920 Transactions.—Zoology. 
poured out of their nests underground in thousands. The whole place is 
completely honey-combed with their burrows, and you cannot move two 
steps without sinking to the knees in them. The Tuataras are very plenti- 
ful. They live in holes under the big rocks, and can only be got out by 
digging." 
Since that date, however, the Tuataras have become very scarce on the 
island, and require to be closely hunted for. Captain Mair attributes this 
scarcity in a great measure to the large Hawk (Circus gouldi), which of late 
years has become naturalized there, and subsists almost entirely on these 
lizards and their young. 
In April last Captain Mair again visited the Island of Karewa, and suc- 
ceeded in capturing seven fine specimens of the Tuatara, all of which 
reached me some weeks afterwards, in good order and condition. Two of 
these I presented to the Canterbury Museum. , Two others I exchanged 
with the Colonial Museum for specimens from The Brothers ; and the rest 
are still in my possession. 
The largest of these (a female) measures exactly eighteen inches in 
length. It is stouter in the body than any other specimen I have seen ; 
and, judging by the heavy nuchal folds, and by the flattened and worn 
condition of the dorsal spines, I take it to be a very aged Tuatara ; how old 
it is impossible to say. Besides the natural indications of age I have men- 
tioned, the crown of the head is deeply scored and scarred, the marks of old 
wounds, showing that this Tuatara, at any rate, has done some hard fighting 
inits day. One of the specimens which I sent to the Canterbury Museum 
(a medium-sized male) was remarkable for the extreme smallness of the 
dorsal spines, whieh were reduced to a line of mere points along the back. 
Before proceeding, I may be allowed to quote a passage from Captain 
Mair's very interesting letter, which accompanied the specimens :— 
“I have observed some interesting habits of the Tuatara lately. I 
think they must live to a great age. You will observe that one of those I 
am sending you, the largest of them, has some scars on his head and back, 
Ithink he must have got them in fighting with the sea-birds in their nests 
orburrows. Karewa Island is the breeding-place of millions of the small 
black sea-bird called ‘Oi’ by the Natives ; a sort of petrel. The Sphenodon 
comes out of its burrow to bask in the sun, or to listen to any strange sound. 
I crept up to some which were listening most intently, with spines erect and 
head elevated at the sound of my voice. Upon my making too much noise, 
they at once made for the nearest burrow, and disappeared, the young sea- 
birds, occupying the burrow, fighting with and expelling the unwelcome in- 
truder by pecking it most unmercifully. The Tuatara generally makes its 
own burrow by digging out along hole under some flat rock. During the early 
