30 
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 
COLLARED LIZARD 
Four positions of tlie collared lizard photographed while running by Herbert Lang of the American Museum 
some of the places where they were observed, 
no plant life but scattered cacti and forms that 
appeared as dry as paper, no bird life, nothing 
but lizards, which they disdain,—we wondered 
where they obtained the food to keep them so 
well nourished. This was explained during the 
trip out of the canyons, towards night. 
The sun had dropped behind the San Jacinto 
range which turned deep purple in the shadow. 
Across the pass, the end of the San Bernardino 
range ran forty miles out into the de ( sert like a 
jetty into the sea and still glowed in the sun in 
a hue of rose-pink. We were in the shadow 
of the nearer range and though part of the 
desert was yet in sunlight, we could look up¬ 
ward and see the brighter stars. Stopping to 
absorb the wonder of this sudden fusing of day 
and night we noted that here and there was an 
emergence of rodent forms. We observed a 
small species of chipmunk and several kinds of 
mice. Apparently the rattlers have easy hunt¬ 
ing among the smaller, nocturnal mammals. 
There is a rather large tortoise that is char¬ 
acteristic of our southwestern deserts. The 
lizards exist in great variety of form and curious 
development towards perfect adaptation. One 
of these is the tessellated lizard, with a beauti¬ 
ful tracery over its back like a miniature mosaic 
pattern. Along the margins of its toes are rows 
of flattened spines that prevent it sinking into 
the sand and enable it to run over the softest 
places at great speed. Closely allied is the 
zebra-tailed lizard, the under part of the tail 
being vividly and broadly barred with black and 
white—and this species runs with the decorative 
tail curled over its back. Whether or not it 
endeavors to bewilder an enemy is a problem, 
but after running a few yards with the glaring 
tail erected it stops short, drops the tail and 
flattens on the sand—and disappears. The il¬ 
lusion is perfect. The body hue of the creature 
is such an exact match that with the disappear¬ 
ance of the barred tail the creature seems to have 
vanished into thin air. 
Spiney forms, in keeping with the flora, are 
also abundant. There are the swifts and the 
familiar horned “toads.” Towards evening the 
latter burrow into the sand, leaving the top of 
the head uncovered for observation, but the 
spiky head decorations are so good a match for 
the shed spines of the cacti that few eyes ever 
would focus in their direction. More brilliant 
forms are the collared and the leopard lizards 
and the Gila “monster” of the Arizona region. 
The two former are noteworthy from a curious 
trait: when alarmed they rear upon the hind 
feet and run erect for considerable distances. 
This invites romantic theory. To the east and 
northeast of their domain is the region of painted 
rocks, erosian and the graveyards of the great 
dinosaurs, a number of which lived their pon¬ 
derous lives in an erect position. The present 
remnants of reptilian life are the descendants 
of the Age of Reptiles, existing millions of years 
ago. Here perhaps, is a trait handed down 
from the prehistoric giants and adding another 
phase of interest to our desert reptiles. 
A NOVEL DEDICATED TO 
OUR PRESIDENT 
Messrs. Alphonse Lemerre & Co., well known 
publishers of Paris, are about to issue a novel 
dedicated to the President of the New York 
Zoological Society,. Prof. Henry Fairfield 
Osborn. 
The theme of the story is a reconstitution of 
the life of the Cro-Magnon men, and was in¬ 
spired by Prof. Osborn’s “Men of the Old 
Stone Age.” 
