7. Naultinus pacificus, Gray. 



Pale brown witli irregular dark brown cross-bands and a dark streak on 

 eacli side ; front lower labial shield very large ; the chin granular ; scales 

 uniformly granular, rather larger before and behind the vent. 



The Common Tree Lizard. Moko-Papa of the natives. 



8. Naultinus elegans, Gray. 



Green, rather paler beneath ; back sometimes varied with dark-edged 

 white or yellowish spots ; lower lips white ; toes moderate ; tail with a trans- 

 verse series of compressed scales at each side of the base. 



Green Lizard of the colonists. Kakariki of the natives. 



Very beaiitiful varieties of this lizard are sometimes met with. A specimen, 

 in the collection of the British Museum, has " a sti^eak along the under lip, 

 the ears, two arched stripes on the top of the head, irregular shaped spots on 

 each side of the back and hind legs, an interrupted streak along each side of 

 the body and tail, white, with a narrow black edge." 



In some specimens there are only faint indications of these markings, while 

 in others there is merely a lunate spot of pale yellow on each side of the 

 crown. An example which I obtained many years ago, at Kaipara, had a 

 stripe of golden yellow down the centre of the back, and a double series of 

 transverse elliptical spots, on a ground of delicate pea green. A live specimen 

 which I kept for several months, and which presented only a few obsolete 

 yellow marks on the back, gave birth to three young ones, each differently 

 marked but all having the double series of bright dorsal spots. 



The purplish tinge noticed by Dr. Gray, in his description of the young, is 

 only discoloration caused by the spiiits. In fresh examples the green, although 

 of different shades, is always pure. 



This lizard, on being molested, emits a peculiar chattering sound, which 

 the natives term "laughing" (hata)^ and of which they have a widespread 

 superstitious dread. The " laugh " of a green lizard is enoiigh to terrify the 

 bravest warrior, and its occult power for evil is strangely believed in by all 

 the tribes in every pai't of the country. The reptile itself, whether dead or 

 alive, is an object of universal fear among them. Sir George Grey, in his very 

 interesting Account of an Expedition through the Interior, 1849-50, states : — 

 " I have seen twenty or thirty able-bodied men fly in a state of the most abject 

 fright, and even take to the water, when pursued by a child with the dead 

 body of a common green lizard in its hands." 



9. Naultinus Grayii, Bell. 



Green, paler beneath, sometimes varied with white spots ; toes elongate ; 

 tail with four ovate, convex scales, forming an ai'ched series on each side of 

 the base. 



