Stephen Grubb, age 9, of Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, for his question:

Is there a strange reptile called the tuatara?

Yes, indeed there is. For millions of years the strange tuatara reptile lived in many parts of the world. But nowadays he lives only in New Zealand. He looks a little like a three foot long lizard, with an extra large head and jaws that remind one of a bulldog. The scales of his reptile skin are like rough grains of sand and he has a row of prickly spikes along his spine. He enjoys life on land and in the water and spends his rest periods in a burrow. There Mrs. Tuatara lays ten round white eggs with hard shells. The family dines on fishes, worms and assorted grubs and bugs.

Zoologists tell us that the tuatara is not a true lizard because he has certain bones and other features all his own. He is a genuine cold blooded reptile but no other reptile is like him. So he is classed in a group all by himself. The tuatara is the only species in the animal Order Rhynchocephalia. This fancy name means head¬snout. It calls our attention to his big head and bulldog jaws