REPTILES OF THE PACIFIC COAST. 97 



shot backward and appeared to issue from the outer 

 canthus. It was impossible to determine just how much 

 there was of the blood, but it seemed that there must 

 have been a quarter of a teaspoonful. 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 



experience with the Horned Toad * * at Sonora, 



Gal. * * * 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 teaspoonful. 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 con- 

 dition 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 an- 

 other 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." 



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



