senseless slaughter by "sportsmen" and profession- 

 al hunters. The Alligator is oviparous (for egg, 

 see exhibit). 



RHYNCHOCEPHALIA (Order) 

 HATTERIIDAE (Family) 

 The only living representative of this order of 

 generalized reptiles is the Tuatera of New Zealand. 

 This form is closer to certain fossil types {Palaeo- 

 hatteriay Permian; Hyperodapedorif Triassic) than 

 to any existing reptile. 



Sphenodon (Genus) 

 35. Sphenodon punctatus Gray. TUATERA. 

 The few remaining individuals of this strange 

 reptile are confined to a few small islands off the 

 east coast of the North Island of New Zealand. 

 Owing to the persecution of man and to the num- 

 ber of their natural enemies, the Tuateras will scon 

 belong to the rapidly increasing list of animals 

 which bave inhabited this earth during our own 

 era but which no longer exist. While it remains, 

 the Tuatera is probably the most extraordinary an- 

 imal on the face of the earth. Lizard-like in form, 

 it is the closest to the birds of existing reptiles. 

 Its nearest relatives are species of the Permian 

 and Triassic ages, and it itself might well be called 

 a living fossil. Perhaps even more interesting to 

 anatomists than the generalized structure of Sphen- 

 odon is the light which it throws on the former use 

 of the pineal gland. Dissection of Sphenodon has 

 shown that this structure is the vestige of a third 

 eye. The pineal eye of the Tuatera is visible in 



