86 THE NATURALIST IN AUSTRALIA. 
mental reckoning elicited the fact that no less than from one thousand to fifteen 
hundred ants were taken in successive order at a single meal, each ant being separately 
picked up by a flash-like protrusion of the slender adhesive tongue. An approximate 
idea of the aspect presented by this little family party when enjoying a mid-day repast 
may be gained by a reference to the instantaneous photographs taken by the author 
reproduced on page 85. In the first of these illustrations all the specimens portrayed 
are crouched closely to the ground and absorbed in the delights of gastronomy. The 
second photograph serves to illustrate another interesting detail in the life habits of 
this lizard. Having satisfied their healthy appetites, two of the examples in this 
picture are indulging in a post prandial promenade, and it may be observed that 
they walk erect with their tails high in the air, much after the fashion assumed 
by contented kittens. This bizarre comportment of the caudal appendage is almost 
invariably exhibited when the little animals are in full marching order. Another 
conspicuous feature in the ambulatory gait of Moloch horridus is the peculiarly 
uncertain, vacillatory movements they often manifest at the commencement of their 
course, balancing themselves to and fro with one foot elevated before starting, as 
though they could not quite make up their minds to risk the premier pas, and not 
unfrequently repeating the action after making a short advance. This desultory mode 
of progress communicates to these lizards a very grotesque appearance, suggesting 
to the observer the idea of a mechanically wound-up toy. A somewhat similar 
vacillating method of perambulation is exhibited, it may be observed, by the common 
Chameleon. 
The defensive capacities of Moloch are of an essentially low order, being 
limited chiefly to the passive resistance offered by the projecting spines. These 
thickly distributed thorn-like defensive weapons are not unfrequently of such needle- 
like acuteness as to readily pierce and draw blood from the hand that grasps the 
animal incautiously. When so handled, Moloch will also occasionally open its mouth 
and emit a slight hissing noise, and at the same time a blast of very offensive breath, 
due probably to the unsavoury odour of the ants it feeds upon. On one or two 
occasions the author observed these lizards comport themselves in a distinctly hostile 
manner. In these instances, the aggressor has rushed at and vigorously pushed and 
butted a comrade with its horns with a dash that would do credit to the reputation 
of a Liliputian buffalo. Two examples will also occasionally mutually disagree and 
butt at each other with much outward display of mortal enmity, but with little or 
no resulting damage to either combatant. As a general rule, the number of individuals 
