1835. J MARINE AMBLYRHYNOIIUS. 371 



bciug motionless arid 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 admirably 

 adapted for crawling over the rugged and fissured masses of lava ? 

 which everywhere 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, basking in the sun with 

 outstretched legs. 



I opened the stomachs of several, and found them largely dis- 

 tended with minced sea-weed (Ulvre), which grows in thin foliaceous 

 expansions of a 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 distance from the coast. If such be the case, the 

 object of these animals occasionally going out to sea is explained. 

 The stomach contained nothing but the sea-weed. Mr. Bynoc, 

 however, found a piece of a crab in one ; but this might have got 

 in accidentally, in the same manner as I have seen a caterpillar, in 

 the midst of some lichen, in the paunch of a tortoise. The 

 intestines were large, as in other herbivorous animals. The nature 

 of this lizard's food, as well as the structure of its tail and feet, 

 and the fact of its having been seen voluntarily swimming out at 

 sea, absolutely prove its acquatic 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 down 

 to any little point overhanging the sea, where they will sooner 

 allow a person to catch hold of their tails than jump 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 

 retiring tide ; biit it invariably returned in a direct line to the spot 

 where I stood. It swam near the bottom, 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 crawled out on the dry rocks, and shuffled 

 away as quickly as it could. I several timee caught this same 

 lizard, by driving it down to a point, and though possessed of 



