254 Trmisactions, — Znoloyy, 



mind, — their evident dislike and dread on their first seeing that flesh-fly in 

 their cage ; and that this was also the cause of the death of my first lizard, 

 into which the living larvae had been deposited through its ears ! causing 

 its head to possess and show those ugly, unnatural throbbings or semi- 

 undulations. I now hastened to the adult male lizard, and caught it, and 

 on gently squeezing its head I saw the posterior end of a larva presenting 

 itself within its ear ; I took a needle and extracted it ; it was much larger 

 than those in the spirits, and gorged with blood. After this the male lizard 

 soon recovered and became lively, though that aural orifice completely 

 closed up, and so remained until the next shedding of its skin, when I was 

 glad to find that it resumed its former appearance. From the time of this 

 discovery I was careful not to give them any more viviparous female flesh- 

 flies, consequently I have had no more similar diseases to notice. 



The other young spotted lizard (No. 2) shed its skin for the first time on 

 the 16th December, taking, however, until the 22nd ere it entirely got it off. 

 This little animal interested me much in its undergoing its change of dress ; 

 for as the other young one (No. 1) had taken me by surprise, in its early 

 disrobing, I had closely watched this one (No. 2), supposing its tiu'n could 

 not be far off ; and first I noticed, that the day before that it began to cast 

 its skin, its whole body assumed a whitish milky appearance, as if it had 

 been dipped into milk and the milk had dried upon it ; or, as if it were 

 closely covered with very fine and transparent white muslin ; second, just 

 as in the case of the others, the epidermis first broke at the snout and chin, 

 and subsequently gave way over the loins and hind-legs, peeling off in large 

 flakes. After a day or two the lizard seemed to get impatient about the 

 getting-oft" of its old coat, and every now and then would lay hold of the 

 rags with its mouth and pull away, and sometimes try to force them off 

 with its little claws, but I scarcely ever noticed that it effected anything ; it 

 would rub, too, against its water-pot (the salt-cellar), and sometimes against 

 the large lizard, and the koromiko stalks — showing clearly that in their 

 natural state they seek the aid of closely-growing grasses and other small 

 herbage the more quickly to effect their deliverance ; at last, on the 22nd, I 

 caught the lizard, and helped it to get off its tattered stockings, gloves, and 

 tail-case, and so put an end to its discomfort. 



The big male lizard again shed its skin on the 24th January ; this time, 

 however, in fragments, yet done quickly, all being over within two hours. 

 And again this lizard shed its skin on the 15th of March, this time in large 

 pieces ; finding that while it had extricated its hind-legs it could not draw 

 out its tail, I caught it and helped it to do so. It was pleasing to see how 

 quietly it remained in my hand, when it found out what I was doing, and 

 how naturally it moved its long tail in an easy wriggling manner, and with 



