Popular Science Monthly 



805 



A Lizard That Squirts Jets of 

 Blood from Its Eyes 



WE have about fourteen species 

 of horned lizards in this 

 country,* and most people still call 

 them "horned toads." Some of 

 their habits are extremely remark- 

 able, but none more 

 so than their ability 

 to send at will a fine 

 jet of blood from 

 either eye. This fact 

 is very rarely touch- 

 ed upon in litera- 

 ture, and the aver- 

 age reader of the 

 life histories of our 

 animals has never 

 heard of this re- 

 markable habit. 

 Personally, I first 

 noticed it in a small 

 species of horned 

 lizard that I cap- 

 tured many years 

 ago in New Mexico ; 

 but I have never 

 been able to satisfy 

 myself as to whether 

 the jet of blood was 

 from a vein or from 

 an artery. 



Probably the hab- 

 it has been most fre- 

 quently noted in the 

 Texas Horned Liz- 

 ard (called by zoolo- 

 gists Phrynosoma 

 cornutum). That species has the widest 

 range of distribution and is found most 

 frequently in captivity. Recently I have 

 had specimens of it alive and have photo- 

 graphed them; a reproduction of one of 

 these photographs is shown here. Blood- 

 squirting is generally indulged in when the 

 lizard is laboring under certain states of 

 excitement. The attack comes on suddenly, 

 at a time when you have the lizard in your 

 grasp. It will suddenly stiffen its neck and 

 throw the head upward, as the eyes bulge 

 from their sockets. In another second you 

 can plainly hear a peculiar hissing sound, 

 followed immediately by the finest imagin- 

 able jet of pure blood from one or the other 

 of its eyes. With such force is this squirted 

 that the tiny stream, lasting a couple of 

 seconds, may" be thrown to a distance of 

 fully five feet. As the blood strikes, it 



The Texas horned lizard, which shoots — not 

 daggers — but streams of blood from its eyes 



lands in an array of numerous little spots 

 about the size of a No. 8 shot. Often there 

 are over one hundred of these spots, which 

 fact will give some idea of the 

 amount of blood ejected at one 

 time. Following this most ex- 

 traordinary operation, the liz- 

 ard tightly shuts its eyes, re- 

 sisting all attempts 

 to open them; 

 though, in a very 

 few minutes the 

 eyes, as well as their 

 lids, appear to be 

 perfectly normal 

 again, with a com- 

 plete subsidence of 

 the swelling. 



The cause for the 

 blood-squirting is 

 purely conjectural. 

 It is possible that the 

 animal becomes 

 frightened and uses 

 this method of pro- 

 tecting itself from 

 any further hand- 

 ling. 



The loss of blood 

 seems to have no 

 special physical ef- 

 fect upon the lizard, 

 or else it recuper- 

 ates with exceptional 

 rapidity from any 

 resultant weakness. 

 — R. W. Shufeldt. 



A Little Bit of the Tropics in Our 

 Own United States 



ONLY at one place in the United States is 

 there real tropical vegetation. Florida 

 and California have what is called "sub- 

 tropical" vegetation. In the midst of a 

 desert in the extreme southern part of 

 California is a true oasis. The oasis, Palm 

 Springs, lies two hundred and fifty feet 

 below the sea level. So hot is it there that 

 there is a riot of vegetation all the year 

 round. Enormous fig trees and mammoth 

 grape fruit and 'oranges are always to be 

 had. The lemons that grow there weigh 

 two and a half pounds apiece. The respon- 

 sibility for all this may be laid to a beautiful 

 little stream which is fed by the Colorado 

 River and which flows through the oasis 

 only to disappear into the ground at its end. 



