Burrkn.— Further. Notes on the Habits of the Tuatara Lizard. 849 
Art. XLIT.— Further. Notes on the Habits of the Tuatara Lizard. 
By Warrer L. Burren, C.M G., Sc.D., F.L.S. 
[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 8rd August, 1878.) 
In Vol. TX. of the Transactions I gave an account of a number of 
tuatara lizards (Sphenodon punctatum ) which I had received from the Island 
of Karewa, in the Bay of Plenty, in April, 1876, to which were afterwards 
added an adult pair of my Sphenodon guntheri and a young one of the same 
species, obtained by exchange from the Colonial Museum. It is now nearly 
two years since I received these lizards, and I have a few nbtes to add to 
the observations so fully recorded in that paper. 
For many months my captive lizards ate nothing, although I tempted 
them with all sorts of savoury morsels, A small tree lizard / Naultinus) 
which I placed in the cage with them disappeared; but whether it was 
devoured by the tuataras or effected its escape I was unable to determine. 
They were sluggish in their movements, and usually appeared to be asleep 
with their eyes partially closed, even when lying in the trough of water with 
their bodies submerged. As the summer approached they showed more acti- 
vity and began to feed, evincing a decided preference for flies and the large 
brown locust (Cicada), of which latter they sometimes devoured as many as 
fifty in the course of a day. But as it was necessary to catch the locusts 
on the garden trees before they could be supplied, for many days together 
the tuataras were compelled to fast, as they stubbornly rejected the minced 
meat which we continued to place in the cage. As winter came round 
again they relapsed into their former languid state, although never 
absolutely torpid, and for two or three months did not eat a morsel of any 
thing. In November last we tried them with earth-worms, of which they 
partook freely, When the supply of worms ran out we gave them fresh 
meat again. Sphenodon punctatum refused it, but (strange to say) Sphenodon 
guntheri devoured it greedily, gorging themselves to repletion. Apparently 
from this cause (following so immediately on the prolonged fast). the 
largest of them died. About this time also they developed a new phase of 
character by attacking and biting one another. One lost an eye, and 
another had a portion of his under lip torn off, completely altering the 
expression of his face. The half-grown Sphenodon quntheri suffered most. 
First of all he had the end of his tail bitten off, and ultimately he was killed 
outright, the whole of his tail consumed, and one of his hind in much 
erunched and lacerated. 
A temporary change of residence made it difficult for a time to obtain 
locusts, and the lizards (with the ent © of the surviving L. MA eoa : 
