I Asked Several
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,
Considering How Very Common This Lizard Is, Not A Little
Extraordinary.
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
of their numbers, than by stating that when we were left at
James Island, we could not for some time find a spot free
from their burrows on which to pitch our single tent. Like
their brothers the sea-kind, they are ugly animals, of a
yellowish orange beneath, and of a brownish red colour above:
from their low facial angle they have a singularly stupid
appearance. They are, perhaps, of a rather less size than the
marine species; but several of them weighed between ten and
fifteen pounds.
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