TEXAS NATURE OBSERVATIONS AND RElVnNISOENCES. 15& 



The Texas Horntoad 



The horntoad. or '"hornfrog," 

 is exclusively a land reptile and 

 numerously encountered along 

 the hills and suburban driveways 

 around San Antonio. There exist 

 eight to nine genera — a species oi; 

 scaled lizard, with more or less 

 long horny spikes and other pro- 

 tuberances, artistically arranged 

 over the body, especially the head 

 and back parts of the animal. 



Size of a large hand ; flat body ; 

 short and strong legs; small eyes; 

 broad and short tongue : short aud 



of our prairie plains and they are- 

 more attractive than the rock and 

 tree lizards, on account of the 

 horned head and symetrically ar- 

 ranged markings of their flat 

 body. 



The above specimen was cap- 

 tured at South Heights, along one 

 of the suburbau hilly regions of 

 San Antonio and photoreproduced 

 alive by the writer. 



The Tree Lizard. 



I am including in these sketches 

 an original photograph of two tree 



A Young Texas Horntoab 



very small grab teeth. When dis- 

 turbed they run fast, and stand 

 on their hind legs listening to any 

 noise on approach of a person, anu 

 they swim readily in case of ne- 

 cessity; live on insects; should be 

 protected. 



They are entirely harmless crea^ 

 tures, and quite much can yet be 

 learned of their life history. They 

 prefer graveled and ;sandy soil 

 and hilly regions, but are also 

 found numerouslv on the flat land 



lizards — referred to also on pag& 

 25 in the article on the devil- 

 horse insect. It was late in fall 

 that I encountered two tree lizards 

 whilst camping under a huge pe- 

 can tree, close to a large Johnson 

 grass pasture, alond our romantic 

 river bank, south of San Antonio. 

 In the endeavor of photographing 

 one of the tree lizards, a devilhorse 

 insect suddenly flew against the 

 broad trunk of the pecan tree, and 

 with a jump, one of the lizards. 



