THE BATTLE OF THE REPTILES 165 



were just about to flee, when, in the dusky light, 

 I saw beside my path a ball as peculiar as ever 

 eyes had seen. There on the ground was a 

 brilliantly colored king snake wound up into a 

 ball as tight and as intricately turned as a 

 Gilligan hitch. Protruding between the coils in 

 all sorts of most awkward, absurd, and out- 

 landish positions were the four legs of a large 

 gridiron-tailed lizard (Callisaurus : ventmlis). 

 That expression, " closed in mortal combat/' 

 could never be used more appropriately than 

 to describe these creatures wrapped together 

 into this reptilian knot. The snake had wound 

 himself about the saurian's body in such 

 fashion that it seemed as though every bone 

 in that lizard's body must be broken, the ver- 

 tebrae pulled apart, and the function of every 

 vital organ suppressed. The body was doubled 

 backwards so that the rump and head were 

 touching. So intent was the snake in his efforts 

 to bind in tighter the already over-squeezed 

 lizard that he seemed not to notice my presence 

 in the least, or even be disturbed when I 

 turned the living knot over with a stick. 

 As the writhing ball was turned, I noticed 



