AN OLD INHABITANT.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 403, 12 January 1909, Page 4

AN OLD INHABITANT.

DIES IN THE: MUSEUM. ' ®"> oldesir inhabitant of Wellington died yesterday. His ago," which might have beet anything over: 100 years,, was unknown,, but he had lived for about 25 years iu oA'o of the tuatara _hzard. casos in the' Dominion . Museum,: and was one of the original' tuataras given to; that institution. Hs was apparently wry old ' when ho was taken from ono ot the Brothers Islands and placed in the.museum/ for'' sincc that day he has -not shown a sign' of increasing' a«c -,r growth. He was-m old; that ho had lost tha usual dorsal ndge. of spines, and.he.' was almost toothless. He.,lived the simplo'lifa with, one companion, captured at the same time, as himself, ,and apparently of about equal antiquity. For a quarter of a century they aad borne_a .stoical existence in . tho glass case, feeding in tho summer on small pieces of meat, given them once a fortnight, with blow-flies for a treat, and hibernating through the winter..... The director of tlio ■ museum (Mr. A. Hamilton), states that, they never showed joy or sorrow or nny. othc'i sort of emotion during that long,period, but _ the scaly companion ,of the deceased reptile appeared genuinely distressed when, the dead body was removed from the dase. A east of it has been taken, which will b; kept in the museum, as a memorial. .' The tuatara lizard, which is ono of th« most ancient creatures extant on the earth is no longer extant on,tho mainland of Nen' Zealand, except in a captivo state, but stil survives on some' of the adjacent islands Tho great age which is attributed to these 1 reptiles may bo largely due to the fact thai no ono ever saw one exhibit any particulai signs of growth; perhaps their' uniquclj sluggish habits are conducive to longevity. The museum specimen is thought to have shuffled off his mortal coil in the attempt to slough his skin; sloughing time is known to bo tno lizard's dangerous season. There arc several tuatara lizards in an> other case in, the museum, but they can"' later to the institution. . . . ..