mineral requirements are satisfied adequately. This also holds true for the amphbians since the food given to them is very similar to that which they get in their natural habitat.

The fish are given a highly varied diet and even though it is impossible to give them the exact kind of food they are accustomed to in their natural habitats, an attempt is made to substitute foods that are similar at least in nutritional value to their natural food. Those specimens that will eat it are given generous portions of a commercially-prepared food in the form of pellets having a high nutritional value and containing important vitanuns and minerals necessary for the promotion of growth and health. Whole smelts, horse heart (chopped or ground), squid, clam meat and shrimp are also fed in large quantities. The small tropical fishes, both marine and fresh- water, are given brine shrimp, Artemia salina.

NOTES O N T H E N U T R I T I O N A N D CARE OF THE

MADAGASCAR DAY GECKO Phelsuina inadagascariensis

AT STEINHART AQUARIUM by Karl H. Switak Herpetologist,

Steinhart Aquarium, San Francisco, California Academy of Sciences, USA

T W O specimens of Phelsuma madagascariensis arrived at Steinhart Aquarium in July 1964. Both were adults, measuring between 7 and 8 in. in total length and were kept in a cage maintained at a temperature between 78' and 84'F.

The first food offered was mealworms, Teizebria sp. Both animals ate but regurgitated the following day. (At a later date mealworms were again fed and regurgitation did not occur.) A piece of glass was then put in the cage and on it was placed some crushed peach and plum. The glass was positioned at an angle against the side of the tank. The lizards licked the juice off the fruit but did not eat any solids. This feeding procedure was continued for several weeks, after which time the glass was replaced by a shallow, clear plastic dish, 4 in. deep and with a diameter of 24 in. Both animals came down

to the floor and freely licked the juice from the plastic dish.

After the fresh fruit season ended, it was decided to try the lizards on tinned, strained fruits and vegetables, as prepared for human infants. The results were excellent. The lizards ate this food (a product of Gerbers, Inc., US A) as enthusiastically as the fresh fruit. Peaches, pears, apricots, plums, banana-pineapple, and banana flavours were offered; the lizards preferred the peaches and apricots. The size of the dish was then changed to & in. deep and 14 in. in diameter as in the larger dish all the food was not being eaten. It does not take much to satisfy the appetite of Phelsutna madagascariensis. The food dish is replaced every day. Water is always available and is readily consumed. The lizards also each eat one cricket twice a week. Six months have passed since the baby food diet was started.

In the middle of August 1964 the female lizard laid six eggs (in three pairs) over a two-week period. The calcareous eggs were placed in damp sand at a temperature of 8o0F. After two months, one egg was opened, revealing a perfectly formed embryo. The first and only egg to hatch hatched on 3 January 1965. The young lizard was a com- plete replica of the adult, except for more vivid coloration and faint bands on the tail. It fed vigorously on the baby food and drank water but died two weeks after hatching. The remaining eggs were opened on 5 April 1965, revealing perfectly formed but dead young inside. It is assumed that the young were unable to cut their way through the hard shell of the egg.

OBSERVATIONS O N THE CARE A N D N U T R I T I O N OF A CAPTIVE

GROUP OF MARINE IGUANAS Amhlyrhyttc~ios cristafus

6y Ray Pawley Curator, Chicago Zoological Park,

Brookfield, Chicago, US A

GENERALLY attempts at rearing and keeping Marine iguanas, AmbIyrhynchos cristatus, have met with little success. At the time of writing (June 1965) a group of four Marine iguanas has lived for a year in the reptile house of