i68 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



by the sudden infliction of severe pain. Among a large number, 

 in nine weeks I never beard a voluntary biss. This, however, is 

 wholly negative evidence, and I am disposed to believe that an 

 animal possesses a voice, if its habits, in their entirety, suggest 

 that it has one. This perhaps unscientific method of reason- 

 ing arises, on my part, from the fact of having long suspected 

 that certain fishes and salamanders had voices, before they were 

 detected — my suspicions being based upon the habits, as a whole, 

 of these creatures. Certain snakes, too, that are now thought 

 only to hiss, will, I believe, be found to have a limited range of 

 scarcely audible utterances : so with the pine-tree lizards. I cer- 

 tainly have no reason to believe they talk, but possibly they may 

 whisper in each other's ears. 



Upon several occasions I sat, unseen by them, for a long time, 

 very near my pen of lizards, and listened attentively, hoping to 

 catch some sound that was clearly a voluntary utterance of a 

 lizard. I only determined that one's ears, under such circum- 

 stances, become highly supersensitive, and a great deal is heard 

 at a time when, in fact, positive silence prevails. Generally, the 

 lizards were perfectly quiet, but at times one would move, and 

 then a general scuffling ensued ; but how far the noises were 

 attributable to their activity I can not say ; probably entirely 

 so. The faint, snake-like hiss, that has fairly to be squeezed out 

 of them, is the range of their vocal utterances, so far as I yet 

 know. 



Concerning the breeding habits of this creature, I had no posi- 

 tive knowledge prior to my visit to the pine-barren regions of 

 southern New Jersey. I had heard the statement made that the 

 eggs were small, quite numerous, and deposited on the under side 

 of prostrate logs, and even in loose wood-piles that were con- 

 stantly disturbed, and that the eggs were not concealed or pro- 

 tected in any way. All this I knew to be false ; but where were 

 the eggs of the pine-tree lizard placed ? Questioning observing 

 residents of localities where the species abounded, I was invari- 

 ably informed that the eggs were laid in sand, in pits dug by 

 the lizards and carefully covered up. They were only discovered 

 by accident, no trace of their presence being noticeable. Further, 

 that after heavy showers the eggs were sometimes exposed, and 

 in this way a check was put upon the increase of the animal's 

 numbers. Of course, solar heat alone was relied upon to mature 

 the eggs. Recently, Rev. Dr. Peters has informed me that the 

 eggs " are said to be laid in bunches," but just what is meant by 

 being " bunched " I am at a loss to understand. They certainly 

 are not attached to each other by any agglutinating substance. 

 At least, the female lizards in my pens laid only dry, free eggs, 

 which they deposited in conical pits, one egg, the lowermost, be- 



