REPTILES OF BERMUDA. 289 
‘means of Shippe-wracke. The hogges were manie, but are now brought 
toa small number.” Lizards do not appear in the list noted by William 
Strachy, 1610. ‘ Worms I neuer saw any, nor any venomous thing, as 
Toade, or Snake, or any creeping beast hurtfull, onely some Spiders, 
which as many affirme are signes of great store of Gold.” John Hardy’s 
poetical description of the- Bermudas, 1671, tells us that ‘No Adders, 
Serpents, Toads, or Snakes are seen to prejudice Man’s health,” but says 
nothing of lizards. 
In recent times there have been several notices, one of which, that of 
Mr. Jones, in “The Naturalist in Bermuda,” 1859, reports them to be 
very common. From the work of Dr. T. L. Godet, 1860, p. 251, the fol- 
lowing is taken: 
‘In the class Reptilia (reptiles) we find the order Chelonia (the turtle 
tribe). This order is represented by the green turtle (Chelonia mydas, 
Holbrook); and the hawk’s-bill (Chelonia caretta, Holbrook) 1s more or 
less brown or rufous. In the order Sauria we have the lizard tribe. 
The saurian reptiles are distinguished from the chelonian by the want 
of a shield and by the presence of teeth. The bluetailed skink (Scincus 
fasciatus, Holbrook) and the Scincus ocellatus (Da.) are representatives 
of this order. The Scincus ocellatus burrows in the sand so quickly that 
it is out of sight in an instant, and appears rather to have found a hole 
than made one. In the class Reptilia we have had occasion to name but 
a few genera and species; so barren are these islands in that class of 
animals which respire by lungs, having red and cold blood, and bodies 
covered with horny or cartilaginous plates or with hard scales.” 
Apparently the doctor supposed there were two species of Bermuda 
lizards, but of those he mentions, one, fasciatus, belongs to the Southern 
United States, and the other, ocellatus, to Australia, and neither is found 
on these islands. The species found here is evidently not a recent arrival. 
It differs so much from any of its neighbors in the new world that the 
question of its origin has become quite a puzzle. Scines, Geccos, and 
other small reptiles of similar habits are sometimes carried immense 
distances in the ballast or cargoes of vessels. There would be no great 
difficulty in the way of introduction, but as yet we know of no species 
so closely allied as to suggest a common parentage among the more im- 
mediate ancestry. . 
The other four species making up the reptilian fauna of the Ber- 
mudas belong to the Sea Turtles, whose erratic habits and great capa- 
bilities as mariners have made them visitors upon all the shores of the 
Bull. Nat. Mus. No. 25 19 
