ells, 
BLACK TEGU (Tupinambis nigropunctatus ) : 
The length of a big specimen is three feet. 
poultry. 
A batch of iguanas from Dutch 
Guiana were the means of nearly de- 
populating the reptile-house in the New 
York Zoological Park. An almost mi- 
croscopic parasite spread frm these liz- 
ards among other exhibits of their kind, 
thence among the serpents. <A great 
number of valuable specimens died from 
the severe inflammation following the 
bites of the tiny pests that swarmed in 
masses that looked like a sprinkling of 
coarse, red dust. The original hosts suf- 
fered little inconvenience. ‘The parasites 
themselves defied disinfecting and gen- 
eral painting of cages. 
The epidemic came to as abrupt a 
termination as its startling beginning. 
From the writer’s observations he is led 
to believe that a fungus attacked the in- 
vaders, and we have Nature to thank for 
the close of a situation that threatened 
to render the reptile-house untenable. 
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 
GUIANAS AND BRAZIL 
Tegus are carnivorous and often destructive to 
Photo by Raymond L. Ditmars 
THE HORNED TOADS THAT SPIT BLOOD 
Various members of the /guanide are 
characterized by their droll form or 
decoration of colors. The horned “toads” - 
belong to this family. These squatty 
lizards are anything but toad-like in 
habit, as they inhabit the hot wastes of 
the desert and run with the speed of the 
wind (see page 614). 
Occasional specimens evince a_start- 
ling habit of squirting a stream of blood 
from the eyelid. A Mexican specimen 
about four inches long gave a fine demon- 
stration of this puzzling habit while be- 
ing photographed and measured in the 
writer's laboratory. A pair of shining 
calipers seemed to greatly excite the 
lizard. It puffed up its body, the eyes 
bulged, when a jet of blood as fine as a 
hair shot a distance of fully five feet, 
spattering the wall with a shower cf tiny 
drops. 
