Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1886-09-16
TEXAS HORNED TOAD.
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Life-History of a Cute. Little AMI
NAL

Life-History of a Cute Little Ami
sIhave a horned toad from Texas
down at my office" said an Ohio
editor to me, when 1 was visiting in
that State. ..Win you like to call in
and see it, when you pass that way?"
The reader will surmise that q very
short time elapsed ere I did .'pass that
way;''' and my friend the editor babe
me welcome by beginning an i'm
mediate search for the horned toad"
which apparently was allowed the.free
run of the Office. Has the reader ever
been introduced into the Office of a
Western newspaper editor? A chaos
of Exchanges" is its principal char
acterislc. You wonder how one man
in a lifetime, much less 4 week.-Mrs.
was the office of a weekly paper
could look over and scissor and clip"
frem that astonishing miscellany.
However, the object now was to hunt
up theitoad, not news. Exchanges in
compact piles and loose piles were
moved from shelf to table and table to
shelf; exchanges half-opened and I'M
opened, exchanges already clipped
and thrown under the spacious table;
papers filed and papers not filed; books
and magazines in vast piles to be re-
viewed; ink of all colors in bottles of
all sizes, some full, some empty; PEN
holders and pencils enough to kindle a
fire; paper knives, scissors, rulers and
clips anywhere but in their natural
places; and as for manuscripts, adver-
tisements and advertising books-from
the size of bath-towel down to the
daintiest card-not to mention samples
and offerings presented to the infiuen-
tial man in order to win good word
in his paper (here is the office-boy with
another armful by the mail just in),
and ..copy". enough for six months
use scattered about! All these things
were moved, lifted, separated, swept
on one side and swept back again,
turned over again and again; but no
toad rewarded that amiable editors
search. 'FToads like damp" [ sug-
gested, while offering my small aid IN
picking up a shower of literature which
my friend scattered in his haste The
poor thing can scarcely. feel comfort
able among the wealth of information
and SO near the stove"
WELL. it is an improvement on. a
boys pocket, anyhow" returned the
erudlte man. 81 rescued it from a hoy
who had keen carrying it about in his
pocket for whole fortnight. His un-
Gle, just from Texas, brought it Cor him
to play with. 1t Wds here half an hour
ago, for l saw it," continued the ed-
tor. rummaging a shelf of exchanges
for the fourth TIME. ''It's half dead.
anyhow; for horned toads won't eat
when they're caught. Do, pray, take
a seat. Why, there he is!' and down
on the floor, in a dusty corner behind
chair which the editor drew out for
ME, was poor, pretty little saurian,
with pointed tail. and. a cornet of
spikes round its head, which gave-it a
quaint and decorated appearance.
ut is not a toad after allr' ven
tured to explain; but belief in vernacu-
lars is strong.
MAY be it's frog. then; there are
horned frogs, too, in Texas"
On first glance the reptile has
somewhat the appearance of frog or
a toad with the addition of tai). Its
body was broader for its length than is
usual for lizards, and its head was
short and fiat, looking all the more SO
for the horny spines, which stand out
like frill The poor little half-dead
thing was too feeble to struggle and
too thickly coated with dust to display
any other than mud color. From its
long fast it was merely skin and skele-
ton. painfully concave beneath. 1
gladly accepted it from the editor. and
on reaching home gave it bath, let
ting it remain in the water and DOUGH
ing it thoroughly. which seemed to-
invigorate it, as il tried to crawl out of
the basin, and opened pair of bright
black eyes. Gradually its markings
and true color appeared, and it turned
out to be an exceedingly pretty iguan-
ian lizard; but, as my friend the editor
had with reason said, it is generally
known in Texas as 1.-THE horned frog,
or 1.-The horned toad" or scientifically
fhryiaosOmd cOrnutm.
1t now already gave signs of recov-
cry, and when placed on its back.
could right itself, and even crawl and
was quaintpretty little creature, worth
preserving. But a tremendous obstacle
here arose. There were young ladies
in the house, and had they known II
had surreptitiously brought home a
toad to '.sting them with its poisonous
HORNS" the consequences are too APP
palling to conjecture! Such terrific
creature of four and a half inches long. |
tail inclusive, to be introduced into the !
family circle! So Iguana and kept
our secret; and / slyiy struggled a
large. empty fower-pOt into my room.
and lined it with fresh grass and a