92 I N A G U A 



of the clearing there was a host of things to claim my atten- 

 tion. Dozens of tiny Sphaerodactylus lizards, tiny brown crea- 

 tures so small that they could curl comfortably within the space 

 of my finger ring, made the hut walls their special domain. As 

 their generic name implies they were equipped with almost 

 microscopic five-toed feet, neatly furnished with cleverly 

 formed adhesive pads that made it possible for them to cling 

 upside down Hke flies to the smoothest ceilings. They were 

 nocturnal, and in the dark of the evening it was a common sight 

 to see their scampering forms darting all over the masonry. 

 They were so tiny that I often mistook their shadowy scurry- 

 ings for the movements of insects. These lizards were the sub- 

 ject of the first important discovery I made on Inagua, for 

 when I examined their anatomy I found it differed from that 

 of any Sphaerodactylus Hzard yet described. They were a type 

 new to science, and, as we proved, found nowhere else in the 

 world except on this lonely island. I spent long hours watching 

 their activities trying to glean something of their habits. I 

 pulled the house eaves apart in an effort to discover where they 

 hid when the brilliant sunlight sent them hurrying to cover. 

 One little fellow, or rather lady, took up residence in the crev- 

 ice of the laboratory table and there laid a single smooth, hard- 

 shelled egg. Most amazing was the fact that this egg was as 

 great in diameter as the lizard itself, a full quarter of an inch. 

 How a lizard with a waist measurement of a quarter of an inch 

 could lay an egg of equal dimension remained a mystery until 

 I raised an entire family of them and attended the birth rites 

 of several of the mothers. As obstetrician-in-chief to a jar full 

 of lying-in-waiting lizards I made the interesting discovery 

 that the eggs were quite soft when extruded, almost leathery in 

 texture, and that after a quarter of an hour they assumed a 

 smooth rounded shape and hardened to a beautiful, delicate, 

 calcareous pink shell. I put these diminutive eggs in a safe spot 



