1835.] TERRESTRIAL AMBLYRHYNCHUS. 283 



and bellies dragging on the ground. They often stop, and doze for 

 a minute or two, with closed eyes and hind legs spread out on the 

 parched soil. 



They inhabit burrows, which they sometimes make between frag 

 ments of lava, but more generally on level patches of the soft 

 sandstone-like stuff. The holes do not appear to be very deep, and 

 they enter the ground at a small angle ; so that when walking over 

 these lizard-warrens, the soil is constantly giving way, much to the 

 annoyance of the tired walker. This animal, when making its burrow, 

 works alternately the opposite sides of its body. One front leg for 

 a short time scratches up the soil, and throws it towards the hind foot, 

 which is well placed so as to heave it beyond the mouth of the hole. 

 That side of the body being tired, the other takes up the task, and so 

 on alternately. I watched one for a long time, till half its body was 

 buried; I then walked up and pulled it by the tail; at this it was 

 greatly astonished, and soon shuffled up to see what was the matter ; 

 and then stared me in the face, as much as to say, " What made you 

 pull my tail ? " 



They feed by day, and do not wander far from their burrows ; 

 if frightened, they rush to them with a most awkward gait. Except 

 when running downhill, they cannot move very fast, apparently from 

 the lateral position of their legs. They are not at all timorous ; when 

 attentively watching any one, they curl their tails, and, raising them- 

 selves on their front legs, nod their heads vertically, with a quick 

 movement, and try to look very fierce; but in reality they are not at 

 all so ; if one just stamps on the ground, down go their tails, and off 

 they snuffle as quickly as they can. I have frequently observed small 

 fly-eating lizards, when watching anything, nod their heads in precisely 

 the same manner ; but I do not at all know for what purpose. If this 

 Amblyrhynchus is held and plagued with a stick, it will bite it very 

 severely ; but I caught many by the tail, and they never tried to bite 

 me. If two are placed on the ground and held together, they will 

 fight, and bite each other till blood is drawn. 



The individuals, and they are the greater number, which inhabit the 

 lower country, can scarcely taste a drop of water throughout the year ; 

 but they consume much of the succulent cactus, the branches of which 

 are occasionally broken off by the wind. I several times threw a piece 

 to two or three of them when together ; and it was amusing enough to 

 see them trying to seize and carry it away in their mouths, like so 

 many hungry dogs with a bone. They eat very deliberately, but do 

 not chew their food. The little birds are aware how harmless these 

 creatures are ; I have seen one of the thick-billed finches picking at one 

 end of a piece of cactus (which is much relished by all the animals of 

 the lower region), whilst a lizard was eating at the other end; and 

 afterwards the little bird with the utmost indifference hopped on the 

 back of the reptile. 



I opened the stomachs of several, and found them full of vegetable 

 fibres and leaves of different trees, especially of an acacia. In the 

 upper region they live chiefly on the acid and astringent berries of the 



