IGUANOID GROUP. 
BING-TAILED IGUANA (1 nat. size). 
for water, although, on occasion, they can swim as well as the true iguanas. They 
feed mainly or entirely on grass, and when disturbed in grazing, these reptiles 
rush back to the trees with extraordinary speed, sometimes taking great leaps like 
a frog, although their movements are generally deliberate and slow. If unable to 
escape, they show tight in much the same way as the true iguanas. The breeding- 
habits of this species do not appear to be known, although the females of the allied 
black iguana (Ctenosaura acanthura ) of California are in the habit of laying in 
company, like the true iguanas. The ring-tailed iguana exhales a peculiarly dis¬ 
agreeable smell, which is stated to be so objectionable as to cause even the ants to 
forsake a room into which one of these creatures is brought. For this reason its 
flesh is uneatable, although that of the black iguana is highly esteemed. 
small scales, and a single series of larger and somewhat spinous ones. The toes 
are compressed, and covered below with keeled plates. In total length this iguana 
reaches about 48 inches; and its general colour is green or dark olive, speckled 
with darker and lighter, and frequently marked with blackish transverse bands. 
The ring-tailed iguana is a somewhat local species, occurring most abundantly in 
Jamaica, on the limestone mountains in the neighbourhood of Kingston Harbour 
and Goat Island, but also met with on the low grounds lying between the coast 
ranges and the higher mountains of the interior, where hollow trees occur. Shy 
and retiring in their habits, the creatures live in pairs, and display no great partiality 
