GALAL'AGOS AliCHIPELAGO. [ciur. xvn. 



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 stupidity 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, probably, 

 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 few small indi- 

 viduals of this species, and none I should think tinder a year old. 

 From this circumstance it seems probable that the breeding season 

 had not then commenced. I asked several of the inhabitants if 

 they 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. 



AVo 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, namely to Albemarle, James, Barriugton, 

 and Indefatigable islands. To the southward, 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 

 they arc 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, 

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

 brownish red colour above : from their low facial angle they have 

 a singularly stupid appearance. They arc, perhaps, of a rather 

 less size than the [marine species; but several of them weighed 

 between ten and fifteen pounds. In their movements they are 

 lazy and half torpid. When not frightened, they slowly crawl 

 along with their tails and bellies dragging on the ground. They 

 often stop, and doze for a minute or two, with closed eyes and 

 hind legs spread out on the parched soil. 



