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XIX. Contribution to the Anatomy of Hatteria (Khynchocephalus, Owen). 
Albert Gunther, M.A., Ph.D ., M.D. Communicated by Professor Owen, F.B.S. 
Received April 4, — Read May 2, 1867. 
The remarkable Saurian which forms the subject of this memoir, appears to have 
been first mentioned in a diary by Mr. Anderson, the companion of Captain Cook, 
to whom “a monstrous animal of the lizard kind” was described by the two New 
Zealand boys who joined the expedition whilst staying in Queen Charlotte’s Sound 
(Cook’s Third Voyage, 2d edit., 1785, vol. i. p. 153). Polack (New Zealand, 1838, vol. i. 
p. 317) speaks of it as a creature well known to the settlers. “The gigantic lizard 
or guana exists principally in the island of Victoria. Some are found in the isles of 
the Bay of Plenty. The natives relate ogre-killing stories of this reptile, but doubtless 
it is harmless.” 
Dr. Dieefenbach has the merit of having first made us acquainted with it. In his 
‘ Travels in New Zealand,’ vol. ii. (1843) p. 205, he has the following notes : — “ I had been 
apprized of the existence of a large lizard, which the natives called Tuatera, or Narara, 
with a general name, and of which they were much afraid. But although looking for it 
at the places where it was said to be found, and offering great rewards for a specimen, 
it was only a few days before my departure from New Zealand that I obtained one, 
which had been caught at a small rocky islet called Karewa, which is about two miles 
from the coast, in the Bay of Plenty. From all that I could gather about this Tuatera, 
it appears that it was formerly common in the islands ; lived in holes, often in sand- 
hills near the sea-shore ; and the natives killed it for food. Owing to this latter cause, 
and no doubt also to the introduction of pigs, it is now very scarce ; and many even of 
the older residents of the islands have never seen it. The specimen from which the 
description is taken I had alive, and kept for some time in captivity ; it was extremely 
sluggish, and could be handled without any attempt at resistance or biting.” 
This specimen was presented by Dieffenbach to the British Museum, where it still 
is — in the most perfect state of preservation. Dr. Gray recognized it at once as the 
typfe of a distinct genus, which he characterized in the ‘ Zoological Miscellany,’ March 
1842, p. 72, referring it to the family of Agamidce , and naming it Hatteria punctata. 
The same diagnosis is republished in the ‘ Catalogue of Lizards,’ 1845, p. 249 ; and an 
excellent figure of the entire animal was given in the ‘ Zoology of the Erebus and 
Terror,’ together with a drawing of the skull* exhibiting its general configuration. 
Unfortunately no letterpress accompanies this figure. 
* This skull is still in the British Museum. Mr. Ford has introduced into this drawing an erect process of 
the lower jaw, just below the tympanic condyle; this, however, is merely the remainder of a dried ligament, 
MDCCCLXVII. 4 M 
