THE HORNED LIZARDS 



" sacred toad " ; it is to this that the boys of San 

 Diego refer when they say they saw the creature 

 " spit blood." As there are very good reasons why 

 it can neither " weep blood " nor " spit blood," 

 what is it that happens ? The eyes are tightly shut, 

 the eyelids swell to twice or thrice their normal size, 

 and a fine jet of blood shoots out for several inches 

 from beneath the upper eyelid. The whole thing 

 is startling and quite worthy of the strange creature. 



The horned lizards are for the most part insectivor- 

 ous, catching living ants, beetles, and flies on the 

 end of the viscid tongue. " Why the animal is 

 never bothered- by being stung internally by the 

 ants it swallows alive seems hard to explain." It is 

 sensitive enough on the outside ; one would expect 

 it to be still more sensitive inside. When 

 insects become scarce, and the cold weather sets in, 

 the horned lizards burrow into the ground and pass 

 into deep winter slumber. If captive specimens are 

 not allowed their sleep they will keep on feeding 

 through the winter, but they are sure to die in the 

 following spring. 



We must leave the horned lizards in their winter 

 sleep, though without nearly coming to an end of 

 their peculiarities. One more may be mentioned, 

 which well deserves further study. When a horned 

 lizard is gently rubbed on the top of the head and 

 between the eyes, it turns its head down, closes its 

 eyes, and passes into a stupor, in which it may 

 remain for five or ten minutes. Here we have one 

 of those unsolved problems with which every study 

 in Natural History should begin and also end. 



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