, 1881-06-19

The Immense SeIf-Possesstoll lie Dis
played i'll an Encounter with u Ell.

played i'll an Encounter with u Fig
Snake.
Ne,u Iork Sun.
80 This is the third one that has been found
in the park this spring. said man at the
Arsenal, holding out curious spiny-looking
object for Sun reporter to look at. "No,
it's not toad, though they call them horned
toat}s. It's lizard, and the people in the
museum call it the prynosoma."
| Tile animal WIS about four inches long,
| and'unpleasant to look at. Its body was fiat,
the upper surface covered with short dark
spines. and the under surface with small
plates. The back of its hea1 was armed with
several recurring sharp spines, with shorter
spines here and there. \ fly lit OIL the keepers
hand, and the lizard, that 4 moment before
was to oil appearance dead, raised itself OIL
its short spiny legs. and turned its curious
head; the black eyes cleaned and the throat
pntfed out conyulsiyely; Il quick spring and
the fly was gone. Then the tiy-catcAer re-
lapsed into listIesness.
"pve had this one week." continued the
fy-catcher's captor, :" and carry him i'll my
vest-pocket; in fact he's quite Il pet; will eat
flies from my hand as you have seen, and is
warranted not to bite, though lie could pinch
q piece out Of nail il lie felt inclined. Run:
Well, should say" and giving the lizard
few wild passes through the air,-as Il sort
OF eye-ope,ler, he explained, he pint it down,
and of it ran, head in the air. using the feet
on one side together, which gave it the pecul-
lar rolling gut Of a Narragansett pony, but
one that sellt It along so that Il man must run
10 Keep up The heat was short one, how
ever. for the lizard stopped suddenly, settling
itself so closely against the concrete pave
ment that it would not have been noticed by
the casual observer. In fact, the lizard was
an interesting example Of that class
ealled I1a Protective "su rese,5anses' GS wa ts is
the desert sun-dried tracts upon which
il is found in Texas, Mexico, and Southwest
California. How this stranger got to Central
auently sent North through the mail as
curioslties, and it is probable that some one
has disposed Of all Objectionable souvenir |
from distant friend by turning it out to
pasture in the Park. At any rate its timely |
s'You wouldn't think such creature
would know anything" continued the owner
Of the lizard. but snake has to wake up
call him Samson, because the first day had |
him lie pushed under the le:, Of Il heavy |
CHAIR that was tipped against the wall and
fairly knocked it over. II II man were as
the obe1isk. No, that didn't show any cum
ming, but I'll show you where cunning came
in. caught a big Striped snake about two
weeks ago. was standing III my yard when
hops, and right behind it the snake,
50 intent oil the chase that it
came right up to me. l caught it and
kept it for some time in a box with Il glass
top, and one day it struck lie that the spInes
on the lizard must have been intended as IL
against snakes. l thought would
!est it, and put Samson into the box. Then
discovered that he was as wise as Solomon.
You see this Revised Testament business
makes man familiar with Bible names The
asst sunl!ner,--you know they sleep all win
er,--and quick as a flash he <larted ut the
lard, but, as the boys say, ile got left. The
little fellow went round the box like i; shot,
.ansht him by the hind claw. Now, Il frog
If toad will squirm around and face a snake
md get delhoraiized generally and give it (.
lance to catch hold Of the head; but my
he snake touched him lie turned his head
lirectIy away: The snake tried every way
le could to e,ge up and get the little fellow
y the head. but it was of 10 use,
Q he went to work to swallow him tail
rst. LIE stretched out his jaws and planted
lis long teeth into the. legs and gradually I
;orked the body into his mouth with the
mailer teeth. When he had taken in as
lucA as he could this way, the, long fangs |
;sre loosene.l ana thrown ahead a!d fresh
head in turn. Nothing could stand This i
ressure long, anu i'll ten minutes half Of tic !
atient lizard was out OF sight lie WIS only l
'aiting for his turn, and it soon came; the /
makes lips had reached his neck, when j
I}erati0ns ceased. There were four or five | t
>ines, rs sharp asneedles, pointing out every
Inch way, that put an end TO the swallow i
y business. didn't see the lizard laugh, S
I.rt in the least 1t took the snake half an i
our to get rid Of him, but it tried two or
lrec times again to swallow him. At every !
imp the lizard turned his back so that the +
,incs faced the snake, and ut last / sepa1- Il
ell them. Yes, it was rather cruel; but II
oked ut it as a scientific investigation.