Art. III.—On the Anatomy of the Naultinus Greyii, Gray, or Brown Tree Lizard of New Zealand.

Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Volume 2, 1869, Page 20

Art. III.—On the Anatomy of the Naultinus Greyii, Gray, or Brown Tree Lizard of New Zealand. [Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, August 14, 1869.] During the month of January, 1862, a specimen of this reptile was sent to me by a friend, and I examined it with great care. Many points of great interest presented themselves to me, more especially the separation of the tail. In an animal so highly organized, more especially in the skeleton, it appeared to me to be an impossibility, that the complex mechanism of so important a part of the animal economy should be suddenly removed, and not only the life of the animal in no way jeopardized, but that the tail, in its entirety, would be reproduced. Nay, more, that the animal had been seen, after the violent separation of the tail, to search for it, and stick it on again! I found, on careful dissection, that the statement, in so far as the detaching of the tail from the body, was correct, but that the separation not only occurred at a particular part of the spine, but presented an obstacle to its regeneration, which appeared to me, and still appears, impossible. I found the divided or separated surface finely dovetailed; the one (proximal extremity of the skin) presenting no dentations, but a perfectly smooth margin; the scales surrounding the part arranged in symmetrical order, whilst on the separated part or tail, eight wedge-shaped processes projected beyond the skin of the tail. (See preparation of the dried skin.) These eight processes were entire, and not caused by a tearing process, but were arranged in pairs:— Dorsal margin 1 pair Abdominal margin 1 " Lateral margin 2 " Total 8 AS I attentively observed the separation of the tail, I found that a delicate white cord was gradually leaving a canal in the tail portion. This I recognised to be the medulla spinalis (see preparation in phial), and necessarily rendered, in my belief, the power of reproduction still less possible. I may add that the tail in the living animal is in no respect brittle, as stated by some

recent authors, but elastic and prehensile. The food of the Naultinus Greyii I found to consist of insects of the Orthoptera order. I conclude this short notice by drawing the attention of the Society to the remarkable similarity in the skeletons of the Naultinus Greyii, and the Tuatara. Lizard. — 1862. — External characters. Total weight 260 grains. Length. in. lines. Snout to cloaca 3 6 Cloaca to tip of tail 4 0 Total length 7 6 Total length Snout to nostrils 0 1 " to centre of eye 0 5 ½ " to cleft of mouth 0 7 ½ " to ear 0 10 " Greatest circumference round the abdomen 2 0