Mr. Bell, who well foresaw, from its short, broad head, and strong
claws of equal length, that its habits of life would turn out very
peculiar, and different from those of its nearest ally, the Iguana. It
is extremely common on all the islands throughout the group, and lives
exclusively on the rocky sea-beaches, being never found, at least I
never saw one, even ten yards in-shore. It is a hideous-looking
creature, of a dirty black colour, stupid, and sluggish in its
movements. The usual length of a full-grown one is about a yard, but
there are some even four feet long; a large one weighed twenty pounds:
on the island of Albemarle they seem to grow to a greater size than
elsewhere. Their tails are flattened sideways, and all four feet
partially webbed. They are occasionally seen some hundred yards from
the shore, swimming about; and Captain Collnett, in his Voyage says,
"They go to sea in herds a-fishing, and sun themselves on the rocks;
and may be called alligators in miniature." It must not, however, be
supposed that they live on fish. When in the water this lizard swims
with perfect ease and quickness, by a serpentine movement of its body
and flattened tail--the legs being motionless and closely collapsed on
its sides. A seaman on board sank one, with a heavy weight attached to
it, thinking thus to kill it directly; but when, an hour afterwards, he
drew up the line, it was quite active. Their limbs and strong claws
are admirably adapted for crawling over the rugged and fissured masses
of lava, which everywhere form the coast. In such situations, a group
of six or seven of these hideous reptiles may oftentimes be seen on the
black rocks, a few feet above the surf, basking in the sun with
outstretched legs.
I opened the stomachs of several, and found them largely distended with
minced sea-weed (Ulvae), which grows in thin foliaceous expansions of a
bright green or a dull red colour. I do not recollect having observed
this sea-weed in any quantity on the tidal rocks; and I have reason to
believe it grows at the bottom of the sea, at some little distance from
the coast. If such be the case, the object of these animals
occasionally going out to sea is explained. The stomach contained
nothing but the sea-weed. Mr. Baynoe, however, found a piece of crab
in one; but this might have got in accidentally, in the same manner as
I have seen a caterpillar, in the midst of some lichen, in the paunch
of a tortoise. The intestines were large, as in other herbivorous
animals. The nature of this lizard's food, as well as the structure of
its tail and feet, and the fact of its having been seen voluntarily
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