Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1905-11-10
TALE OF A LIZARDS TAIL.
How the Ieuana Can Grow a New One
In Place Of one Lost


logy, New York Geological Park, In the
New York Tribune.1
My tale is Of the tail Of the lizard We
| had steamed and railroaded many hun
dreds Of miles, and at the end of civiliza-
| ton had started over a steep and narrow
| trail, with horses and pack mules, finally
finding ourselves encamped in a deep
| canyon, or barranca, in West Central
! Mexico.
Our backyard was a great orchid-hung
| cliff; before us ran and tumbled a swift
| cold stream, and the blue sky beyond and
| over all was cut deep by two majestic
| peaks-one snow capped and dead its
| sister breathing smoke and flame. Here
| we lived-Milady and land watched
the strange tropical life, which ever went
on about the tent, night and day. Here
we first had our strange experience. noted
in our diary as 1.-THE day of the iguana's
| tail"
Iguanas, great black lizards three feet
or more in length, were abundant in the
deep caves OF the Cliff coming out early
| in the morning to sun themselves, and
| bobbing up and down, as an owl ducks
his head. to get a better look at us, as
our Mexican cook started the fire or stirred
about the camp.
Little imagination was necessary to
magnify the stone on which they sprawled
| to a huge bowlder, and them to thirty
| foot saurians of prehistoric ages when the
reptiles were masters of the earth. We
| found them delicious eating. Though the
Mexican demurred at first, prejudice was
| soon cast aside. Their limbs might be
black skinned and scaly without, but
within all was sweet, white meat, Hike
that OF chickens and frogs legs.
| The iguanas, which had their burrows
In the ground, would climb up each morn
ing, up. to the topmost limbs OF some
| trees, and there baSk In the sun. They
had most startling way of descending
headlong dive to the underbrush or in
| to the water AS twilight fell, the sight
| of these great black apparitions sprawling
eartnward was most remarkable. II one
of them had ever struck us in its descent
| our interest in this strange habit would
suddenly have become lessened
Our usual method Of procuring these
| giant lizards for our larder was to shoot
them high above us, when they would
tumble headlong to our feet Sometimes
we could approach close to one. when 1t
! was fast asleep in the scorching heat of
! midday. Once seized big fellow by the
tail. was sorry a moment later. but as
| l did not want to be beaten by a lizard
| l held stoutly on. Never before had 1
| taken hold of such a steel spring. The
creature curled and twisted and snapped
| its body about, the sharp scales having
anything but a pleasant feeling on the
palm of my hand Suddenly something
| gave way, and fell on my back, while the
iguana shot of in the opposite direction,
into deep hollow among the rocks. When
regained my feet 1 found some nine
inches OF tail in my hand-almost one
third of the entire animal!
This is not an uncommon occurrence
among lizards and the ability to part with
so considerable a portion of their anatomy
insures many an escape from what would
otherwise be inevitable death
Almost all animals with backbones have
a thick Mia HE cushion Of artfiaQa he
tween each OF the bones in their spinal
column. which permits them to bend and
twist II with much freedom. The back
bone Of the iguana is. at first all cartilage
and when the hard cells of the bone be-
gin to be deposited, a deep, narrow wedge,
or crack. is left in each tailbone. This is
filed with a soft cartilage so these bones
are greatly. weakened near centres. In
stead of an accidental defect, this is an
allwise provision OF nature, fcreseeing the
hawks, vagrant naturalists and other
enemies may some day be too quick for
the reptile and will seize its tail before
II can escape.
When this happens. as in my case, the
strain of the struggling creatures body is
too great for the weak spots In its tail
bones, and one of these gives way, with
the result above narrated. The muscles
too, are arranged to aid this phenomenon
They are short and thick and conical, in
stead of running the whole length OF the
, tall and. being only dovetailed together
they readily give way Only few drops
of blood escape; then the stump heals
over and before long a new tail begins
to shoot out.
This, of course. contains no bones, but
, instead long. unjointed rod of cartilage
, exactly like the ancestral one, which wa:
, present in the embryo iguana. Stranger
STILL the scales on this new tail are unlike
those on the rest of the creatures body
and actually may be like those of some
bygone ancestor. In the smaller lizard!
called geckos, this seems always to b.
the case.
When closely examined the tail which
3 the iguana had left in my hands l saw
that II was one OF these fraud tail!
and had long ago supplanted the origina
appendage, with which some other enemy
doubtless a feathered one, had absconded
! Two new vertebrR, or tailbones, haC
come off with the base of my piece.
: But the owner cares nothing for TIL
number or character of his new tails
They serve him well and he is content
. 1t is a curious fact that the tailmakinl
d machinery in his backbone is so activ
$ that sometimes a double or even tripl
tail will push out at the stump. and, whei
the original tail is even only slightly in
jured at one side a tiny tail will Oftel
sprout out where II has no right to be.
l secured the tailless iguana and hell
5 him long enough for photograph, the
}, he scuttled quickly away into his rock
e cavern, there to mediate upon tn
strange interruption of his dreams, Their
: to grow wiser and to grow new tail.