"BEAKED LIZARDS." 17 



bones hence the name parietal eye it is 

 covered by a horny scale. At one time this 

 eye was undoubtedly functional. But whether 

 it served some peculiar need in the days of long 

 ago, a need which has now ceased to exist, or 

 whether it merely supplemented the normal 

 lateral eyes which were then less perfect than 

 now, no man can tell. 



Perchance it is a survival of pre-reptilian days, 

 that is to say of some larval condition, before the 

 lateral eyes were developed. 



The discovery of this eye is quite a modern 

 achievement; and immediately the fact of its 

 existence became known a vigorous search was 

 instituted by anatomists the world over, with 

 the result that a similar, but yet more vestigial 

 eye was found in many other living reptiles, and 

 in a large number of extinct forms. In many 

 of the latter, indeed, this eye seems to have been 

 of considerable size. This is especially the case 

 in the old fish lizards, Ichthyosaurus. Besides the 

 reptiles, however, the amphibia and fishes also 

 show traces of this organ. 



The Tuatera is, alas, verging on extinction. 

 Bush-fires, wild-pigs, dogs and cats, and reptile- 

 eating Maories and the advancement of civilisa- 

 tion have swept the Tuatera from the mainland 

 of New Zealand, so that to-day it is to be found 

 only in a few uninhabited islands. Here it dwells 

 in the seclusion of a burrow which it digs for 

 itself, and into which a hasty retreat is beaten 

 on the slightest sign of danger. The Tuatera 

 is a sociable animal, sharing its burrow with 

 various kinds of Petrels, though, be it noted, 

 B 



