GILA MONSTER (Heloderma suspectum). 
RANDOM NOTES ON LIZARDS. 
Specially written for ANrman Lire by Dr. Rk. W. SHurenptr (of New York), ¢.M.z.s., ete. 
Illustrated with Photographs by the Author. 
HE fact that almost every large city contains a number of shops which sell 
living animals, either to private individuals as pets or to zoological gardens 
for their collections, shows that the interest in animal life is very general. It 
is to these shops that naturalists are often indebted for being able to study and 
photograph living specimens of animals which otherwise they might have no opportunity 
of observing. Three of the lizards illustrating these notes came to me in this way. 
The species to which I refer are, first, one of the three forms of lizards occurring on 
the Canary Islands and known scientifically as Lacerta callotis; second, an unusually 
fine specimen of Cunningham’s Skink (Hgernia cunningham) from Australia, nearly 
ten inches in length; and lastly, two large specimens of the common Stellion Lizard 
(Agama stellio) found in Syria, where these were captured. It is very seldom indeed 
that any of these lizards are seen alive in America, so it was with an unusual interest 
that I made their photographs and studied them. 
My other reproductions of photographs from lfe herein shown are also some of 
my own studies, and they represent lizards found in the United States, viz., the 
Common Alligator Lizard, or as it is sometimes called, the Fence Lizard, or, less 
frequently, the Swift, and the far-famed Gila Monster or Heloderma, a reptile of which 
I have had a very considerable experience. The picture I have selected from my 
collection to represent this lizard here is a direct dorsal view from above of a large 
specimen (over 20 inches long) that I had alive for nearly a year. It makes an 
unusual and interesting illustration from the fact that this famous lizard is more 
commonly photographed from a lateral point of view. 
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