PHILOSOPHICAL INSTITUTE.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5380, 13 May 1879, Page 3

PHILOSOPHICAL INSTITUTE.

INTERESTING PAPER ON THE HABITS OP THE LIZARD. The first ordinary meeting of this season, lii connection with' the Hawke's Bay Philosophical Institute, was held at the Athenamm last night. There was a fair muster of members, including several ladies. Dr Spencer occupied the chair. The hon. sec. (Mr Colenso) stated that since the last meeting the library had been insured for £150. The Chairman said he was glad to see go; many ladies present at the opening meeting, and he hoped that they would attend in greater numbers than hitherto, \ arid if bo, he could promise that papers- of interest to them would be read. He was. glad to see the members - v so unanimous inj a determination .to carry, out the. objects for which the society was instituted, arid he hoped that^eacn. would strive to aabist aB far as lay in his power, JMr Colenso read" a' paper by Mr Meinertzhagen, of Waimarama, on what th ( e writer believed to >be a new species of aklysia— a species of ■„. marine; -slug., , Mr Oplenso remarked that there were very few species known, two being found in Europe, and two in New Zealand. The peculiarity of the aplysia was that on a fleshy body \t bore a shell, like the slug, but this shell was covered by a peculiar 'dome-like" growth of the body, similar to.thesold canopies: over .the steersman of a vessel, from which the animal derived its name! & Two fleshy horns like ears had , caused it to be named in England the sea- \ hare. There were some old superstitions about it, one being that the person who : touched it lost his hair. ' Ladies/ for certain reasons,,. were also warned against contact with it. 1 * l " " ' ' "' : The Chairman remarked that one of these animals, about six inches long, was recently- brought to him. It was found ! , on the new harbor-works at the port. j Mr Qolensq exhibited, several lizards of, what he believed to tie a new species of ; the naultinitSi He read a lengthy and: very interesting paper upon their habits. : He had had eight of these lizards, but; had lost five. They were very tame, and! appeared .to.know him by sight.; ,_He.had. considerable difficulty at first in feeding; them, as they would not touch the flies ; he gave them, until he put the flies alive into .the ..glass dome, when they, were caught and eaten by the lizards. When he put in some red. flies alive the little animals showed most unaccountable alarm, running about wildly and burying their Heads lit. the" sand,- but they untimately killed all the flies and eat several. Shortly afterwards a large swelling appeared upon the head of one of the lizards, and matter dozed from -its ears. He was at a loss to 'find the cause, and the animal at last got bo bad and emitted such a bad odour that he , let it go in a field. Another then 'sickened with the" same symptoms. He 'at once put it in spirits, and on looking ahortiy^afterwards he saw that a number )of..the .larvse of the red-fly had come from . the ears of the lizard. This exiplained. the cause of their terror at seeing the fly in their . cage. He 'examined the ear of another of the lizards and found the larval there, and extracted - it ; with a needle, so saving the lizard. The annimals appeared never to quarrel, but when one of the young ones caught a fly the : other would sometimes take hold of it and try to pull it away. The joints of their limbs appeared to be reversible, and they would sometimes lie for hours with, their legs most curiously twisted, in a 'Jmanne^r that one would think would cause ', them great pain. He had paid particular ' attention to the number of times they cast ' itheir skin, and ho found' that in about .'eight months one cast its skin five; times, : and another three times. . . On the motion of Mr. B earden, seconded by Mr. Miller, a vote of thanks was tendered to Mr. . Colenso for his interesting paper. ; The Hon. Secretary stated that no papers had yet been promised for the next " meeting, and he was afraid that one which, he had in preparation would not be finished in time. If no papers were promised in the interim, the meeting would „ not.be held; if the papers were forth- ■" coming the meeting would be duly advertised in the papers; A vote of thanks to the ohair.rn.an., . concluded the proceedings. . . . .: