EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT. 157 



During these investigations Mr. Otto Eggeling, of this city, 

 received a consignment of five hundred horned lizards, and with 

 the idea that from this large number there should be some dis- 

 play of the habit — if it existed — he transferred them from one 

 box to another, with vigorous handling. Mr. Eggeling states 

 that although some struggled energetically to escape from his 

 grasp, some feigned death, and a few made feeble efforts to bite, 

 no jet of blood was ejected from a single individual. Subse- 

 quently Mr. Eggeling has received other shipments of Horned 

 "Toads," aggregating a total number examined of about eight 

 hundred, and thus far he has failed to observe a single instance 

 of the interesting performance that has been accredited to these 

 creatures. With eight hundred of these lizards examined by Mr. 

 Eggeling, and over two hundred by the writer, it appears that 

 over a thousand specimens of these lizards, representing princi- 

 pally the species Phrynosoma cornutum, P. coronatum and P. 

 blainvellei, have passed careful observation with no exhibition 

 of the very eccentric habit referred to. It therefore appears that 

 the performance described by Dr. O. P. Hay (Proceedings 

 United States National Museum, XV, 1892, pp. 375-378) must 

 be limited to a very small proportion of these creatures, or was 

 accidentally elicited by some unique measure not practised during 

 our investigations. 



BREEDING HABITS. 



In their breeding habits the lizards resemble the snakes, though 

 a much smaller number of the former are viviparous. Many 

 Lacertilians alleged to be viviparous cannot strictly be so classed. 

 Although their eggs possess a very thin and soft covering, they 

 are actually deposited some days before the young appear. The 

 Scincidce are examples of this character, and although when de- 

 posited the eggs contain rapidly developing embryos, they are 

 hidden away with the same precautions as the eggs of species 

 which take a much longer time to develop and hatch. The La- 

 certa vivipara of Europe is a good example of the strictly vivip- 

 arous lizards. The young emerges in a thin, translucent mem- 

 brane, through which it breaks a few hours later. 



It has not been the writer's idea to compile the various com- 

 ments that have been made on the breeding habits of Lacertilians, 

 some of which appear very vague and theoretical, but rather 

 to describe actual observations of these reptiles as noted in the 

 Zoological Park. 



The Gila Monster (Heloderma suspectum) constitutes a good 



