i62 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



THE PINE-TREE LIZARD. 



Br CHARLES C. ABBOTT, M. D. 



ON the outskirts of the quaint little village of May's Landing, 

 N. J., there is seen that rare object, an abandoned railroad. 

 Starting near this place, and running eastward for a distance of 

 some six miles, is a single track, laid upon a substantial road-bed 

 of gravel, and extending through typical Jersey pine-barrens and 

 cedar-SAvamps. For several years not a car has passed over the 

 rails, which, left to nature, have grown nutty-brown with rust, 

 and often concealed by luxuriant growths of false ipecac {Eu- 

 phorbia ipecacuanlice) , great circular mats of deep purple or pale- 

 green foliage, for such is the freak of the plant to vary thus in 

 color. 



When I visited this spot late in May, 1887, the charm of the 

 abandoned railroad was rivaled by the beauties of the surround- 

 ings. The glistening snow-white sands were thickly starred with 

 golden Hudsonia ; the creek's banks, weighted with densest foli- 

 age, brilliant with sarracenia in the height of its glory, and every- 

 where the more modest grasses gave way to sj^arkling sun-dews. 

 One knew not where to turn, so crowded were the spot's enticing 

 features, and the rambler was likely to return empty-handed, as 

 is so apt to be the case where attractions are spread out in be- 

 wildering profusion. Wondering what novelties might be in 

 store as I passed the outlying traces of the village, I soon found 

 my progress suddenly and effectually stayed — I had reached the 

 tottering, crumbling trestle over Babcock's Creek. Here the gray 

 lizards found a most congenial home, and the peculiar locality 

 offered every reasonable facility for studying them. A long- 

 desired opjjortunity was at last mine, and birds and botany were 

 no longer thought of. 



Pine-Tree Lizards {Sceleporus undulatus). 



This pretty creature, known as the gray or pine-tree lizard 

 {Sceleporus undulatus), is also, in many localities, called the 

 ' " brown swift " ; and this seems a most appropriate name, as we 

 read the remarks of Holbrook, De Kay, and of Alexander Wilson, 

 on the habits of the creature. For instance, the last named, in 

 his " Ornithology," expresses surprise that a sharp-shinned hawk 

 should have captured one, " as lightning itself seems scarce more 

 fleet than this little reptile." I was not p)repared, therefore, to 



