LIZARDS. 87 
kept together were most peaceably disposed. As observed of other members of the 
lizard tribe, they were much given to saluting one another en passant, when allowed 
their liberty, with the momentary tactile protrusion of their respective tongues. One 
such “ Wayside greeting” is fairly well portrayed in the snapshot heading illustration 
to page 84. 
Considerable difficulty has been experienced by the writer in keeping these 
singular lizards for any length of time. So long as the weather was warm and the 
supply of ants plentiful they have thriven well. Exposure to a colder temperature 
than that of the districts they frequent, however, speedily affects them, and they 
become lethargic and gradually pine away. In captivity the females frequently deposit, 
individually, half-a-dozen or more whitish eggs. These are large in proportion to the 
lizard’s size, over half-an-inch in length, and, like those of the majority of lacertilia, 
invested by a tough leathery integument. Owing probably to their uncongenial 
surroundings, these eggs never arrived at maturity, but at the end of a few days 
commenced to shrivel up and decompose. So far as it has been possible to ascertain, 
the eggs of Moloch are naturally deposited at some little depth in the ground, and it 
would appear also that the lizards themselves hibernate under similar conditions. No 
efforts on the part of the writer to obtain very young examples of this species were 
rewarded with success, the most diminutive specimen received through the assistance 
of Dr. Williams of Carnarvon, Western Australia, being a little over three inches 
in length. 
A very singular structural element in Moloch horridus that would appear to be 
worthy of the investigation of physiologists is the peculiar knapsack-like protuberance 
that is developed on the back of the neck. It is armed laterally with two large 
defensive spines, while many smaller ones are interspersed over its remaining. super- 
ficies. The most striking aspect of this remarkable structure is afforded by the back 
and lateral views photographically reproduced at the bottom of page 84. In 
the latter of these portraits it might be further suggested that the head contour is 
grotesquely rhinocerotic. 
Notwithstanding the difficulties attending the conservation of Moloch for a 
lengthened period, a specimen has been brought to, and was for a short time on 
view, at the Zoological Society’s Gardens so recently as last year, 1895. The 
living lizard species that bear the strongest resemblance to Moloch horridus are 
not, as might be anticipated, natives of the Australian Continent, but denizens of 
California and Mexico, where they are popularly denominated ‘“ Horned Toads,” 
