Sphenodon

Sphenodon (Hatteria punctata), a New Zealand lizard, the sole living representative of the order Rhynchocephalia, but rapidly becoming extinct. In form it is not unlike an iguana; the upper surface is olive-green with yellow spots, the under surface is whitish. The greatest length is about two feed, but those brought to Europe are smaller. The skeleton is in some respects fish-like, and in others crocodilian. The chief interest of the animal lies in the fact that it was the subject of W.B. Spencer's investigation of the median eye, which Von Graaf had found in the slowworm. Further investigations seem to point to the conclusion that the pineal body of the brain in in reality a vestige of an impaired median eye that looked upward. Similar eye-like structures have been found in other lizards and in some fishes. (Spencer's Papers on the subject will be found in Proc. Roy. Soc. 1886, p. 559, and Quar. Jour. Micros. Science, xxvii, 165.