150 GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO. 



Amblyrhynclius cnstnliis. o, To.ith of natural size, and likewise magnified. 



greater size than elsewhere. Their tails are flat- 

 tened sideways, and all four feet partially webbed. 

 They are occasionally seen some hundred yai'ds 

 from the shore, swimming about ; and Captain Coll- 

 nett, in his Voyage, says, " They go to sea in herds 

 a-fishing, and sun themselves on the rocks, and 

 may be called alligators in miniature." It must 

 not, however, be supposed that they live on fish. 

 When in the water this lizard swims with perfect 

 ease and quickness, by a serpentine movement of 

 its body and flattened tail — the legs being motion- 

 less and closely collapsed on its sides. A seaman 

 on board sank one, with a heavy weight attached 

 to it, thinking thus to kill it directly ; but when, an 

 hour afterwards, he drew up the line, it was quite 

 active. Their limbs and strong claws are admira- 

 bly adapted for crawling over the rugged and fis- 

 sured masses of lava which everj^vhere form the 

 coast. In such situations, a group of six or seven 

 of these hideous reptiles may oftentimes be seen 

 on the black rocks, a few feet above the surf, bask- 

 ing in the sun with outstretched legs. 



I opened the stomachs of several, and found them 

 largely distended with minced sea-weed (Ulvae), 

 which grows in thin foliaceous expansions of a 



