Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1905-02-11
THE MEXICAN LIZARD
DELICIOUS EATING, HIS FLESH LIKE
THAT OF CHICKEN. s

!
! 4 TH'e OF the Curicua Tail of the
| I.unna - The Way This Peculiar
Creature Can Grow New Append
age In Place of One Lost or Stolen.
My tale is Of the tail of a lizard. we
had steamed and railroaded many hun
1:rds OF miles and at the end Of civili-
cation had started over a steep and
narrow trail with horses and pack
nlulcs, finally finding ourselves en-
rampcd in deep canyon or barranca
IN west central Mexico.
lGuanas. great. black lizards. three
/ feet or more in length. were abundant
! III the deep caves Of the cliff, coming
! out carly in the morning to sun them
selves and bobbinC up and down as an
Owl ducks his head to get Il better look
ut US as our McXic;ln cook started tue
! tire or stirred about the camp We
found them delicious eating. Though
the Mexican demurrc;! ut first. preiu-
| dice was soon cast aside Their limbs
| might be black skinned and scalv with
out. but within ali was sweet, white
meat like that Of chickens and frogs
| legs
! The isuanas. which had their bur
/ rows III the ground. would climb up
| cacl morning. up. mp to the topmost
! limbs OF some trees. and there basll in
| tho sun. They had most startling
way o descending. hcndlong dive to
| the underbrush or into the water. AS
twilight fell the sight Of these great
| black arparitions sprawling earthward
| ,,l.D t,lo Sc ~
bad ever struck us in it's descent our
Interest in this strange habit would
| suddenly have become lcSsencd.
| Gu: usual method OF procuring these
| giant lizards for Our harder was to
| shoot them high above ,is. when they
would tumble hendlong to our feet
| Sometimes we could approach close to
| one when it WAS fast asleep in the
! scorchinS heat Of midday. Once /
| seized Il big fellow by the tail. was
! sorry q moment later. but as did not
| want to be beaten by Il lizard I held
| stoutly on. Never before had taken
| hold Of such a steel spring. The crea
i ture curied ana twisted ami snapped
! its body about. the sharp scales hay
ing anything but pleasant feeling on
the palm Of my hand. Suddenly some
thing gave way. and I fell on my back
While the iguana shot Oft in the op-
! poSitc direction into a deep hollow
among the rocks When regained
| my feet found some nine inches Of
| tail in NY hand. almost one-third Of
| the entire animal.
This is not an uncommon occurrence
smoDs lizards. and the ability 10 part
| With so considerable 4 portion OF their
anatomy insures many an escape from
| What would otherwise be inevitable
death
Almost all animals with backho
have a thick plabe cushion OF car
| tilaSe between each OF the bones in
their spinal column which permits
| them to bend and twist it with much
| freedom. The backbone OF the icuana
is At first all cartilage. and when the
hard cells OF tho honc begin to be de
! posted y deep, narrow wedge or crack
is left in each tail bone. This is filed
With soft cartilage. 50 these bones arc
greatly weakened near their cCnterS
Instead 1T IN lcciucnt:i defect this is
an all Wise provision OF nature. fore
seem. that hawks. vA@rant naturaiiStS
and other enemies may some day be
+, too quick for ;l'c reptile and will seize
/ lis tail before it can escape.
When This happens. rs in my case,
the strain of The struggling creatures
| body IS 100 great for the weak SPOTS in
It's tail bones. and one OF these gives
way. With the result above narrated.
! Tho muscles. too, arc arranged TO aid
this phenomenon. They are short and
thick and conical inS,end OF runnin.
the whole length CT the :;ail. and. being
only dovctailcd together. they readily
give way. Only i few drops OF blood
escape: then the stump heals over. and
before long a new tail begins to shoot
out.
Ills OF course. contains no bones.
but instead 4 long. unjointcA rod Of
! carthage exactly like tic ancestral one
which was present in the embryo ig,,-
ana. Stranger still. the scales on this
new tail arc unlike those on the rest Of
the creatures body and actually may
De Ike those OF some bygone ancestor.
In the smaller lizards called geciios.
this seems always TO be the case.
When closely examined the tai
which the iguana had left in my hands
| saw that it vas one Of these fraud
tails and had long ago supplanted The
original apDendagc, with which some
| other enemy. doubtless i fcathered one.
had absconded. Two new vertebrae or
tail bones had come off with the base
OF my piece.
But the owner cares nothing for the
number or character or his new fails