CHAPTER XXXVIII 
THE ORDER OF LIZARDS 
LA CER TIL I A 
Of all the world’s reptiles, the lizards are the 
most elusive, and the most difficult to know 
personally. With the exception of the large 
iguanas, monitors, and a very few others, the vast 
majority of the species are tiny creatures, light- 
ning-quick in movement, and very much opposed 
to being caught. 
And the little sprites are difficult to keep in 
captivity, beyond all other reptiles. Being 
children of the sun and sands, they demand 
quarters that are of desert dryness, roasting heat, 
partly or wholly covered with spines. The ma- 
jority of lizards live upon the ground, or near the 
earth, but quite a number of species live in trees. 
Those called flying dragons possess parachute 
wings, and can fly as a flying squirrel does. Some 
of the legless lizards live in the earth. 
Most lizards have teeth, but usually of a very 
simple character, setting in each jaw in a long 
and rather even row, like the teeth of a saw. 
There are eighteen Families of lizards, provided 
with eighteen formidable names, and it is not 
COMMON IGUANA. 
and flooded with sunshine. Without these con- 
ditions they refuse to eat, and quickly die. If 
every student of lizards had a private desert 
which he could keep heated up to 100 degrees, a 
sun all his own to shine upon it sixteen hours a 
day, and meal-worms without limit, it would be 
quite possible to keep small lizards long enough 
to become well acquainted with them. Without 
such an equipment, the path of the student is 
beset with difficulties. 
Because of these conditions, we will introduce 
here only a very few of what we may call the 
practicable lizards, — those which it is possible 
to know, and worth while to note. 
General Character. — Most of the lizards are 
four-footed creatures, many have long, whip-like 
tails, and nearly all are covered with scales, 
mostly very fine. Sometimes the scales are large 
and horny. Quite a number of species are either 
333 
possible to consider each one. For the present 
we will omit all references to the Families, and 
merely present a few examples which will illus- 
trate the Order as a whole. 
The Iguanas are among the largest and most 
interesting of the Lizards, being surpassed in 
size only by the Monitors. In their food habits 
they are omnivorous. Although feeding chiefly 
upon vegetable food, many species devour birds 
and eggs with great avidity. In their habits they 
are partly tree-climbing and partly terrestrial. 
By reason of their saw-toothed backs they are 
so odd and showy they always attract attention. 
Were it necessary to select but one species to 
represent all the species of Lizards, that one 
should be the Common Iguana 1 of the West 
Indies, Central and South America. It is from 
4 to 5 feet in length, in color it is an irregular 
1 1-guan'a tu-ber-cu-la'ta. 
