The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1881-12-23
A Sagacious Lizard
New York Snn.1

''This is the third one that has been
found in the park lately" said man at
the arsenal, holding out curious, spiny-
looking object for reporter to look at.
mo, it's not toad, though they call
them horned toads. It's a lizard, and
the people in the museum call it the
phrynosma."
The animal was about four inches
long, and unpleasant to look at. His
body was flat, the upper surface being
covered with short, dark spines, and the
under surface with small plates. The
back of its head was armed with several
recurring short spines, with shorter
spines here and there.
"You wouldn't think that such crea-
ture would know anything" continued
the owner of the lizard, ''but snake
has to wake up early In the season to
get the best of it. 1 call him Samson,
because the first day I had him he
pushed under the leg of a heavy chair
that was tipped against the wall, and
fairly knocked it over. If man were
as strong in proportion to his size, he
could lift the obelisk. No, that don't
show any cunning, but I'll show you
where the cunning came in. I caught a
big striped snake about two weeks ago.
l was standing in my yard, when along
came a big toad, putting in its best
hops, and right behind it the snake, so
intent on the chase that it came right
up to me. / caught it, and kept it for
some time in box with glass top, and
one day it struck me that the spines on
a lizard must have been intended as q
prevention against snakes. thought I
would test it, so l put Samson into the
box. Then l discovered that he was as
wise as Solomon. You see the revised
Testament business makes man famil-
lar with Bible names. The snake evil
IDENTIFY had not tasted food since last
summer-you know they sleep all win
ter-and quick as a flash he darted at
the lizard, but as the boys say, he got
left. The little fellow went around the
box like shot, but finally the snake
cornered him and caught him by the
hind claw. Now, toad or a frog will
squirm around and face snake and get
demoralized generally, and give it a
chance to catch hold of the head, but
my lizard knew a game worth two of
that. When the snake touched him he
turned his head directly away. The
snake tried every way he could to edge
around and get the little fellow by the
head, so he went to work to swallow him
tail first. He stretched out his jaw and
planted his long fangs into the legs and
gradually worked the body into his
mouth with his smaller teeth. When
he had taken in as much as he could in
this way, the long fangs were loosened
and flung ahead and fresh hold taken,
each side of the mouth edging ahead in
turn. Nothing could stand this pres
sure long, and in ten minutes half of the
patient lizard was out of sight. He was
only waiting for his turn, and it Soon
came; the snakes lips had reached his
neck, when operations ceased. There
were three or four spines as sharp as
needles, pointing out every which way,
that put an end to the swallowing bust.
ness. I didn't see the lizard laugh; he
must have felt like it, for he wasn't hurt
o bit. 1t took the snake hall an hour to
get rid of him, but it tried two or three
times again to swallow him. At every
Jump the lizard turned his back so that
the spines faced the snake, and at last /
separated them. Yes, it was rather
cruel, but I looked at it as a scientific
investigation.