lg2 THE INHABITANTS OF THE SEA. 



the shore, swimming about ; and Captain Collnett, in his "Voy- 

 age," says they go out to sea in shoals to fish. With respect to 

 the object, Mr. Darwin believes he is mistaken; but the fact, stated 

 on such good authority, cannot be doubted. When in the water 

 the animal swims with perfect ease and quickness by a serpen- 

 tine movement of its body and flattened tail ; the legs, during 

 this time, being motionless and closely collapsed on its sides. 

 A seaman of the " Beagle " sank one with a heavy weight at- 

 tached to it, thinking thus to kill it directly ; but when an hour 

 afterwards he drew up the line the lizard was quite active. 

 Their limbs and strong claws are admirably adapted for crawling 

 over the rugged and fissured masses of lava, which every where 

 form the coast. In such situations a group of six or seven of 

 these hideous reptiles may oftentimes be seen on the black 

 rocks, a few feet above the surf, basking in the sun with out- 

 stretched legs. 



Mr. Darwin opened the stomach of several, and in each case 

 found it largely distended with minced sea- weed, of a kind growing 

 at the bottom of the sea, at some little distance from the coast. 

 The nature of this lizard's food, as well as the structure of its 

 tail, and the certain fact of its having been seen voluntarily 

 swimming out at sea, absolutely prove its aquatic habits ; yet 

 there is in this respect one strange anomaly, namely, that when 

 frightened it will not enter the water. From this cause it is 

 easy to drive these lizards down to any little point overhanging 

 the sea, where they will sooner allow a person to catch hold oi 

 their tail than jump into the water. They do not seem to have 

 any notion of biting ; but when much frightened they squirt a 

 drop of fluid from each nostril. One day Mr. Darwin carried one 

 to a deep pool left by the retiring tide, and threw it in several 

 times as far as he was able. It invariably returned in a direct 

 line to the spot where he stood. It swam near the bottom with 

 a very graceful and rapid movement, and occasionally aided 

 itself over the uneven ground with its feet. As soon as it ar- 

 rived near the margiD, but still being under water, it either 

 tried to conceal itself in the tufts of sea-weed, or it entered some 

 crevice. As soon as it thought the danger was past, it crawled 

 out on the dry rocks and shuffled away as quickly as it could. 

 Mr. Darwin several times caught this same lizard by driving it 



