shaped, slightly keeled, and but little imbricated. Those on the head are in the form of plates, and constitute a sort of tessellated pavement. The tail is of great length, laterally compressed, and covered with small imbricated, keeled scales. A range of tuberculous pores run down the inside of each thigh. The jaws are furnished with compressed, triangular teeth, having notched, cutting edges; two small rows of teeth are attached to the palate also. The head is of moderate size, comparatively, and of a pyramidal figure. The tympanic membrane, covering the orifice of the ear, is very large and circular. The limbs are long; and the toes are of unequal length. The Iguanas are arboreal in their habits; and feed on vegetable aliment, perhaps, indeed, exclusively. M. Bibron says, that in the stomachs of those dissected by him, he has found nothing but leaves and flowers.

The Iguanas do not confine themselves to the trees; they often visit the ground; and occasionally take to the water, in which they swim with ease and rapidity, putting their fore limbs close to their sides, and lashing the tail from side to side, in a serpentine manner, and with great vigour.

The Iguanas are easily tamed, or rather habituated to captivity, though they retain a degree of fierceness, and will often attempt to bite. A large Iguana, which we approached rather too familiarly, made several snaps at us, though it betrayed no hostility towards its master. During the pairing season, the male is savage, watches constantly over his mate, and becomes furious if any one approaches her; attacking him with fiery eyes, inflated dewlap, and open mouth. The female visits the shore of the sea, or the borders of rivers, in order to deposit her eggs in the sand.

The incessant destruction of the Iguanas, for the sake of their flesh, has rendered them very scarce, if not altogether extinct, in localities where they were once abundant. Their eggs are also in great request; and, consequently, much sought after.

The common mode of catching these animals, is by throwing a noose over their heads, and pulling them down from the branch on which they are resting. This is easily done, for when discovered, they seldom attempt to escape, but gaze at their assailants, inflating their throats prodigiously, and assuming as formidable an air as possible. They are also taken in traps, or nets, and sometimes hunted with dogs. They are very tenacious of life; and are generally destroyed by a sharp instrument being plunged into the brain.

The COMMON IGUANA, or GUANA, (see engraving,) (Iguana tuberculata, Laurenti; Iguana delicatissima, Daudin,) is found very generally throughout the warmer regions of South America, and the West India islands; in some of the latter of which, however, it is now extirpated, or is very rare.

It often attains to the length of five feet: we have seen several of more than four feet; and it has been known to measure six. Its flesh is white and delicate, but is found to disagree with some constitutions.

Catesby informs us, that many of the Bahama islands abound with these animals, which "nestle in hollow rocks and trees: their eggs have not a hard shell, like those of Alligators, but a skin only, like those of a Turtle, and are esteemed good food. They lay a great number of eggs at a time, in the earth, which are hatched by the sun's heat. The Guanas furnish a great part of the subsistence of the inhabitants of the Bahama islands; for which purpose they visit many of the remote kayes and islands, in their sloops, to catch them; which they do by dogs, trained up for that purpose, and which are so dexterous, as not often to kill them. If they do so, however, the Guanas serve only for present use; if otherwise, they sew up their mouths, to prevent their biting, and put them into the hold of their sloop, until they have obtained a sufficient number; which they either carry alive for sale to Carolina, or salt, and barrel up,

for the use of their families at home. These Guanas feed wholly on vegetables and fruit; especially on a particular kind of fungus, growing at the roots of trees, and on the fruits of the different kinds of ananas. Their flesh is easy of digestion, delicate, and well-tasted; they are sometimes roasted, but the more common way is to boil them; taking out the fat, which is melted, and clarified, and put into a dish, into which they dip the flesh of the Guana, as they eat it.

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Though not amphibious, they are said to keep under water above an hour. They cannot run fast; their holes being a greater security to them than their heels. They are so impatient of cold, that they rarely appear out of their holes but when the sun shines."

Brown, in his "Natural History of Jamaica," (an island where this Lizard is now, we believe, quite extinct,) says, that, like most of the tribe, this animal "lives a very considerable time without food, and changes its colour with the weather, or the native moisture of its place of residence. I have kept," he adds, "a grown Guana about the house, for more than two months. It was very fierce, and ill-natured, at the beginning; but after some days, it grew more tame; and would, at length, pass the greatest part of the day upon the bed or couch, but always went out at night. The flesh of this creature is liked by many people, and frequently served up in fricassees, at their tables; in which state, it is often preferred to the best fowls. The Guana may be easily tamed while young, and is both a harmless and beautiful creature in that state."

The Iguanas which we have seen in captivity in this country, appeared to be slow in their movements, and very stupid, with no small degree of ferocity of disposition. We have alluded already to one which made an attack upon the writer; and we have known them to snap violently at other persons.

The general colour of this species, is green, more or