THE DESERT HORNED LIZARD 



(Phrynosoma platyrhinos) 



ALL those who have walked abroad on the 

 desert at all observantly must have met that 

 little lizard of the sands which has achieved its 

 fame under the name of the horned toad. Be- 

 cause of its wide departure from the unprepos- 

 sessing snakelike form of many of its reptilian 

 congeners, and because of its unique and inter- 

 esting habits, it has doubtless earned the good 

 will of man more than any of our lizards. I have 

 yet to find among the roughest miners and 

 frontiersmen one who would purposely harm 

 one; they always speak of them fondly. 



Near Coyote Holes the writer found a vet- 

 eran prospector named Johnson who had four 

 horned lizards about his shanty and he seemed 

 to think almost as much of them as he did his 

 faithful burros. It was almost pathetic and at 

 the same time pleasing to note what care he 

 bestowed upon them. He fed them almost 

 daily a meal of flies and talked to them as to 



