FISHES, BATRACHMNS, AND REPTILES 



223 



ards with sliortened and depressed body and well-devel- 

 oped legs. The body is covered with protective spiny 

 protuberances, and in individual color and pattern re- 



FiG. 181. — The blue-tailed skink, Eiwieccs skcHoniiuius. (Fnjm living 



specimen.) 



sembles closely the soil, rocks, and cactuses among 

 which the particular horned toad lives. All the spe- 

 cies of horned toads are viviparous, seven or eight 

 young being born alive at a time. 



In New Mexico, Arizona, and northern Mexico the 

 only existing poisonous lizard, the Gila monster (fig. 182), 



Fig. 182. — The Gila monster, Heloderma horridtim, the only poisonous 

 lizard. (One-fourth natural size; photograph from life by J. O. Snyder.) 



is found. This is a heavy, deep-black, orange-mottled 

 lizard about sixteen inches long. There is much variance 

 of belief among people regarding the Gila monster, but 

 recent experiments have proved the poisonous nature 01 

 the animal. The poison, which is secreted by the glands 

 in the lower jaw, flows along the grooved teeth into the 

 wound. A beautiful and interesting little lizard found in 

 the south is the green chameleon. Its body is about three 

 inches long, with a slender tail of about five or six inches. 

 The normal color of the chameleon is grass-green, but it 



