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Otago Witness, Issue 3862, 20 March 1928, Page 72

Old Taranaki people will recollect a peculiar lizard-like animal preserved in spirits of wine that was on view in a chemist’s window in the late ’sixties (says the Taranaki Herald). It was over a foot in length and of good girth, and at the time it was killed people pronounced it an iguana. Quite possibly it was a tuatara lizard, and it is’ a great pity it is not in existence to-day’ as an exhibit in the museum. A Maori was doing some garden work with a srpade just the other side of the Waiwakaiho when he came across this interesting creature, and one can imagine the fright it gave him; he really thought it was his Satanic majesty. However, he lashed out with the' spade and nearly cut the lizard in two.