62 Naturalist at Large 



with difficulty. This is commonly supposed to be the work 

 of sharks. But I think it is much more likely that the in- 

 juries are caused by fighting with other turtles. There is 

 always great excitement when the turtle schooners come 

 to Key West. One Cayman vessel will often carry a hun- 

 dred or more turtles stacked up in its hold. They probably 

 average 200 pounds apiece and the cargo is a very valuable 

 one. 



I landed one morning from the Utoivana on the Island 

 of Saona, off the coast of Haiti. It is a rather flat, unin- 

 teresting little island and I was not prepared for what I 

 found. I knew that there was a high degree of endemicity 

 on all these islands around the Haitian coast. I knew, also, 

 that Saona had never been visited by anyone in search of 

 reptiles, so I walked around the confines of a small open 

 garden patch, knowing that this was the sort of terrain 

 where one might expect to find Ameiva lizards. Lizards 

 of this genus have a way of splitting up, so novelties may 

 be expected. 



I hunted a long time before I heard a noise in the dead 

 leaves. Ameiva lizards are anteaters and scratch with their 

 paws among the leaves, throwing them about in their search 

 for the insects which may be below them. I approached 

 the sound as stealthily as possible and could scarcely beUeve 

 my eyes when I saw a perfectly typical Ameiva, and by 

 the same token one utterly unlike any which I had ever 

 seen. I have collected countless numbers of lizards of this 

 genus. I shot this lizard on April 8, 1934. It was lilac gray 

 on the back, washed with fawn color on the head and 

 turning to pale blue on the tail. A black band, beginning 



