Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1886-09-08
A TAIL-TOSSEIt.

"Stir up that mass of leaves" said
my friend, rs we passed IL heap, tic
droppings from 4 large live oak. We
had left the brook. that in the higher
level was full, and were now following
the narrow trail. Inserting my gun
barrel under the pile out ran II black
lizard about six inches in length. The
hunter quickly stepped in front Of it..
when the little creature seeing that it
was surrounded, stopped, raised itself
high on its short legs, and bowed il, head
several times, turning its eyes inquisitvc-
ly upon us.
II thought saw one run under the
leaves" said my companion, "and |
want to show you another instance u Il
peculiar method of protection. Tnis
lizard is black because it lives upon The
rocks, dark ones, in gloomy places, bn
down the valley you will find The SAM"
lizard on sunny dsvcry much lighter
in hue-in fact, it also changes it, 60 Ors.
But this is nothing TO what | hope to
show you. This fellow is tail-losscr;
in other words, he can instantly, by IL
jerk of his body, whisk off lis much OF
his tail as occasion requires. You can
easily see what protection this is. An
enemy in chase sezcS the lizard by the
tail, and the member is thrown oil, and
while the follower is engaged in de-
vouring it the animal itself is of. THIS
is quite remarkable, but there is more.
The lizard can throw off its tail at will
to distract the attention of the pursucr.
Now, ] will make the attack, and you
watch the tail while | catch the body"
The lizard-hunter then began series
of movements with the switch that made
the little animal, that was now putting
out It's throat in anger or fear and show
ing vivid metallic blue patch upon the
side, dart about in an undecided way,
looking vainly for 4 loopholc of escape.
Finally, when the lizard was fully
aroused, the switch was brought down
just behind it with extreme violence.
A whisk of the black body, II CLEAN of
metallic blue, and the lizard was gone,
the hunter after it, while | stood with
eyes rivetcd on what for moment |
considered worm that had escaped
from the mouth of the reptile. 1t was
the tail, however, lcaping up and down
upon the leaves, twisting and comfort
ing itself IN n variety Of positions and
looking exactly like n worm that had
been disturbed and was trying to show
its displeasure. For fully two minutes
this rejected member twisted and
writhed and then gradually lost its
seeming life. In the meantime the
lizard had been captured and it was
found that the tail had been tossed or
cast almost at its base or where it Joined
the animal.
"You see the idca,' said the hunter.
"The lizard thought that he WAS about
to be captured and that harsh measures
were necessary, so in an instant he de-
cided 10 part with his tail, hoping in
this way to distract our attention from
the body part which would run off, The
tail is jcrked off or tossed by quick
side motion Of the body, and the mo-
ment it is severed the animal darts
away so rapidly and naturally the pur-
suer stops to examine the lcaping tail,
that to a bird might seem \ worm, and
with any animal would arouse curiosity
enough to delay it long enough for the
lizard to escape.
This fellow has had hard luck" con-
tinued the speaker, holding up the tail.
"You see how much smaller II part OF
the tail is than the rest. The scales arc
more delicate, and it has blush cast
quite different from the rest. That
means that the lizard has been through
this operation before, and this tail that
it has just cast had not really at
tanned its full growth"
Then they reproduce thom?' lasked.
Certainly, or else where would be
the benefit? The tail and all the bones
grow again. and will an indefinite num-
Der of times. The only drawback is
that it takes time, perhaps three months
or more in summer, to attain lis growth.
Sometimes two tails are reproduced in
stead OF one, but thS Is Unl, in rare
cases. In Asia SOM" Of the gcckOS are
tail-toSScrS, and II g"ko has been seen
to throw off H. tail aad then. ~ if de-
ceived it,rll, seize ana swallow it,
Southern Cdi,iDrhid ',g.,NpUmleHce.