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Show 32 REPTILIA. rise like a Bird. They are small animals, completely invested with little imbricated scales, of which those on the tail and limbs are carinated. Their tongue is fleshy, but slightly extensible, and somewhat emarginate. A long pointed dewlap hangs under their throat, supported by the tail of the os hyoides; there are also two smalle.r ones on the sides attached to the horns of the same bone. The tall is long; there are no porous granules on the thighs, and there is a little notch on the nape of the neck. Four small incisors are found in each jaw, and on each side a long and pointed canine, and twelve triangufar and tribolate grinders. They consequently have the scales and dewlap of the Iguance, with the head and teeth of the Stellio. All the known species are from the East Indies; they were con-founded for a great length of time, but Daudin has accurately determined their specific differences.( 1) SITANA, Cuv.(2) Teeth of the Agamce and four canini; body and limbs covered with imbricated and carinated scales; no pores on the thighs; but their ribs are not extended outwards. It is distinguished by an enormous dewlap which reaches to the middle of the belly, and which is twice the height of the animal. Sit. ponticeriana, Cuv. is the only known species, and is from the East Indies. It is small, fawn-coloured, and has a series of broad, brown, rhomboidal spots along the back. It is perhaps to this tribe of .B.gamians that we should approximate a very extraordinary reptile which is only to be found among the fossils of the old Jura limestone formation. PTERODAOTYLus, Cuv.(3) It had a short tail, an extremely long neck, and a very large bead; the jaws armed with equal and pointed teeth; but its chief character consisted in the excessive elongation of the second toe of the fore-foot, which was more than double the length of the trunk, and most probably served to support some membrane which enabled the animal to fly, like that upheld by the ribs of the dragon. The second section of the lguanian family, that of the lou A· (1) TheDragonraye;-theDrag.vert, Daud., Ill,xli;-thcDrag. b1·un. (2) Sitan is the name of the species on the Coast of Coromandel. (3) See my Oss. foss. 2d ed. Vol. V, p. 2, pl. xxiii. SAURIA. 33 NIANS proper, is distinguished from the first by having teeth in the palate. IGUANA, Cuv. In Iguana, properly so called, the body and tail are covered with small imbricated scales; along the entire length of the back, is a range of spines, or rather of recurved, compressed, and pointed scales; beneath the throat a pendent, compressed dewlap, the edge of which is supported by a cartilaginous process of the hyoid bone; a series of porous tubercles on their thighs as in the true Lizards; the head covered with plates. Each jaw is surrounded with a row of compressed, triangular teeth, whose cutting edge is denticulate; two small rows of the same on the posterior edge of the palate. Jg. tuberculata, Laur.; Lac. Iguana, L.; Seb. I, xcv, 1, xcvii, 3, xcviii, 1. (The Common American Iguana.)( 1) Yellowish green above, marbled with pure green; the tail annulated with brown; preserved in alcohol it appears blue, changing to green and violet, and dotted with black; paler beneath; a crest of large spiniform dorsal scales; a large round plate under the tympanum at the angle of the jaws; sides of the neck furnished with pyramidical scales scattered among the others; anterior edge of the dewlap denticulate like the back; from four to five feet in length: common in South America where its flesh is esteemed delicious, although unwholesome, particularly for syphilitic patients. It lives mostly on trees, occasionally visits the water and feeds on fruit, grain, and leaves; 'the female lays her eggs in the sand, they are the size of those of a Pigeon, agreeable to the taste and almost without white. L' Iguane ardoise, Daud.; Seb. I, xcv, 2, xcvi, 4. (The Slatecoloured Iguana.) A uniform violet blue, paler beneath; the dorsal spines smaller; otherwise, similar to the preceding, both of them having an oblique whitish line on the shoulder. The latter is from the same country as the former, and is probably a mere variety of age or se:x..(2) lg. nudicollis, Cuv.; Mus. Besler. tab. XIII, f. 3; Jg. delicatiasima, Laur., resembles the common one, particularly in its dorsal crest, but has no infra-tympanal plate, nor the scattered tu- (1) The Mexicans call it .O.quaquetzpallia, Hernand.; the Brazilians, Senembi, Marcgr. (2) I have every reason to think that this same conclusion should be extended to the Iguanas of Spix, pl. v, vi, vii, viii, and ix: they seem to me to be nothing more than various ages of the common species. VoL. II.-E |
