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CHARLES DARWIN 



the spot where I 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 

 arrived near the edge, but still being under water, it 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. I several times caught this same lizard, by driv- 

 ing it down to a point, and though possessed of such perfect 

 powers of diving and swimming, nothing would induce it to 

 enter the water ; and as often as I threw it in, it returned in 

 the manner above described. Perhaps this singular piece of 

 apparent stupidity may be accounted for by the circum- 

 stance, that this reptile has no enemy whatever on shore, 

 whereas at sea it must often fall a prey to the numerous 

 sharks. Hence, probably, urged by a fixed and hereditary 

 instinct that the shore is its place of safety, whatever the 

 emergency may be, it there takes refuge. 



During our visit (in October), I saw extremely few small 

 individuals of this species, and none I should think under 

 a year old. From this circumstance it seems probable that 

 the breeding season had not then commenced. I asked sev- 

 eral of the inhabitants if they knew where it laid its eggs: 

 they said that they knew nothing of its propagation, although 

 well acquainted with the eggs of the land kind — a fact, con- 

 sidering how very common this lizard is, not a little extra- 

 ordinary. 



We will now turn to the terrestrial species (A. Demarlii), 

 with a round tail, and toes without webs. This lizard, 

 instead of being found like the other on all the islands, is 

 confined to the central part of the archipelago, namely to 

 Albemarle, James, Barrington, and Indefatigable islands. To 

 the southward, in Charles, Hood, and Chatham islands, and 

 to the northward, in Towers, Bindloes, and Abingdon, I 

 neither saw nor heard of any. It would appear as if it had 

 been created in the centre of the archipelago, and thence had 

 been dispersed only to a certain distance. Some of these 

 lizards inhabit the high and damp parts of the islands, but 

 they are much more numerous in the lower and sterile 

 districts near the coast. I cannot give a more forcible proof 



