Newman. — Notes on the Phj/siology and Anatomy of the Tuatara. 225 



food. They sleep miicli and very soiindly, requiring to be mucli disturbed 

 or pulled about ere they slowly waken. They are timid, much frightened 

 by noises, and will run into their holes or to the nearest shelter or crouch 

 motionless at sight of a man. They are very fond of water, Hking to lie 

 full length in it during great part of the day. One of mine laid several 

 eggs in the water. They fight viciously, and bite hard. A skeleton in the 

 Museum shows an old fracture of the mandible, with some displacement 

 and callus, the result of a fight. Tuataras will live for months without 

 eating, and then suddenly eat heartily every day. 



Tuataras, like young crocodiles, will not eat flies or other insects that 

 are still, or meat lying at. the bottom of the cage ; but if the flies or beetles 

 run about or the meat is moved they will quickly seize it. Like young 

 crocodiles too, they will not bite when caught. When eating, their jaws are 

 moved straight up, no rotatory motion existing. Tuataras are perfectly 

 silent. When caught between a man's fingers, their ribs being tightly 

 squeezed, they utter sounds which are really groans, and even these sounds 

 are uttered only when in great pain. When washed with soap and water 

 the skin colours become very bright and distinct. 



Tuataras lay then- eggs in holes in the sand when wild, but when captive 

 on the bare earth or in the water in their troughs. Like the common 

 English lizards (Lacerta viriclis) they lay eight or ten eggs at a time ; they 

 are about two-thirds of an inch in length, covered with a thick material 

 containing a variable amount of lime. None of the eggs laid in captivity 

 have yet been hatched. Mr. Burton told me that four tuataras laid eleven 

 eggs in one night, but one of mine laid hers at intervals of several days. 



Mr. Darwin, in his learned and fascinating work on " Sexual Selection," 

 describes the arts and graces and appearances whereby male lizards woo 

 their mates. The male tuataras have no special strongly-marked tints, no 

 special personal attractions ; and, unlike the males of several other species 

 of lizards, are not much, if at all, bigger than the females. The absence 

 of special sexual attributes is due perhaps to the fact that the tuatara, 

 unlike other lizards, has no penis, therefore probably small sexual passions, 

 and but little rivalry. The males are so like the females that they have not 

 yet been distinguished with certainty. Dr. Giinther, noticing the presence 

 of a crest of dorsal spines and of long, slender, acute-pointed claws, 

 thought that tuataras did not burrow. Tuataras not only uifest the holes 

 dug by the mutton-bird, but burrow others for themselves. 



They burrow in the loose sand and pebbles on the banks of rivers or on 

 islets. Captive tuataras are constantly burrowing ; they dig the claws of 

 their fore-paws into the soil, sometimes using the right and left paws 

 alternately, at others usmg one for a long while ; they fling the soil far 



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