10 
LORQUINIA 
fill with wonderful and engrossing revelations a volume or more of 
Lorquinias. 
As I have not yet had the opportunity to become intimately ac- 
quainted with my Desert Rough-scaled Swifts, it is naturally impos- 
sible for me to describe the individuality of my pets. Consequently 
the habits mentioned herein are the sum total of the observations of 
the three. 
From the very first, although nervous and scarey, they showed a 
marked inclination to make the best gastronomically of their captivity 
and with philosophical optimism, seized greedily all choice tid-bits 
that I gave them, eating even from my fingers. 
During the summer of 1916, my Desert Rough-scaled Swifts 
were fed for their main staple of diet many smooth skinned larvae 
that were saved for me by a Japanese vegetable dealer who found 
them in his corn. The largest of these larvae were about an irxh 
and three-quarters in length and were shaken roughly from side to 
side when grabbed by the lizards. Sometimes a half of a larva 
protruding from the mouth of a hungry lizard was seized by another 
hungry lizard. If the grip was a good one, both lizards would tug 
dntil the victim parted in the neutral zone. 
Flies, beetles, locusts, lepidoptera, bugs and other forms of insect 
life were eaten readily. Isopods and spiders were dashed upon as 
suddenly as the foregoing and consumed with relish. I tried centi- 
pedes, but could not seem to disconcert our ''wild and woolly" swifts, 
who ate them as if they did not object in the least to a little poison as 
flavor for their meal. One day I brought home a scorpion, — a lively 
little scorpion with his sting and tail in that excellent working condi- 
tion which ought to compel the respect and fear of ordinary lizards. 
Placed in the box with the lizards, the scorpion moved and attracted 
their attention; There was a rustle of leaves as one of the swifts 
dashed forth to investigate, a pause in which the scorpion was eyed 
critically and a quick dart of the lizard's head as, with powerful 
jaws, it seized the scorpion. The two lacertilian allies rushed upon 
the scene in time to witness the last of the scorpion as his captor, 
with vicious crunching bites, stowed the victim where all goods meals 
belong, — in the stomach. 
Ordinarily, the Desert Rough-scaled Swift will not eat anything 
that is not moving. Dead moths, larvae and red meat were fed to 
them by being dangled on the end of a wire. When quite alert, these 
lizards watch things as they fall to the ground and seize food as soon 
as it strikes earth. By tossing them lettuce I managed to coax them 
to eat a number of small pieces in this way, although it may not be 
natural for them to be herbiverous. 
Some Desert Night Lizards, Xantusia vigilis, whom I desired to 
give a good home, were placed in the box with the swifts. A few 
