XVII TERRESTRIAL AMBLYRHYNCHUS 413 



the danger was past, it crawled out on the dry rocks, and 

 shuffled away as quickly as it could. I several times caught 

 this same lizard, by driving it down to a point, and though 

 possessed of such perfect powers of diving and swimming, 

 nothing would induce it to enter the water ; and as often as I 

 threw it in, it returned in the manner above described. Perhaps 

 this singular piece of apparent stupidit\^ may be accounted for 

 by the circumstance that this reptile has no enemy whatever 

 on shore, whereas at sea it must often fall a prey to the 

 numerous sharks. Hence, probabh', urged by a fixed and 

 hereditary instinct that the shore is its place of safety, whatever 

 the emergency may be, it there takes refuge. 



During our visit (in October) I saw extremely i&\\ small 

 individuals of this species, and none I should think under a 

 year old. From this circumstance it seems probable that the 

 breeding season had not then commenced. I asked several of 

 the inhabitants if the}' knew where it laid its eggs ; they said 

 that they knew nothing of its propagation, although well 

 acquainted with the eggs of the land kind — a fact, considering 

 how very common this lizard is, not a little extraordinary'. 



We will now turn to the terrestrial species (A. Demarlii), 

 with a round tail, and toes without webs. This lizard, instead 

 of being found like the other on all the islands, is confined to 

 the central part of the archipelago, namel}', to Albemarle, 

 James, Barrington, and Indefatigable Islands. To the south- 

 w^ard, in Charles, Hood, and Chatham Islands, and to the 

 northward, in Towers, Bindloes, and Abingdon, I neither saw 

 nor heard of any. It would appear as if it had been created 

 in the centre of the archipelago, and thence had been dispersed 

 only to a certain distance. Some of these lizards inhabit the 

 high and damp parts of the islands, but the}- are much more 

 numerous in the lower and sterile districts near the coast. I 

 cannot give a more forcible proof of their numbers,- than by 

 stating that when we were left at James Island, we could not 

 for some time find a spot free from their burrows on which to 

 pitch our single tent. Like their brothers the sea- kind, the}' 

 are ugly animals, of a yellowish orange beneath, and of a 

 brownish -red colour above : from their low facial angle the}' 

 have a singularly stupid appearance. They are, perhaps, of a 

 rather less size than the marine species ; but several of them 



