OCR Text |
Show - - -. . . r The Animal of the Amazon. Any ono who had novcr seen or heard of an Iguana, and who enmo suddenly sud-denly upon ono ot tlio nppoaranco Indicated In-dicated by tlio excellent picture, and flvo or six feet long, would bo Inclined to think It tho fabled dragon, or clso tho creation of a nightmare dream. Yet It Is one of tho most timid and inoffensive inof-fensive of living creatures, nnd, wo might add, ono of tho most stupid. Dates, tlio naturalist, who has told us so much about tho animals of tho great Illvcr Amnzon, says that, on ono occasion, n largo Iguana dropped down from a treo in front of him, apparently apparent-ly from mnro fright at his presence. Tho great lizard gavo an Idiotic stare at tho Intruder, and then began to run nlong tho path In front of him. When pursued, It stopped nnd crouched down Ilko n timid dog, nnd permitted ltiolt to 6o seized by tho neck and carried off. Their flesh Is considered n delicacy In most of tho countries where thoy nrc found, and tho natives capture them by slipping n nooso on tho end of a long cano or bamboo over their heads, as tho stupid nnlmnl sits In fancied (security upon n projecting limb. Tho Iguana has n pouch or dcwlnp under tho throat, which ndds to Its ro-pulslvo" ro-pulslvo" nppenrnnce, and n crest ot comprciscd and pointed scales, which forms n formldablo looking row of spines, oxtcndlng from tho napo of tho neck to tlio end of tho long tall, oxact-ly oxact-ly as wo sco In tho fanciful picture of tlio dragon. Tho tall Is very long, Blonder and somewhat compressed, and Is, In structuro, vory much like tho othor lizards that Is, they aro so loosoly nnd delicately put together that, when caught by tho tail, tho animals hnvo tho power ot throwing It off, or n very slight wronch will take It off. And hero, wo may remark that llz-nrds llz-nrds aro sometimes found with forked or douhlo tolls, which condition of things arises from tho building of n rudimentary tail at tho side, in conso-quonco conso-quonco of gome Injury dono to tho member, but not Bovcro enough to tako It qulto off. Tho tails ot lizards seem In general to bo ot ltttlo use to thorn, oxcept, porbnps, as n moans ot steorlng, and In- many varieties they aro so hold, wbon tho creature takes to (light, as to show that they aro then rather nn incunibranco whon on shore. Tho Iguanidao nro very numerous, comprising fifty-six genera nnd neurly two hundred and fifty species in tho FIJI Islands, nnd ono or two tit tho Galapagos group; thoy nm all natives ot America, extending nil tho way from Patagonia, In the south, to California Cali-fornia at the north. The BUb-ordcr ot Iguanidao are called call-ed by naturalists pachyglossoe, or tblcktongued, because the tonguo is undivided, short nnd thick, has no sheath, and Is always covered with a glutinous secrotlon. The long, darting tonguo ot tho geckos, chamolcons and common lizards liz-ards Is used to capture files and other lntocta at n considerable u. Blanco, the tongue darting out and returning with lightning rapidity, nnd tho Insect adhering ad-hering to It by means ot the glutinous secretion. But the Iguana does not need this contrivance, because it feeds on vegetable vege-table matter exclusively. Its claws nro vory long and sharp, as wo should Buppose would be the caso In n creaturo of arboreal habits, enabling It to cling to the trees unions which It llvo. This structure affords a great contrast with the feet of soma of tholr coming tho smaller lizards r-wblqh run along tho celling of rooms fs easily as along the floor. l Aiinuuroi. -.m io - J6-' Tho apparatus by which they aro enabled to do this consists of cushions on tho under side of tho toes, beneath which thero nro folds of skin forming flcxlblo plates. When tho lizard wants to walk up-Bldo up-Bldo down, theso plated soles, by a quick miiBculnr action, exhaust nnd admit nlr alternately, acting for tho moment like tho leather "sucker" which a boy putn upon n brick. Tho prevailing color of tho Iguana Is green, which Is no doubt n protection protec-tion to It, ns It Uvea nmong foliage, but they possess almost as great powers pow-ers as the chameleon In changing colors. col-ors. Foar or Irritation will quickly mako them dark, or oven black. The common Iguana of South America Amer-ica nnd tho West Indian Islands has a good deal of brown mixed with Its grcon color, nnd Its tall is ringed In nltcrnate bands ot theso colors. It sometimes lays Its eggs In tho hollows of trees, nnd sometimes In burrows In tho sand of river-bars. These eggs are a ltttlo larger than thoso ot a pigeon, and tho white Is very glairy nnd hard to congulato by boiling, llko thoso of most reptiles, but they aro considered n great dainty, not only by many other nnlmals, but by tho natives, who generally cat them raw, mixed with a little farina or man-dloc man-dloc flour. All the Iguanas take readily to tho water, although they do not, ns n rulo, go In It of tholr own accord. Tho writer onco startled a huge ono In a thicket near Ilosarlo, on tho Parana river, which scuttled with marvelous speed down tho bank, making tho dust nnd leaves fly, nnd swam rapidly to an Island near by, l;oIng Bcot free, although al-though followed by both banels of a shot-gun. It must liavo been flvo or six feet long. In tho samo region thoy havo tho Jacuaru, a great, fat lizard, about two feet long, which makes Btich n clatter by scampering nbout nmong the dead leaves and twigs that ono would suppose sup-pose n wholo herd of largo animals wcro In tho thicket. IGUANAS OF THE AMAZON. Darwin describes the curious Iguanas Ig-uanas which exist In tho Galapagos Islnnds, eelobrated for tholr hugo land tortolHoa. They havo largo, ncrrotcd crests, and aro most formldablo in appearance, although harmless, nnd living upon marluo plants exclusively, Thoy wero seen BWlmmlng In the sea, sometimes hundreds of yards from tho shore, and tho great naturalist says that, although their feet wcro somewhat some-what webbed, thoy did not appear to uso them in swimming, but held them close to their sides, whllo thoy pro-polled pro-polled themselves by tholr long, flattened flat-tened tails. They woro able to remain below wntcr for n long tlmo, but, strnngo to say, when frightened, always made for the shoro. Tho Iguana belongs to the saurlans, n numerous order, which comprises the crocodiles, monitors, geckos, chameleons cham-eleons and hundreds ot othor reptiles. Its teeth aro very peculiar, being round at tho sum.and then compressed, sharp and serrated or Indented llko n taw. This peculiarity of teeth has boen discovered In the remains of n gl-gantlo gl-gantlo fostil animal, whieh has, In consequence, con-sequence, beon named the iguanadon or Iguana-toothed. Mr. Waterhouse has reconstructed In plaster ono of those croatures ns It was supposed to exist before the flood, and It certainly looks like an Iguana, oxcept ox-cept that It had huge hind legs and tall, out ot nil proportion to tho rest ot tho body. It mint have sometimes ranehed a length nt flftv or sixty feet, nnd waa probably n vegetablo feeder, rntslng Itself on Its hind legs and tall to strip largo troee of their foltago, , 4iti y-mtim&qjimt" myitmM .-. 4 niit mi li Ji, iiv .T . , ,,",". j The remains show that It had a bcak-Hke process on the upper Jaw and a corresponding depression on tho lowor ono, as we sco In n parrot. Prof. Owen supposed that this arrangement was to allow of tho protrusion ot a long prehensile tonguo, with which it stripped tho trees. Tho fossil remains do not show what sort of scalen or armor this great creature crea-ture had, but It Is qulto probable that they wcro not unlike tho Iguana of our era. |