IGUANA, 1-gwa'na, a large lizard of the typiCal genus of the family. Iguanicke. This •family is distinguished by having pleurodont teeth, a thick, vinous, nearly immobile tongue, a round pupil. and by various skeletal char acters. The 350 species belong to about 50 .genera and, with the exception of a few in the Fiji Islands and Madagascar, are confined to America, in the warm parts of which they fairly swarm. Only one species (Sce/operns undula tus) reaches as far north as the Middle States. They, vary greatly in appearance and habits; most are arboreal; many terrestrial, and • one, the Galapagos Amblyrhynchui, is even marine; the majority eat insects, but some are herbiv orous. The true iguanas, of which I. tuber • &feta is the best known, are rather widely dis .tributed through the West Indies, Central and South America. Owing to the high crest or fringe which extends along the back and tail, the deep, fringed, gular pouch, and the loose fitting skin, these animals present a remark able appearance. The trunk and tail are cov ered with small granule-like scales, and the head with larger plate-like ones; the feet are large and powerful; the tail very long, slender and compressed; and the teeth high and finely serrated. A length of five feet or more is com
monly attained. The iguanas are arboreal, their mottled green color serving admirably to con ceal them among the foliage; but when alarmed they have the habit, remarkable in a lizard, of retreating into the water of the streams along which they live. The 20 or 30 large eggs are deposited in a burrow usually dug in the bank of a stream or sometimes in a hollow tree. Notwithstanding its formidable size and aspect, the iguana is a timid, harmless creature, and the stories sometimes told of its ferocity are pure fabrications; moreover, it is purely vege tarian in its diet. The flesh is a favorite article of food with the natives, and many travelers have pronounced it to be white, tender and sweet, and is regularly brought to the markets. Consult Wallace, Midler, Bates, Belt, Gosse and other authorities on South and Central America. See LIZARD.