LIZARDS. 125 



turnal in its habits, as other toads are, and Hving in 

 damp, obscure recesses, it crawls during the heat of 

 the day about the dry sand-hillocks and arid plains, 

 where- not a single drop of water can be found. It 

 must necessarily depend on the dew for its moist- 

 in-e ; and this probably is absorbed by the skin, for 

 it is known that these reptiles possess great pow- 

 ers of cutaneous absoi-ption. At Maldonado, I 

 found one in a situation nearly as dry as at Bahia 

 Blanca, and thinking to give it a great treat, car- 

 ried it to a pool of water; not only was the little 

 animal unable to swim, but I think, without help, 

 it would soon have been drowned. 



(^f lizards there were many kinds, but only one 

 (Proctotretus multimaculatus) remarkable from its 

 habits. It lives on the bare sand near the sea-coast, 

 and from its mottled colour, the brownish scales 

 being speckled with white, yellowish red, and dirty 

 blue, can hardly be distinguished from the sur- 

 rounding surface. When frightened, it attempts 

 to avoid discovery by feigning death, with out- 

 stretched legs, depressed body, and closed eyes : if 

 further molested, it buries itself with gi-eat quick- 

 ness in the loose sand. This lizard, from its flat- 

 tened body and short legs, cannot run quickly. 



I will here add a few remarks on the hyberna- 

 tion of animals in this part of South America. 

 When we first arrived at Bahia Blanca, September 

 7th, 1832, we thought nature had granted scarcely 

 a living creature to this sandy and dry country. 

 By digging, however, in the ground, several insects, 

 large spiders, and lizards were found in a half tor- 

 pid state. On the 15th a few animals began to ap- 

 pear, and by the 18th (three days from the equi- 

 nox) everything announced the commencement of 

 spring. The plains were ornamented by the flow- 

 ers of a pink wood-sorrel, wild peas, cenotherae, 

 L 2 



