98 A RAMBLE IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA 



it without finding a single creek or water-hole, but there 

 Is always water at no great depth beneath the surface of 

 the earth. The roots must have moisture or the plant 

 cannot exist, and on digging, water is always found at 

 depths varying from eight to fourteen feet, and this water 

 is invariably of good quality. 



Wallaby abound in the mallee-scrub, and so do several 

 species of lizards, particularly that remarkable creature 

 the "spiny devil" {Moloch horridus)^ which looks like a 

 nightmare phantom, but whose harmlessness is in direct 

 contradiction to its horrible appearance. Its monstrous 

 form and stout spines are protective rather than actively 

 defensive ; for as it squats on the ground it resembles 

 some dull-coloured prickly vegetable mass of the cactus 

 kind. In hue, also, it harmonises well with the soil on 

 which it is found, and probably hundreds would be passed 

 by a possible enemy before one was discovered to be a 

 thing of life. 



In size and bulk generally, the spiny devil is about 

 equal to a large toad ; but, as is the case with many other 

 reptiles, individuals sometimes grow to an abnormal size, 

 and I have taken them weighing nine ounces, the average 

 being about five. The whole body, including the short 

 stumpy tail and the thick limbs are covered with short, 

 fine-pointed, conical-shaped spines. Two of these spines 

 form formidable-looking curved horns on the head; and 

 the lizard must be handled carefully to avoid a prick. It 

 is certain that a snake could not swallow it; but I am 

 inclined to think, as I have already stated, that its appear- 

 ance is protective — that it is a strange case of mimicry, 

 for there is an (apparently) fungoid growth in some parts 

 of the desert region which, as it bursts from the earth, 

 presents almost exactly the appearance of a spiny devil. 

 Still more remarkable, I once saw the lizard feeding on 

 this plant. If it forms a constituent part of the reptile's 

 food, the strange armament of the latter is surely, to a 

 great extent, a mimicry of the plant, though it must be 

 noted that the plant is not really spiny. It simply appears 

 to be so until it is closely examined. While the lizard 



