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Show 1 9 0 5 .] AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES. 2 1 5 countries, from Yucatan to Tampico and on the Pacific side as far as Southern California. It does not take to the water, preferring rocky bush-land or savannahs. According to the locality, it makes its home in a hollow tree, in the roof of a house, or on the ground, where, among rocks or trees, it digs out a permanent burrow, heaping up the soil above and around it. This " Iguana," or " Tilcampo " of the Zapotecs, is very fierce, bites, and lashes out furiously with its tail. Its food is varied, from all kinds of lizards, snakes, and insects to grass and flowers; in turn the Tilcampo itself is much prized as an article of food, and in the markets fetches more than two fowls. The young are entirely vivid green ; in their second and third years the back and sides develop blackish patches upon the green ground, and in this stage they are often very beautiful. With approaching maturity the green colour disappears, being encroached upon and then entirely suppressed by the spreading-black and brown pigment. But in certain localities, where these lizards live amongst luscious growth of evergreen trees, many individuals retain their green livery throughout life. I caught a young Tilcampo, which belonged to a green family, as shown by the parents, at San Juan Evangelista, on the eastern side of the Isthmus, where the green colour was normal; within less than 18 months my captive had lost all the green, and had assumed the dusky brownish and patchy garb. Ctenosaura quinquecarinata.-This much smaller, brownish-yellow species is not arboreal, ranging from Honduras into the southern hot parts of Oaxaca. It becomes very tame, takes a varied diet, and defends itself in its burrow by sideward strokes, of its spiny tail, much like the Indian Uromastix, which it greatly resembles in habits and outward appearance. Basiliscus vittatus.-Closely allied to the Central American B. america/nus, ranges from Ecuador into the Tierra Caliente of Mexico, where it is, however, restricted to the southern part, not going further north than Cordoba. Until I found it at Tequesixtlan and Tierra Colorada in the centre of Guerrero, it was not known from the Pacific side. The locality " Orizaba " in the ‘ Biol. Centr.-Am.' is erroneous; Sumichrast states clearly, and correctly, that this species extends only up to 3300 feet. The " Pasarios," its universal Spanish name, lives always on the banks of rivers or pools. I generally found them busy on the ground close to the water's edge, or upon a low overhanging branch. On the slightest alarm, they plunge or rush into the water, rapidly running over the surface in a slightly erect position, splashing the water with their long-toed hind limbs and the long wriggling tail, whilst the arms are adpressed to the body. They do not dive; arrived on the other side, they climb up the bank and hide in the tangled vegetation. The usual statement that they propel themselves by rapid strokes of the fore-limbs is erroneous, and the notion that the high dorsal and caudal crests, which adorn the male only, serve as a sail is a fable. Corythophanes hernandezi, " Teterete."-From Chiapas and |
