MARINE AMBLYRHYNCHUS. 157 



bright green or a dull red colour. I do not recollect 

 having observed this sea-weed in any quantity on 

 the tidal rocks; and I have reason to believe it 

 grows at the bottom of the sea, at some little dis- 

 tance from the coast. If such be the case, the ob- 

 ject of these animals occasionally going out to sea 

 is explained. The stomach contained nothing but 

 the sea-weed. Mr. Bynoe, however, found a piece 

 of a crab in one ; but this might have got in acci- 

 dentally, in the same manner as I have seen a cat- 

 erpillar, in the midst of some lichen, in the paunch 

 of a tortoise. The intestines were large, as in oth- 

 er herbivorous animals. The nature of this liz- 

 ard's food, as well as the structure of its tail and 

 feet, and the fact of its having been seen volunta- 

 rily swimming out at sea, absolutely prove its 

 aquatic habits ; yet there is in this respect one 

 strange anomaly, namely, that when frightened it 

 will not enter the water. Hence it is easy to drive 

 these lizards do^vn to any little point overhanging 

 the sea, where they will sooner allow a person to 

 catch hold of their tails than juinp into the water. 

 They do not seem to have any notion of biting ; 

 but when much frightened they squirt a drop of 

 fluid from each nostril. I threw one several times 

 as far as I could into a deep pool left by the reti- 

 ring tide, but it invariably returned in a direct line 

 to the spot where I stood. It swam near the bot- 

 tom, with a very graceful and rapid movement, and 

 occasionally aided itself over the uneven ground 

 with its feet. As soon as it arrived near the edge, 

 but still being under water, it tried to conceal itself 

 in the tufts of sea- weed, or it entered some crevice. 

 As soon as it thought the danger was past, it crawl- 

 ed out on the dry rocks, and shuffled away as quick- 

 ly as it could. I several times caught this same liz- 

 ard by driving it down to a point ; and thousfh pes- 

 IL— O 



