The Portland daily press., 1894-03-12
THE COMMON GREEN LIZARD.
How ne Enters the world, Gets His Liv-
ing and Changes Color.

ing and Changes Color.
The most curious thing about the com
mon green lizard is the way in which he
comes into the world. His mother lays
an egg, sometimes a number OF eggs, and
considers her parental duties done. She
abandons the egg at once and pays no
more attention to it. The egg soon inch
bates under the hot southern sun, and in
due time the little lizard inside concludes
that it is time to come out. After he
makes the first crack IN the shell five min
utes do not elapse before he is a full fedg-
ed young lizard, skipping about the grass
with the confidence of an old inhabitant,
feeding himself with such small insects as
he can catch. He knows no mother nor
any parental guidance, but is self support
ing and self confident from the moment
of his appearance.
~ was standing on the front piazza one
day when first lived in the West Indies"
a returned New Yorker said to a reporter,
tswhen one of the colored boys who were
sweeping ran up to me with outstretched
hand, saying, Boss, does you want to sec
a lizards egg?' He held in his hand a
small egg, in size and color about like a
BIRDS egg, and while I looked at it the
top of the shell cracked in one place. The
cracking extended rapidly, breaking that
part of the shell into small pieces, and in
moment a young lizard put his head
through. He looked about for an instant
to see the new world he had discovered,
put out his front paws, and like fash he
was entirely out Of the shell. He ran up
the boys arm to the shoulder, then down
his clothes to the ground, and was away
in the grass almost before we had time to
wink. He Was one Of the ordinary little
green lizards, and on his first appearance
he was about l u inches long.
The fondness of lizards of some kinds
for music is well known, and the green
lizard has this musical taste stronger than
most varieties. He will sit and listen for
a long time to the music Of violin, pi-
ano, or even to singing or whistling, show
ing his appreciation by the peculiar mo
ton of his head that all lizards have when
interested in anything. At home in the
warm regions his sole food is flies and 9th
er small insects, which he catches readily
sometimes by lying in wait or sneakin :
rlp as a cat does to mouse, but more ire
quently by a spring. When he is in good
condition, the green lizard moves so rap
idly that it IL hard for the eye to follow
him.
The small green lizards are plentiful
enough in the southern parts of Florida
but even there the supply of them is moth
ing compared with the myriads that
swarm all over the West Indies. West In
dams never think of harming one OF the
little creatures, but rather encourage them
to enter the houses, as they are very clean
", and do good service in killing off the
flies and small spiders.
Will he bitee Yes, the small green liz
ard will bite your finger If you encourage
him to. He can give pretty hard pinch,
too, with his tiny teeth. But he cannot
bite hard enough to puncture the skin,
and his pinching is entirely harmless. OF
the nearly Q 1000 varieties of lizards ther
is only one kind that does any harm by
its bite. This variety grows to length
Of about 12 inches and lives in Mexico,
but its appearance is so disgusting, its
skin being covered with leprous spots,
that there is no danger Of it's being export
ed for some young woman's pet. The idea
that any of the lizards or chameleons can
at will assume the color of any article they
stand upon is popular fallacy. The
green lizards sometimes change their color
to brown or ashy white, but this is about
the extent of their ability, and the changes
are governed largely by their physical con-
dition. Sudden fright sometimes causes
them to turn pale, as it does some larger
animals York Sun.