The San Francisco call., 1906-06-03

.
burrows in the earth. The burrows are
from two to four feet in depth. with an
entrance about three inches In diameter.
and there is sometimes a small chamber
at the end. Most of the burrows are ex-
cavated by the Tuataras. but in some
cases they evidently take possession of
ready-made dwellings.
In the early stages Of the Investigations
into Tuataras' habits il was noted that
they were often found in company with
petrels. bird and a reptile being in the
same burrow. and. to all appearances. liv-
ing in peace and friendliness. The asso-
cia ton of the birds and the reptiles is
probably only accidental. 1t has given
rise to an erroneous impression that Tua-
taras are seldom found except in company
with some species of petrels.
Tuataras. viii not hesitate to prey upon
birds when they are hard pushed for food.
at the body until they devour all the
flesh.
The reptiles toes are webbed at the
swimming freely sometimes with only
their nostriIs above the water. and some
times. completely submerged.
Away from the trammelS. of civilization
female Tuataras lay their eggs in holes in
the earth or. sand. but in captivity they
lay them ON the bare EARTH, or even in the
water in their; troughs. Sometimes eight
or ten eggs are laid at time. On some
occasions all the eggs have been laid in
one night; on other occasions they have
been laid at intervals OF few days.
There are two ways of making the
nests Most of the females favor the plan
of placing their eggs in a nest quite apart
from the burrows in which they live. A
small cavity is made, generally under the
surface soil, the entrance being about
two inches In diameter The chamber
is run into. the ground for five or SIX
inches on a. level surface. and then its
dimensions are slightly increased in order
to receive the eggs. which are packed TO-
sether in layers two or three deep. 1t is
thought that in most cases the eggs must
be laid outside the chamber and carried
inside by the female. which takes them IN
its mouth or its claws and places them In
the desired position. The eggs are gem
orally covered with soil removed from the
chamber in the work of excavation. and
the soil is pressed down upon the treas
ures The entrance 10. the whole is then
stuffed with grass OF leaves and IS made
to resemble the surroundings as closely
as possible. /"
| The other plan is to make the nest a.
the end of the burrow in which the Tua
4 -
the earth for. a. foot or so. small
/ chamber is scooped- out at right angle:
i to the main tunnel. In that chamber th'
eggs are placed and covered with SOIL
When this plan. is adopted the eggs ar,
/ probably laid in the main tunnel and ar
afterward taken to the nest chamber
The shell of the egg is flexible tough
elastic and rather rough externally i
its outer portion it contains. consider
,r,~.-e -e.<.rrz at
inner surface is smooth and white an
has a faint milky or pearly color. r;
DR.. Dendy, while professor of bioiog
at Canterbury College, .Christchurch, cal
1 ried out a number of very interesting ex
periments with eggs sent to him by tn
lighthouse keeper on stephens Islanc
Almost whole year is taken up. with IN
Matching of the eggs, which are generall
laid in November. Development is niue
more rapid in the early stages than
the later ones BY March a good advanc
has been made, but the development o
the embryo is then suspended for the win
ter months and is resumed again in tn
spring. 1t is stated that this hybernatio
of the embryo inside the egg has. been oh
served in only one other vertebrate ami
\ NAL, the common European tortoise
DIR. Dendy reports that when the. egg
are newly laid they are rather more tha
an inch long and are broadly oval
shape. They are almost entirely nile
with yellow yolk and contain very httl
albumen or white As the time 70
Matching approaches the eggs swell con
siderabIy, doubtless by absorption 9
moisture through the leathery egg shell
A very high state of tension is reached
and his experiments show that at tina
stage a small incision through the eg
shell Is sufficient. to cause tito. split ope
with almost explosive violence.
\ He found that in the later stages G
development a patch of horny epidermi
on the snout Of the young animal forms
sharp cutting instrument, which he DC
lieves is used for the purpose OF maxim
the necessary incision in the egg shell.
He states that. the earlier stages OF dc
velopment are like those of the TORTOISE
drawings of the tortoise embryo resen
bling in a remarkable degree drawings c
the embryo of the Tuatara. In other re
spects also the Tuatara embryo agree
with the tortoise embryo. In genera