﻿400 3. IGUANID/E 



sible to determine just how much there was of the blood, 

 but it seemed that there must have been a quarter of a tea- 

 spoonful. I went so far as to taste a small quantity of it, 

 but all I could detect was a slight musky flavor. 



"Mr. Denton * * * has communicated to me his expe- 

 rience with the Horned Toad * * * at Sonora, Cal. * * * 

 He was gently stroking the animal on the back, when it 

 appeared to look at him as if taking aim, and then, all at 

 once, a stream of blood was shot into his eye. There was 

 so much of it that it ran down on his shirt bosom. He 

 thought there was between a tablespoonful and a teaspoon- 

 ful. The blood was shot out with so much force that some 

 pain was produced, and there was pain felt for some little 

 time, though this ceased as soon as the blood was wiped 

 out. The next morning the eye was somewhat inflamed, 

 but this condition soon passed away. Not long afterwards, 

 perhaps the next morning, the animal squirted blood out of 

 the other eye." 



Mr. Vernon Bailey, who caught the horned toad, which 

 afterwards became the subject of Dr. Hay's article, writes:* 



"On taking it in my hand a little jet of blood spurted 

 from one eye a distance of 15 inches and spattered on my 

 shoulder. Turning it over to examine the eye another 

 stream spurted from the other eye. This he did four or 

 five times from both eyes until my hands, clothes, and gun 

 were sprinkled over with fine drops of bright red blood. 

 * * * About four hours later * * * it spurted three more 

 streams from its eyes." 



I myself have observed this strange performance a num- 

 ber of times, but in these instances the blood usually was 

 not projected forcibly, but trickled down the sides of the 

 lizards' heads. On one occasion my dog found a horned 



*N. Amcr. Fauna, No. 7. 1893, p. 189* 



