80 
/ 
THE CRESTED ANOLIS. 
pass through the sandy deserts of Libya, were advised always to carry with them a supply 
of strong, lively, loud-voiced cocks, by whose vigorous cro wings they would be protected from 
the Basiliscs haunting those parts. 
There is an old proverb, “No smoke without fire,” and this saying is verified in the 
present case. In some parts of Tropical America there is a perfectly harmless Lizard of no 
great dimensions, belonging to the family of the Iguanas, and having a bold crest on the back 
of its head. It is probable that one of these reptiles was imported into the Old World at 
some time now forgotten, and that its rather odd shape and the crest on its head were seized 
upon by the first describers, and reported with continually increasing exaggerations by suc- 
ceeding writers. 
Like the rest of the Iguanas, this animal is a good climber of trees, it can swim well, and 
its food consists apparently of insects and the various little creatures which frequent the water 
and the foliage of its banks. 
Although quite innocuous, it certainly is rather forbidding, and when it obtains its 
greatest length of three feet, presents a sufficiently formidable appearance to warrant in some 
degree the wild and fabulous tales which were deduced from its strange shape. Along the 
back, instead of the row of pointed spines which generally cross the back of the Iguanas, runs 
a broad crest-like membrane, another broad membrane occupying the upper surface of the 
tail. These curious appendages are supported by a series of slender bones, formed by elonga- 
tions of the vertebrae of the back and tail, so that the animal looks exactly as if the fins of a 
fish had been grafted on the body of a reptile. There is a slight pouch on the throat, and the 
palate is toothed. 
Many species of the Lizard tribe are called by the name of Anolis, but are divided by 
systematic zoologists of the present day into several distinct genera. The Crested Anolis 
inhabits some of the hotter portions of America and the neighboring islands. 
The chief point of interest in this Lizard is the curiously expansile throat, which, in 
common with others of the same genus, it is able to expand at will. When terrified, it 
tries to escape, but if it finds itself deprived of all means of eluding its antagonist, it turns 
to bay, and by puffing out the throat until it assumes a very great size, endeavors thereby 
to intimidate the foe. While thus engaged, the creature has the faculty of continually 
altering its color ; the hues of the body to a certain degree, but more especially those of 
the throat, changing with a rapidity that is said even to surpass the famed powers of the 
chameleon. 
It is an active little creature, traversing perpendicular objects with nearly as much ease 
as the Gecko, and to aid it in these movements the last joint but one of the toes is swollen, 
so as to form a pad, and is covered below with cross ridges, so as to enable the creature 
to take a firm hold of the object to which it is clinging. The food of the Anolis consists 
chiefly of insects, which are captured by means of singular address on the part of the Lizard. 
The Anolis can run up and down trees, walls, or rocks, with such rapidity, and leap so 
boldly from one spot to another, that at a little distance its movements might easily be mis- 
taken for those of a bird. 
Though not aquatic in its habits, and apparently not taking willingly to the water, the 
Anolis is mostly to be found in the woods and thickets that are in the close neighborhood of a 
stream or lake. It is a timid, yet a restlessly inquisitive animal ; for although it hides itself 
with instinctive caution on hearing the approach of a footstep, it is of so curious a nature that 
it must needs poke its head out of its hiding-place, and so betray itself in spite of its timidity. 
So absorbed, indeed, is the Anolis in gratifying its curiosity, that it will allow itself to be 
captured in a noose, and often falls a victim to the rude and inartificial snares made by 
children. Its voice is a little sharp chirruping sound ; and by imitating these notes, the 
children decoy it within reach of the fatal noose. 
The usual resting-place of the Crested Anolis is within the hollow of some decaying tree, 
where also the female deposits her eggs. 
The color of the Crested Anolis is dark, ashen blue, a blackish spot being apparent on 
