In the family of Iguanas the Basilisk may be noted. According to ancient authors, reproduced by writers of the middle ages, the Basilisk, although such a small animal, could produce instant death by its sting. The man whose eyes met theirs was supposed to be at once devoured by an intense fire. Such are the fabulous ideas which tradition has transmitted to us about these animals. It is to be remarked, however, that the Basilisk of modern herpetology is not the +basiliskos+, or Royal Serpent, of the ancients, the Cockatrice of Scripture. The reptile which now bears the name is an inoffensive animal, living in the forests of Guiana, Martinique, and Mexico, and leaping from branch to branch, in order to gather the seeds or seize the insects on which it feeds. The Basilisk is distinguished from the other Iguanian Lizards by the absence of the long and dilatable skin under the throat, and by the presence of an elevated crest which runs along the whole length of the back and tail. [Illustration: Fig. 29.--Hooded Basilisk.] The Hooded Basilisk, _B. americanus_ (Fig. 29), measures seven or eight inches from the nose to origin of the tail, which is itself nearly three times as long, being nineteen or twenty inches in length. Upon the occiput it has a sort of horn or bag, in shape like a hood, round at the summit, and slightly inclined towards the neck. This bag, when distended, is about the size of a pullet's egg. In the male the back and tail are surmounted by a raised crest, such as we have described above, sustained in its thickness by the knotty process of the vertebræ. The general colour is a mixture of sandy brown, slightly marbled on the back and sides, with shades of blue on the upper part, and a silvery white underneath. On the throat are larger bands of brown, and on each side of the eye is a white ray bordered with black, which is lost upon the back; and the tail is so remarkably attenuated towards its extremity as to show the articulations of the vertebræ beneath. [According to Mr. O. Salvin, the Basilisk is very common about Lanquin, in the province of Guatemala, where it may frequently be seen on the low branches of a bush, and it is particularly fond of basking on the boughs of a felled tree in a clearing near a stream. In some specimens of the males, we are informed, the tail is much more compressed than in others. In a series of the young the crest is shown in all stages of development. We also learn from this naturalist that, notwithstanding the compressed form of its tail, the Basilisk does not habitually enter the water, as most writers have supposed.