Object Status:
Unlocated
Accession Date:
September 1777
Primary Source Reference:
Du Simitière Memorandum Books, Library of Congress, fol. 25v
Additional Source Text:
In one of eleven "white flint bottles containing in Spirit a variety of reptiles & fishes of Jamaica."
Notes:
This specimen may have been the Jamaican turquoise anole or the Graham’s anole (Anolis grahami), a species of lizard native to the island of Jamaica. The upper body is usually a rich emerald or aquamarine, and these lizards have a special ability to camouflage and change color when necessary.
The donor, Andrew Caldwell (1722-1788), was a Philadelphia merchant who during the Revolution commanded the Pennsylvania Navy which repelled the British ships Roebuck and Liverpool (Memorial to Commodore John Barry [Philadelphia, 1907], p. 3).
Specimen Type:
Dead/preserved
Du Simitière's Common Name:
Changeable green lizard
Current Common Name:
Jamaican turquoise anole
Current Scientific Name
Anolis grahami
