70 STEPPE FAUNAS AND TEMPERATE 



cephalus and Eremias are very abiindant, and show 

 special adaptations to desert life, e. g. in coloration, in 

 swiftness, in the power of burrowing, and so forth. So 

 abundant are they in summer that they attract flocks 

 of the demoiselle crane {Grus virgo), which feeds upon 





Fig. 10. Sage-cook. {Photo by the Biological Survey, U.S.A.) 



them. They are also greedily consumed by birds of 

 prey, and even by such mammals as wolves and foxes 

 and domesticated dogs. In the steppes and deserts of 

 Turkestan there occurs a curious gecko {Teratoscincus 

 scincus), which has lost the disks on the digits by which 

 its alhes cUmb, and has acquired curious fringes, which 

 enable it to run over the loose sand. Among snakes 

 we find the small sand-snake {Eryx jaculus), a harmless 



