128 A NEW ZEALAND NATURALIST'S CALENDAR. 



distribute the seeds. But it shows how specialised such 

 a form as L, colensoi is, that it is not more widely dis- 

 tributed. Its seeds, like those of the other kinds, must 

 not only fall on the branch of a tree, but if that tree does 

 not happen to be a Fagus their chance of survival would 

 seem to be small. In the Old Country people graft the 

 common mistletoe Viscum album on to apple and oak 

 trees for the sake of the Christmas harvest of berries which 

 they yield. It would be worth while here to try grafting 

 the scarlet mistletoe in a similar manner, for its flowers 

 are very attractive. I have in the past tried to cultivate 

 it, but though the berries were tried in all sorts of ways 

 placed in cracks on the branches, in slits in the bark, or 

 fastened on with clay or mud, and on a variety of trees 

 I was not successful in a single instance. 



There is but little animal life visible in mid - winter, 

 except the different kinds of birds, native and introduced, 

 which are so readily observed at this season ; but there 

 is plenty of hidden life for those who care to look for it. 

 I remember on one bright July day, some years ago, that 

 a party of us were examining some fallen totara trees 

 in a bush clearing. As we stripped the loose bark off 

 one of the trunks we uncovered a number of greyish- 

 brown lizards probably the common Dactyloenemis inacu- 

 lalus lying in a semi-torpid condition. They were carried 

 home and deposited in a dry aquarium case, fitted with 

 pieces of wood and stone, and covered with a loosely- 

 fitting lid. During very cold weather they remained 

 sluggish, but during the warmth of each sunny day they 

 brightened up very considerably. Two of them lost or 

 shook off their tails at the time of capture, but neither 

 of them seemed to be the worse of the loss. I kept all 

 of them till the beginning of November, though they 

 hardly ate anything. But with the advent of warm 

 weather a remarkable change came over them. Between 

 the second and seventh of the month they got rid of their 

 old skins, which peeled off them like pieces of very thin 

 worn glove, and they emerged bright and clean as con- 

 trasted with their former dirty grey appearance. They 



