THE LIZARDS 165 



portion to the reptile's size. A specimen in the Reptile 

 House of the New York Zoological Park, measuring 

 19i/o inches in length, deposited four eggs, each of which 

 measured 2% inches in length and 1% inches in diam- 

 eter. All were fertile. One of them, opened for ex- 

 amination, was found to contain but a germinating spot 

 to represent the future embryo. Incubation in warm, 

 moist sand produced further development; at the end 

 of a few weeks, however, all the eggs solidified, bringing 

 the observations to a close. 



While in a wild state the food of the Gila Monster 

 is alleged to consist largely of ants. Captive specimens 

 cannot be induced to take such food. They are fond 

 of raw eggs, easily breaking the shell in their strong 

 jaws, then lapping up the contents by means of their 

 broad flat tongue. The writer improves upon this diet 

 by mixing raw chopped beef with the beaten eggs. On 

 this he has kept specimens in a nourishing condition for 

 years. Many examples are fond of the soft, leathery 

 eggs of snakes ; such are gulped down entire. One Gila 

 Monster consumed, in rapid succession, eight eggs of a 

 Chicken Snake (Coluber). They will sometimes take 

 mice, catching the animals by a quick turn of the head 

 as they run by; the prey is shaken for a moment, then 

 held in a tight grip in an evident wait for the venom 

 to do its work. 



The blunt tail of the Gila Monster is actually a res- 

 ervoir for the storage of nourishing fat. When the 

 animal has been steadily feeding the tail becomes much 

 swollen. If food were suddenly and persistently de- 

 nied the creature in this condition, it would live for 

 many months upon the accumulated fatty tissue stored 

 in the stumpy appendage. Thus has Nature provided 

 for a slow-moving animal of the desert, where an erratic 



