. Birds of other lands, reptiles, fishes, jointed animals and lower forms;. Zoology; Birds; Reptiles; Fishes. l86 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD. Phalo b, H: Saville-Krnl. ] [Milfard-m-Sea THE TUATERA OF NEW ZEALAND Belongs to an ancient r£p!i!e race of ivhich it ii the only [itu surfifor venture to approach it. A number of other lizards, including tree-climbing varieties, were introduced to the company of the examples under observation, and until friendly acquaintance- ship had been established their advances towards the chameleons were always repelled. The majority of the chamaeleons
. Birds of other lands, reptiles, fishes, jointed animals and lower forms;. Zoology; Birds; Reptiles; Fishes. l86 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD. Phalo b, H: Saville-Krnl. ] [Milfard-m-Sea THE TUATERA OF NEW ZEALAND Belongs to an ancient r£p!i!e race of ivhich it ii the only [itu surfifor venture to approach it. A number of other lizards, including tree-climbing varieties, were introduced to the company of the examples under observation, and until friendly acquaintance- ship had been established their advances towards the chameleons were always repelled. The majority of the chamaeleons lay eggs, but a smaller number produce living young, as with skinks and other lizards. Examples of the common European and North African species kept by the writer excavated holes in the earth, in which they laid their eggs, and then carefully covered them up again. Unfortunatel)' these eggs were not fertilised. One South African species has been reported to the writer as being in the habit of placing and separately wrapping and fastening up each egg as deposited in the leaves of the tree in which it resided. While Africa and Madagascar represent the head centres of distribution of the fifty odd known species of chameleons, they enter Europe through the Spanish Peninsula, and extend east- ward to Arabia, India, and Ceylon. The largest known variet}', which inhabits Mada- gascar, attains a length of 15 inches; the smallest pygm)' chameleon of the Cape scarcely measures 2^ inches. The Tu.\tera That singular reptile found on certain small islands lying to the north-east of New Zealand, and known as the Tl'ATERA, differs in so many structural characters from all other lizards that it is assigned to a separate order. Externally the tuatera does not differ materially in form from an ordinary lizard. The skin, however, is peculiar for its leathery, granulated, and wrinkled texture; there is no trace of external ears; the eyes, adapted for nocturnal vision, have in daylight vertical p
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecad, booksubjectfishes, booksubjectzoology
