IGUANOID GROUP. 137 



strongly serrated on its inner border of its basal joint. The compressed and crested 

 tail is about equal to one and a half times the length of the head and body, and is 

 covered with equal-sized keeled scales. In colour this lizard is black or blackish 

 brown above, with the abdomen and the inner surfaces of the thighs not unf requently 

 of a dirty white. In the young state, however, the upper-parts are brown with 

 paler spots, and more or less distinctly marked dark crossbars on the back. In 

 weight, full-grown examples reach as much as 20 lbs. 



The sea-lizard is extremely common on the rocky coasts of the various islands 

 of the Galapagos Group, but is seldom found more than some ten yards from the 

 shore. Of its habits Darwin writes that " this lizard swims with perfect ease and 

 quickness by a serpentine movement of its body and flattened tail — the legs being 

 motionless and 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." After mentioning that the 

 stomachs of several examples that were examined contained fmel} r minced seaweed, 

 and also observing that the droves seen swimming out to sea were doubtless in 

 search of food of this nature, the same author proceeds to state that, when frightened, 

 these lizards absolutely refuse to enter the water. " Hence," he continues, " 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 enter 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, but 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 seaweed, 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 times caught the same lizard by driving it down to a point, and, 

 though possessed of 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 account ( si 1 

 for by the circumstance that this reptile has no enemy whatever on shore, win reus 

 at sea it must often fall a prey to the numerous sharks." Later observers have 

 borne testimony to the extraordinary numbers in which the sea-lizards are to be 

 met with in the Galapagos, and likewise as to their food consisting mainly of broad- 

 leaved sea-leaves. 



Galapagos Although originally included in the same genus as its aquatic 



Land-Lizards. cousin, there seems no doubt that the land-lizard of the Galapagos 



{Conolophus subcristatus) is entitled to stand as the representative of a distinct 



generic group; the nearly cylindrical tail and perfectly livr toes being distinctive 



characters which cannot well be overlooked. N<>t reaching within some 11 inches 



