LIZARD COLONY

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 150, 21 March 1939, Page 11

LIZARD COLONY

Interest In To Aroha Specimens CAPTURE ELUDED Dominion Special Service. AUCKLAND, March 20. Unabated interest is being shown in the colony of lizards recently discovered by Mr. J. D. Cumming in a paddock adjoining the mountain reserve at Morgantown, Te Aroha. Several persons living in the vicinity claim to have seen the reptiles, which display a remarkable jumping ability and an alertness that has made capture extremely difficult. Mr. Cumming, who has a lease of the area, has kept a constant watch over the vicinity and has seen several of the lizards. He claims they cannot be tuataras, because of their flat backs and the total absence of serrations.

The largest he has seen was discovered when he was making a clearing round the burrow where the colony has its home. He was lifting the blackberry when he noticed what at first sight papeared to be a branch of a tree lying underneath. He was amazed when he saw it move. It was over ISin. long and as thick round as his arm.

Mr. Cumming has seen at least half a dozen of the larger specimens at different times, but says there are also many smaller, ranging from 2in. to 4in. long.

Home in Hillside.

The specimen captured some weeks ago and submitted to a.number of local residents was about Sin. long. It was slate grey in colour, with blotches, of bluish yellow from its thin neck to its long taipering tail. The creature was covered with a rough, loose skin, resembling scales, and it showed great agility, being able to leap several feet without difficulty. It had large, round eyes, set in a smallish bead. The home of the lizards is a rocky waler-worn furrow of unknown extent. A sticky substance covers the interior. The entrance has been cut away in an effort to capture one of the reptiles, but the burrow runs into tlie side of the hill for a considerable distance. Every effort is being made to secure a live specimen.