Presently,
however, the mental emotion, what, ever it was--anger, or fear, or
dislike--has passed away, and the lovely green hue sparkles in the
glancing sunlight as before.
He lifts the window-sash; and instantly there run out on the sill two
or three minute lizards of a new kind, allied to the gecko, the common
palette-tip (_Sphoeriodactylus argus_.) It is scarcely more than two
inches long, more nimble than fleet in its movement, and not very
attractive.
In the woods he would meet with other kinds. On the trunks of the
trees he might frequently see the Venus (_Dactyloa Edwardsii_), as it
is provincially called; a lizard much like the anoles of the houses,
of a rich grass-green colour, with orange throat-disk, but much larger
and fiercer; or, in the eastern parts of the island, the great iguana
(_Cyclura lophoma_), with it dorsal crest like the teeth of a saw
running down all its back, might be seen lying out on the branches of
the trees, or playing bo-peep from a hole in the trunk; or, in the
swamps and morasses of Westmoreland, the yellow galliwasp (_Celestus
occiduus_), so much dreaded and abhorred, yet without reason, might be
observed sitting idly in the mouth of its burrow, or feeding on the
wild fruits and marshy plants that constitute its food.
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