TUATARA LIZARD

Evening Star, Issue 19774, 26 January 1928, Page 1

TUATARA LIZARD

The London Zoo hoard, unmoved, that a three-eyed haddock had just been caught bv a Boston smack, writes “ L.G.M.,’ In the ‘Daily Mail.’ In the Reptile House there is now a new three-eyed lizard, the biggest of its race ever seen in this country. This is the Tuatara lizard, just presented by the New Zealand Government, a survivor of a fast-vanishing race now protected by special laws. It was all the fault of Captain Cook, the famous explorer. He gave live pigs to the Maoris as a friendly present. The pigs took to rooting the tuataras out of their tunnels, and these lizards are now extinct save on a few outlying islands, where the lighthouse keepers have been appointed their guardians. Forty years ago yon could get a tua--tara for a sovereign (a gold coin once familiar in this country). In 1914 they cost'£ls each. Now they only change hands- with the goodwill of the New Zealand Government. The third eye is on the top of the skull. It is a poor—but most interesting—relic, which is seen at its best in the young lizard. In later life it skins over. Of course, all these inherited characteristics are best seen in the young, _ Your infant plaice swims for a little time on an even keel (like his remote ancestors) before lazily flopping «a to his side like his elders.