THE BATTLE OF THE REPTILES 169 



staged between the huge carnivorous dinosaurs 

 and the massive, heavily armored, herbivorous, 

 monitor-like reptiles. 



If you ask me to venture a guess as to who 

 would have been the victor in this struggle, I 

 will say, the snake, for he had every advantage. 

 It is common knowledge among old desert 

 travelers that the larger snakes quite generally 

 attack and eat lizards, especially the smaller 

 ones; also that the larger lizards prey upon the 

 more diminutive species, and that snakes eat 

 snakes. Mr. Gilman tells me that recently he 

 witnessed in his own yard at Banning, Cali- 

 fornia, a red racer devouring a black rattle- 

 snake. A young observer from Barstow on the 

 Mohave Desert has just sent me this interest- 

 ing experience: 



"As I was coming out of our well, that is, 

 the pit in which the pump is, I came face to 

 face with a huge gopher snake which was eating 

 a medium-sized lizard. The reptile was about 

 half swallowed. I watched them for some time, 

 but as neither moved and I was in a hurry I 

 touched the snake with a stick. He immediately 

 opened his mouth and spewed the lizard out. 



