54 WHAT MR. DARWIN SAW. 



PACIFIC OCEAN. 



ed by a fiery wake, and the darkness of the sky was mo- 

 mentarily illuminated by the most vivid lightning. 



THE LIZARD. 



THE Amllyrh/yncuS) a remarkable kind of lizard, is con- 

 fined to the Galapagos (or Turtle) archipelago. There are 

 two species, resembling each other in general form, one being 

 a land, and the other a water species. The latter is ex- 

 tremely common on all the islands throughout the group, 

 and lives altogether on the rocky sea-beaches, being never 

 found (at least I never saw one) even ten yards in -shore. 

 It is a hideous-looking creature, of a dirty black color, stupid, 

 and sluggish in its movements. The usual length of a full- 

 grown one is about a yard, but there are some even four 

 feet long. Their tails are flattened sideways, and all four 

 feet are partially webbed ; and they are occasionally seen 

 some hundred yards from the shore, swimming about. Yet, 

 strange to say, when frightened they will not enter the wa- 

 ter. 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. Several times I threw one as far as I could 

 into a deep pool left by the retreating tide; but it always 

 returned in a straight line to the spot where I stood. It 

 swam near the bottom, with a very graceful and rapid move- 

 ment, and occasionally helped itself over the uneven ground 



