l8o A NATURAL HISTORY OF THE SEAS 



may squirt a jet of fluid from its nostrils. Its only sound 

 is a hiss. 



The problem of feeding this interesting lizard has 

 proved the chief stumbling block to keeping it in cap- 

 tivity. Some brought to the New York Zoo several years 

 ago persistently refused to feed and died after a few weeks. 

 The few obtained by Lord Moyne in 1933, however, 

 and presented to the London Zoo, lived for nearly two 

 years. After much experiment they were at last " suited " 

 with the common lava Porphjra, an inshore weed regularly 

 collected on the Devon coast and sent for human con- 

 sumption to Wales. 



When Darwin visited the Galapagos Islands nothing 

 was known of its breeding habits, but it has now been 

 ascertained that it deposits in June and July six to eight 

 white elliptical leathery-shelled eggs, which are placed in 

 shallow excavations in sand well beyond high tide level 

 and exposed to the sun. Some very small Marine Iguanas 

 are in evidence about December, the incubation presumably 

 taking some considerable time. Sea Iguanas are still 

 fairly abundant on all the islands in the Group where 

 wild dogs are not present. 



The subject of Sea Snakes at once calls up visions of 

 terrific monsters such as all true believers in the ideal 

 sea-serpent would like to meet, or at least witness from a 

 safe distance. Whilst some of the world's largest serpents, 

 however, such as the Reticulated Python of the Far East 

 and the Anaconda of Brazil, are largely aquatic, the only 

 truly aquatic serpents do not exceed 6 ft., and such develop- 

 ments are attained by only a few of the fifty odd at present 

 recognised. 



