I GUANO ID GROUP. 
smooth. The natural colour of the creature is probably green, although specimens 
preserved in spirit are olive-brown above, and dirty white beneath. The back is 
marked with more or less distinct blackish transverse bands, while a lightish 
streak runs from the temple to the neck, and a more defined one from the region of 
the eye to the fore-limb. The banded basilisk (B. vittatus), ranging from Mexico 
and Ecuador, represents a second group of the genus, in which the tail-crest of the 
HELMETED BASILISK Bat. size). 
males is low, and not supported by bony rays. In this species the scales of the 
under surface of the body are keeled, whereas in the allied B. galeatus they are 
smooth. In general appearance all the basilisks suggest the idea of lizards upon 
whose backs has been grafted a fish’s fin. As regards their habits, all the members 
of the genus spend their time either on trees, or bushes, often basking in the sun on 
fallen stems, and seldom, if ever, venturing far from the neighbourhood of water. 
Most numerous in the vicinity of rivers, basilisks are, indeed, so common in 
Guatemala, that the collector has no difficulty in obtaining as many specimens as 
