244 DENIZENS OF THE DESERT 



Piutes, however, got the better of him; for they 

 were accustomed to carry with them a sharp- 

 pointed, hooked stick, and when they saw a 

 chuckwalla which they wanted for food they 

 punctured his inflated hide, and, against his 

 will, pulled him out of his retreat. 



The Indians prepared chuckwallas for eating 

 by roasting them over a bed of coals. There is 

 no reason to believe that the white flesh is not 

 palatable. 



Chuckwallas are rupestrine lizards generally 

 living around dark rocks, such as iron-stained 

 granites or lavas. They are frequent in almost 

 all the lower desert ranges from southwestern 

 Utah and southern Nevada westward to the 

 Death Valley region and southward to Lower 

 California. 



Much of interest concerning the life-history 

 of this remarkable lizard awaits some patient 

 observer who will watch chuckwallas, not in a 

 cage, but in their native home. Who will tell 

 us the age they attain? Where do they lay 

 their eggs? What are their breeding habits? 



