THE HABITS OF LIZARDS 
there was every possibility of my company being most 
nnceremonioiisly dispensed with by the enraged tenants 
of the hotel. The entomologist unused to collecting in 
countries that abound with these active little animals, 
is sometimes treated to a sight the reverse of pleasing ; 
on his returning to the tray or board that he has for a 
short time left filled with beautiful butterflies, all pinned 
out to dry, he finds only the pins, the lizards having 
eaten up the already captured insects. 
The ]0ower possessed by many lizards of changing 
colour, particularly by the iguanas, that pass much of 
their time in trees, is only known to those who have 
made these animals a study; they do not vary their 
colour perhaps so much as the well-known chameleon, 
but the change from the most lovely bright green to 
the dull wood-brown, is of frequent and almost constant 
occurrence, depending probably upon the altered situation 
from the green leaves to the branches or trunk of the 
trees upon which they feed. The large lizards, called 
iguanas, of South America, feed principally upon fruits 
and vegetable substances. They occasionally do much 
damage to the plantations, and are particularly fond of 
the kitchen-garden, committing great havoc among the 
much-prized vegetables grown for the table. In some 
instances during their visits they have so completely 
eaten up every particle of green food, that what appeared 
the day before a well-stocked garden, looks the next like 
a scrubby stubble field, every vestige of the green growing 
crop having been eaten by the iguanas. These animals, 
however, are much sought for as an article of food, and in 
their turn repay for the damage they occasionally commit. 
Their flesh, excellent in flavour, highly nutritious and 
wholesome, is cooked in various ways, being either broiled, 
boiled, roasted, or made into soup. 
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