The weekly messenger. [volume] (St. Martinsville [i.e. St. Martinville] La.) 1886-1948, 1889-01-12
WITHOUT WINGS.
Lizards that Float Through the
Air On ParachuteS.
Soaring Powers of the lnhabi-
tantS of the Deep.

every part OIL Southern ASIA ana lndlA,
and his remarks were addressed to q
San Francisco Chronicle reporter.
From q small cage h, had taken q brill
iant-hucd lizard. He balanced it upon
his hand and with q quick motion
tossed it high into the air. Now q
! horned toad or one of the common
lizards of our Western slope would have
gone up like rocket and have come
down like rock, but this lizard
was not of this kind. 1t rose, :han it
seemed to grow larger, to swell out
like balloon, and instead of dropping
it sailed away at an angle and deity
alighted on tho top of a plush-covered
chair, where it chung, looking about in
amazement.
FLYING LIZARD.
"Yes" continued the owner, taking
tho net again, at is flying lizard-a
wingless flyer at that one of the most
remarkable of tho lizard tribe"
Tossing tho little creature up again,
it seemed to spread and again few
away buoysd by some mysterious
power
II got my pet in the island Of Bor-
neo, said the naturalist. at was my
intention merely to collect skins, but
one day I was walking along through
the forest when I saw what took for a
brilliantly colored butterfly coming
along. As drew nearer saw that it
was = lizard, and, standing perfectly
still, it shot by me. Having a switch
in my hand Istruck it down and so So
cured it aud carried it to camp in my
pocket Finding that it would live l
kept it, aud soon saw that it was quite
a pet, and if l can get it to England
1 shall deposit it in the London zoolog-
ical Gardens.
On the wing the Draco volans, as this
little creature is called, resembles rich
ly tinted insect, but when at rest it can
be compared to a lizard with extra
ordinary protuberances on either side.
These are the so-called wings, which
are formed of cutaneous growth on
either side, wing-like in shape and
supported by series of false ribs. In
color the lizard is blue aud gray, with
tints of various kinds and shades. The
tail is long, slender. aud beneath the
head depends a double pouch, giving
the animal rather . ferocious ap-
pearance.
QUEER LOOKING PARACHUTEs.
The wing-like organs are used merely
d parachutes. When the lizard leaps
into tho cir the upward current brings
them out and enables the rossessor to
soar away at an angle to . greater or
less distance, according to the height
from which the leap was made.
The lizard can change its direction
while in the air to either side; hence q
casual observer might readily believe
them to move the so-called wigs and
fly; but soaring is the limit of
their powers, aud in thi, way they
travel long distances--several hun bred
yards from tree to tree.
Some years ago q naturalist was wan.
dering in the forests of Sumatra, whom
he observed a curious object dashing
away through tho air. 1t was soon fol-
lowed by another and another, all SEEM
ing to swoop down from the trees, and
rising to nlight again. Anxious to dis
cover what these curious animals were,
he concca.ci himself in bush and
awaited their re-appcarance. Soon one
came da.hing aloag, and as it reached
him ho fred with small bird shot and
succeeded in bringing the flyer down.
To his astonishment it was . toad; not
an animal like q toad, but . regular
DAD; not so different from our ordinary
tree toads, but provided by nature with
webs between its toes.
which formed parachutes of sufficient
spread to bear up the little creature in
its flight from trce to tree. Its method
Of procedure was similar to that of the
lizard already described.
FLYING REPTILES.
Tho most wonderful flyers in the
worlds history are found among the
reptiles, especially among the strange
fossil form, of the prehistoric world.
Imagine a bat with wings twenty-five