Habits of Turtles and Ltzards 



417 



Having received an un- 

 usually large and fat speci- 

 men of a Mexican horned 

 lizard {Phrynosoma orbi- 

 cular c), he photographed 

 the specimen and then be- 

 gan to measure it. 



"The latter process," he 

 says, "seemed to greatly ex- 

 cite the creature. It finally 

 threw the head slightly up- 

 ward, the neck became 

 rigid, the eyes bulged from 

 the sockets, when there was 

 a distinct soimd like that 

 produced if one presses the 

 tongue against the roof of 

 the mouth and forces a 

 small quantity of air for- 

 ward. This rasping sound, 

 consuming but the fraction 

 of a second, was accom- 

 panied by a jet of blood at 

 great pressure. It hit the 

 wall, four feet away, at the 

 same level as that of the 

 reptile. The duration of 

 the flow of blood appeared 

 to be about one and a half 

 seconds, and toward its ter- 

 mination the force grad- 

 ually diminished, as noted 

 by a course of drops down 

 the wall and along the floor 

 to a position almost under 

 the spot where the reptile 

 had been held. The stream 

 of blood seemed to be as 

 fine as horse hair and to 

 issue from the eyelid, which was momen- 

 tarily much swollen. 



"For some time after the performance 

 the eyes were tightly closed and nothing 

 could induce the lizard to open them. 

 Within two minutes after it was placed 

 on the ground the protruding aspect of 

 the eyeballs and the swelling of the eye- 

 lids had disappeared. 



"Most surprising was the amount of 

 blood expended. The wall and floor 

 showed a course of thickly sprinkled spots 

 about one-eighth of an inch in diameter. 

 There were 103 of these spots." 



Heads of Horned Lizards 



The above quotation is also taken from 

 "The Reptile Book," by Raymond Lee 

 Ditmars, published by Doubleday, Page 

 and Company, 1907. This book is an 

 admirably written and well illustrated 

 work on the structure and habits of the 

 Turtles, Tortoises, Crocodilians, Lizards, 

 and Snakes which inhabit the United 

 States and northern Mexico. 



While thoroughly scientific in its 

 treatment of the subject, the work is 

 written largely in untechnical language 

 and the illustrations are the best we have 



