LIZARDS 
177 
Photo by Saville- Kent^ F.Z.S, 
BANDED IGUANAS 
A rare species from the Fiji Islands. Alale to the right ; female ivtthout hands to the 
left. The example crouching betiveen them is a bearded lizard 
and cannot be safely kept in company with other less 
powerful species. 
The attribute of bipedal locomotion is possessed by the 
tegue.xin. That this singular method of progression was an 
accomplishment possessed by one of the larger tropical 
American lizards was first reported to the writer from 
Trinidad. Some species of iguana was, in the first instance, 
anticipated to be the acrobatic performer. Several e.x- 
amples of this family group were accordingly put through 
their paces at the Zoo, to ascertain if they could lay claim 
to the distinction. None of the iguanas available, however, 
rose (on their hind legs) to the occasion, and it was only 
on experimenting, as a cicrnicrc rcssoiircc, with the teguexin 
that a successful demonstration was accomplished. This 
lizard was found, in fact, to run bipedally more freely and persistently, when sufficient space 
was allotted it, than the Agamas. It seems singular that this bipedal power of locomotion 
should have so long remained undiscovered, and yet is possessed by lizards which have for a 
number of years been the denizens of many 
zoological gardens and other menageries. 
The fact that a comparatively large level area 
is a sine qua non for the exhibition of this 
phenomenon affords no doubt the explanation 
of this anomaly ; but the anomaly itself at the 
same time serves to accentuate the desirability, 
in the interests of both science and the animals’ 
comfort, that exists for providing them in cap- 
tivity with a more liberal and reasonably sufficient 
space for their indulgence in those methods of 
locomotion that are natural to them in their 
native land. 
The Greaved Lizard Family includes some- 
what over one hundred species. While the 
majority agree with the teguexin in the pos- 
session of well-developed limbs, there are a few 
Photo by PP', Saville- Kenif F,Z.S» 
SOUTH AFRICAN GIRDLED LIZARD 
Remarkable for the spiny armature^ ixfhich is arranged in concentric 
girdles 
