ADAPTATIONS TO SPECIAL ENDS 147 



upper and a lower flap, between which the victim is partially en- 

 closed ; after which, by the action of the elastic tissues of the 

 base the organ is as speedily withdrawn, and the fly or other 

 insect swallowed. Curiously enough, the chamaeleon can only 

 shoot at its prey when at the full distance of seven or eight 

 inches ; the apparatus acting with much less celerity and cer- 

 tainty when the interval to be traversed is much short of this. 

 The process only occupies about a second ; this being the more 

 remarkable when the excessive slowness of the chamseleon's 

 ordinary movements are taken into consideration. 



The first, and at the same time the most extraordinary instance 

 of defensive adaptation that claims attention is a functional one, 

 and occurs in the so-called Californian horned toad (Phrynosoma 

 cornutum), to which allusion has been already made in con- 

 nection with other peculiarities. About twenty years ago an 

 observer in California who happened to catch one of these 

 reptiles was startled to see it suddenly spurt a jet of blood from 

 one eye to a distance of rather more than a foot. On turning 

 the creature over in his hand to examine this eye, its captor 

 was still more astonished to see a jet of crimson fluid spurted 

 from the other eye. The reptile repeated the performance four 

 or five times from both eyes, till the hands, clothes, and gun of 

 its captor were sprinkled with fine drops of bright red blood. 

 When brought into camp about four hours later it repeated the 

 performance three times. 



The phenomenon appears to be rarely exerted by these rep- 

 tiles, in consequence of which doubts have arisen from time to 

 time as to whether it really exists. Testimony recorded by one 

 of the convinced sceptics is of importance as throwing light on 

 the true nature of the phenomenon. An observer who witnessed 

 the action in one of these reptiles so long ago as 1891, conveys 

 the impression that the blood is spurted from the eye itself, an 

 action which it is very difficult to understand. He states, for 

 instance, that on taking a horned lizard in his hand it spurted a 

 little jet of blood from one eye to a distance of about fifteen inches, 

 while when turned round it repeated the action from the other 

 eye. Mr. R. L. Ditmars, after examining some two hundred 

 specimens of these reptiles without noticing the phenomenon, 

 and in consequence having become sceptical as to its existence, 

 had an opportunity of witnessing the mode of action. While 



