L. iguana, or the great American guana., is found in various parts of America and the West Indies. Its colour is generally green. Its back exhibits the appearance of a saw, and it is distinguished by a pouch under the throat, which it is able to ex tend or contract at pleasure, and which gives it occasionally an appearance truly formidable. It is formidable, however, only in appearance, being in fact per fectly inoffensive. Its general length is from three to five feet ; it inhabits rocks and woods, and subsists on vegetable food and .certain species of insects. The guanas deposit their eggs (which have no testaceous covering, and are much valued for food) in the earth, where they may be warmed by the beams of the sun, and leave them to be matured solely by its influence. The natives of the Bahamas train dogs to the pursuit of these animals, and a well disciplined dog will take them alive, in which case they are carried for sale to the markets of Carolina in the holds of vessels ; those which are des troyed or lacerated by the dogs, are salted and barrelled, and kept for the home consumption. Their flesh is I+ ported to be easily digestible, delicate, and well flavoured. They will keep un der water for nearly an hour ; when they swim, their feet are kept close to their bodies, and they appear to produce and regulate their motions merely by their tails. Whatever they eat they swallow whole. They have been kept without food a very considerable time. Their colour is much affected by the state of the weather, or the dampness or dryness of their habitation. They may be easily tamed if taken young.
basiliscus, or the basilisk, is particu larly distinguished by a broad vying-like process, elevated along the whole length of its back, somewhat similar to the fins of fishes, and which is capable, at the pleasure of the animal, of being extended or contracted. It lives almost solely in trees, feeding upon insects, and though somewhat terrific in appearance, is as harmless as any of the lizard tribe. It is found most frequently in South America, generally about a foot and a halt' long, swims with great ease, and moving among the branches of the trees with extreme agility, sometimes apparently with a short flight, which is aided by the remarkable process above mentioned, on its back. The basilisk of antiquity, whose bite was supposed to be more speedily mortal than that of any other creature, and whose look even carried destruction with it, is to be ranked with the fabulous monsters, which, in the prevailing ignorance of na ture that attended those times, were am ply supplied by a poetic imagination. See Amphibia, Plate I. fig. 3.
L. monitor, or the black lizard, mea sures frequently thur and sometimes five feet, being one of the largest as well as the most elegant of the tribe. It is found principally in woody and moist situations in South America, and is reported to give indications of attachment and gratitude to those by whom it has been fed, and fa miliarised to be as mild in its manners and temper as it is elegant in its Form.
L. agilis, or the green lizard, is abun dant in all the warmer latitudes of Europe, sometimes attaining the length of more than two feet, but in general not exceed ing one. Its colouring is more beautiful than that of any of its tribe in this quarter of the world. About the southern walls of gardens, it is particularly seen pursu ing insects with great alertness and ('ex terity, and both in attack and i-scape. its agility is truly admirable. It may to a certain degree be tamed and familiarised, and in this state is by many considered not only as a perfectly harmless, but as a favourite animal.
L. chameleon, the chameleon, is gene rally of the length of ten inches without the tail, which is equally long. Its food consists of insects, which it procures by protruding the tip of its tubular and lengthened tongue with inconceivable ce lerity, and never failing to retract with it the prey at which it was darted. In In dia and Africa, and various other parts of the world, these animals are found in great abundance. They are perfectly in offensive, and can endure a long absti nence, from which latter circumstance the idea of their living upon air alone, may not unnaturally have been derived They occasionally retain the air in their lungs for a very considerable time, and thus as sume an appearance of fulness and fleshi ness, which is in perfect contrast to that which they will suddenly exhibit, in con sequence of the total expulsion of the air from the lungs, during which they are collapsed and seemingly emaciated. A change of colour is sometimes observed in many of the lizard tribe, but particu larly so in the chameleon ; but the long prevailing idea of the adaptation of its colour to that of any substance with which it is surrounded is totally groundless. Its varieties in this respect appear to extend (in consequence, principally, of varied health or temperature) from its natural green-gray into very pale yellow, with ir regular patches of red. When exposed to the sun, considerable changes in the shading and patching of its colours are observable ; and when, after being wrap ped in white linen by some members of the French Academy, it reappeared within two or three minutes, it partook some what, but very far from completely, of the colour of it. On being folded up in sub stances of various other different colours, it borrowed neither of them, and exhibit ed no interesting change. The move ments of the chameleon are extremely slow, and in passing from branch to branch its tail is coiled for security round one till its feet have been extended to the other.