2(j Guanas. REPTILES. Guanas (CYcr.up.F.s). 
caught. As long as the whistling continued it was 
very quiet, hut when the sound ceased it became very 
savage, and hit at ever^’thing within its reach ; its 
green colour became hla-.'kish, and at last changed 
to a bluish-black, with darker bands upon the body, 
brownish-black upon the tail, and the only trace left 
of its original colour was about the eyes. It fiercely 
seized a piece of linen, and would not let it go for 
hours. When put into a cage it darted wildly about, 
and tried to bite everything it could lay hold of. At 
night it became gi’een, and the changes were very 
rapid. After four weeks’ confinement it changed its 
skin, and died in the operation. In former days, when 
those srd).stances known under the name of Bezoars 
were famed for their wonderful virtues in curing 
diseases, that found in the stomach of the Iguana was 
highly ])rizod in America. In the present day, these 
concretions are fallen into the most complete disrepute. 
THE RHINOCEROS GUANA (^Iguana rhinolog^hus) is 
distinguished from the preceding species bj^ having on 
the muzzle two short horns, with five or six tubercular 
scales surrounding them, and being fuinished with 
fewer scales forming the dorsal crest. This species is 
a native of the West Indies, and attains the length of 
five, and sometimes even of six feet, the tail being 
about one-half or three-quarters the length of the body. 
'The general colour is a bright green in the young, 
and a dirty gray in the old individuals, with about 
six black streaks across the body, and fifteen across 
the tail. 
The genus Cyclura has been separated from 
Iguana, from its having no dewlap or true throat 
j)ouch, hut only a lax fold of .skin plaited across, and 
the tail being covered with scales forming rings, alter- 
nating with rings of spines. The habits of the Cyclui es 
are very similar to those of the true Guanas. 
THE CLOUDED CYCIURE, or Guana of Carolina 
{Cyclura nuhila), has been described at some length by 
Catesby in his “ Natural History of Carolina.” “ This 
kind of lizard,” he says, “ somewhat resembles the 
crocodile or alligator in shape, but has a shorter head, 
and a serrated crest on the ridge of the back, extending 
from behind its head to the middle of the tail. They are 
of various sizes, from two to five feet in length ; their 
mouths are furiushed with exceeding small teeth, but 
tlieir jaws are armed with a bony beak, with which 
they bite with groat strength. They inhabit warm 
countries only, and are rarely to he met with anywhere 
noi th or south of the Tropics. Many of the Bahama 
Islands abound with them ; they nestle in hollow rocks 
and trees; their eggs have not a hard shell like the 
eggs of alligators, hut a skin only, like those of turtle, 
and are esteemed good food; they lay a great number 
of them at a time in the earth, which are there hatched 
by the sun’s heat. These Guanas are a great part of 
the subsistence of the inhabitants of the Bahama Islands, 
for which purpose they visit many of the remote Kays 
and islands in their sloops to catch them, which they 
do by dogs trained up for that purpose, which are so 
dexterous as not often to kill them, which, if they do, 
they serve only for present spending ; if otherwise, they 
sew up their mouths to prevent their biting, and jmt 
them into the hold of their slooj) till they have catched 
a sufficient number, which they either carry alive for 
sale to Carolina, or salt and barrel up for the use of 
their families at home. Those Guanas feed wholly on 
vegetables and fruit, particulaily on a kind of Fungus 
growing at the roots of trees, and of this and others 
of the Anona kind. Their flesh is easy of digestion, 
delicate, and well tasted ; they are sometimes roasted, 
but the more common way is to boil them, taking out 
the leaves of fat, which they melt and clarify ; this they 
put into a calabash or dish, into which they dip the 
flesh of the Guana as they eat it. It is i-emarkable 
that the fat which adheres to the inside of the abdomen, 
imbibes the colour of the fruit they eat last, which I 
have frequently seen tinged with pale red, yellow, and 
sometimes of a purple colour, which last was from 
eating the Prunus maritima, which fruit at the same 
time I took out of them. Though they are not amphi- 
bious, they are said to keep underwater above an hour. 
When they swim, they use not their feet, but clap them 
close to their body, and guide themselves with their 
tails. They.swallow all they eat whole. They cannot 
run fast ; their holes being a greater security to them 
than their heels. They are so impatient of cold that 
they rarely appear out of their holes but when the sun 
shines.” 
THE SHOULDER-CRESTED CYCLURA {Cyclura lo- 
jdioma), a species found in the island of Jamaica, 
has a very interesting account given of it by Mr. 
Gosse in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society 
for 1848. This animal is about three feet long, the 
tail alone measuring twenty-one inches. It is of a 
russet-green colour, with obscure, confluent, dark olive- 
brown spots, and its crest is high along the upper 
part of the back, and continued over the shoulders, 
but interrupted over the loins. The skin of the throat 
is loose and transversely wrinkled, is of considerable 
size, and can be distended by the animal at will. 
This Cyclure appears to be found only in particular 
parts of the island. Mr. Hill, in a comnnmication 
addressed to Mr. Gosse, says that its ordinary haunt 
is a low limestone chain of hills along the shore 
from Kingston harbour and Goat Island, or to its 
continuation in Vere. Succulent herbs, growing in 
the forests of these hills, supply its food. These hills, 
however, he says, are so little suited for this sort of vege- 
tation, that hardly anything more than aromatic and 
resinous trees and balsamic plants grow there. In the 
occasional hollows a little mould has been collected 
from decayed leaves, mingled with marl, extremely 
stony and- sterile, and there a little more succulent 
herbage prevails. The rocks have numerous caverns ; 
and the springs that break out at the foot of the clitfs 
are an impure brackish water, though extremely trans- 
parent. It is this district that is almost exclusively 
the haunt of this creature. When excited, it assumes 
a menacing attitude, and directs its eye to the object 
of attack with a peculiar sinister look. “ At this time,” 
says Mr. Hill, “ it inflates its throat, erects the crest 
and dentclations on the back, and opens the mouth so 
as to show the line of its peeuliarly-set white teeth, 
with serrated edges,” so well adapted for cutting and 
cropping its vegetable food. “ In dclending itself from 
attack, the Cyclure converts its long flexible tail into 
