Page:Natural History, Reptiles.djvu/77

Rh membrane of the Flying Squirrels, enabling them to take long leaps from tree to tree.

The food of this Order consists principally of insects, but the Monitors of tropical America, which approach the Crocodiles in size, and in some other peculiarities, are said to prey upon other reptiles, the eggs of birds, &c.; and the Iguanas feed on fruit, as does also the Gallywasp of the West Indies, one of the Scincidæ, as we know from personal observation. Mr. Darwin mentions a species of Amblyrhynchus, a native of the Galapagos Islands, which swims out to sea, in order to feed on the sea-weeds that grow at the bottom.

Several of the foreign species are used as human food; Humboldt asserts that all the South American kinds within the tropics, that inhabit dry regions, are esteemed delicacies for the table. The flesh is white, and is said to resemble that of chicken. The Iguanas of the West Indies have always been prized by the Spanish settlers, though the English have commonly rejected them from prejudice.

The tropical regions of the globe swarm with Lizards, the species of which are very numerous; the grassy turf, the sandy plain, the sunny bank, the trees and bushes, the dilapidated wall, every heap of stones, and even the houses of the inhabitants, have their Lizards; some of which are of pleasing forms, most are distinguished for agile and graceful motions, and many are arrayed either in burnished mail, or in various brilliant hues. The colours of some, as the Chameleons, and the Anoles, are subject to changes, not produced by the play of light, as from the iridescent scales of