  are  simple,  it  appears  to  agree  with  the 
last-mentioned  naturalist's  family  Stellionidte.  As  the  tail  has  very  small  scales,  and  there  are  no  femoral  pores, 
while  the  toes  are  5 — 5,  it  may  be  referred  to  Mr.  Gray's  genus  Agama.  It  appears  moreover  to  connect  Cuvier's 
subgenera  Trapelus  and  Calotes,  having  all  the  scales  very  minute,  and  no  dorsal  crest  like  the  former,  yet 
agreeing  with  the  latter,  in  that  the  imbricated  scales  are  slightly  carinated,  and  terminated  in  point  so  as  to 
make  the  body  appear  to  the  naked  eye  as  if  longitudinally  sulcated.  Unfortunately  I  have  no  book  in  the 
Havana  that  will  enable  me  to  determine  whether  it  be  a  described  species ;  but  the  following  description  vdYL 
probably  make  it  known  to  those  naturalists  who  are  conversant  with  Reptiles.  The  under  side  of  the  belly  and 
legs  is  of  a  dirty  cream  colour,  becoming  yellowish  toward  the  extremity  of  the  long  tail.  The  under  side  of  the 
head  and  breast  is  marbled-grey,  as  is  the  upper  side  of  the  head,  and  about  twenty  six  or  twenty  eight  trans- 
verse faint  dorsal  bands,  which  on  the  dirty  cream-coloured  ground  become  more  conspicuous  as  they  approach 
the  extremity  of  the  tail.  Its  colouring,  in  short,  is  exactly  that  of  the  grey  Madrepores  which  it  haunts,  and 
into  the  cavities  of  which  it  retires  when  alarmed.   The  largest  I  have  seen  have  been  more  than  a  foot  long. 
'  Gecarcinus  ruricola  I  have  never  seen  farther  from  the  sea  than  two  leagues.  It  never  makes  its  holes  in 
sand,  always  preferring  a  muddy  soil  at  some  distance  from  the  salt  water, 
2  Grapsus  pictus  inhabits  an  open,  sandy,  or  rocky  coast,  while  Gecarcinus  ruricola  inhabits  the  muddy  mouths 
of  rivers,  or  mangrove  marshes  in  bays ;  hence  this  last  species  is  the  true  Crabe  des  Paletuviers  of  the  French. 
Both  the  species  are  exceedingly  suspicious  and  active,  Grapsus  pictus  running  svriftly  for  shelter  to  the  sea, 
and  Gecarcinus  ruricola  into  the  holes  which  it  forms  in  the  mud.. 
