The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-07-23


been credited hy science until now. But
that this Is true has recently been proved
by experiments. one Of the horned toaus
brought Go Washington WAS thrown INTO
water. which Immediately became red
dened. On being irrtated the animal
discharged from each eye a squirt Of
! blood 10 a distance of fifteen inches. II
was estimated that the quantity emitted
was not less than a quarter of teaspoon
ful. The test was not deemed wholly
| satisfactory until il had been deROnstrat-
ed by a microscopic eXaminatiOIk#nat the
substance was actually blood Presuma-
bly,, this squirting of gore is intended to
brighten an enemy. As a provision Tor
such purpose it is unquestionably
unique.
Not less remarkable are the peculiar
desert toads of deate valley, which are
found buried in the clay soil and actually
baked IN the solid ground so that they
have TO be split out. Thus they remain
for year or two together. When a show
er comes-a very rare occurrence III that
counlry-the clay is softened and they
crawl out to enjoy themselves for few
hours. After day or so the ground dries
up, and they hastily dig into it and retire
for another long period of repose. 1t is
not difficult to imagine the hardening Of
the soil into permanent rock. from which
these creatures might be split out mill
lenium hence, as is said to have happened
with tOads similarly buried centuries ago
When they do eat these toads of the des-
! ert feed on insects like others of their
kind.
Death valley is the greatest congre-
eating place on earth for scorpions
They are found there by millions, grow
| ing to huge size. Quite a number were
captured, put in alcohol and brought
back to Washington by the expedition.
| They were handed over to DR. Marx of
! the department of agriculture, who is the
! greatest authority in this country on
arachnids He showed one of them to
| your correspondent yesterday, measuring
| it with a foot rule 1t was ex-
! actly four and half inches long.
| These fierce creatures are not seen in the
| daytime, being nocturnal in their
| habits. However, when pulling up bushes
| for firewood they were apt to be found
among the roots. They would crawl
under the blankets at night for the sake
| of warmth. In the morning each mem
! Der of the exploring party was apt to find
one Or two scorpions on the under side of
his blanket. They secrete such quaint
| ty of venom in the two poison glands at
| the end of the tail that their sting is
| quite dangerous. DR.. Marx explained
that scorpions rank higher among the
arachnids, being above the spiders and
next below the true insects.
A HORRIBLE PLACE.
The popular belief formerly was that
no life existed in Death valley. The ex-
petition demontrated that this was ex-
tremely far from being the truth. In the
bottom of the valley is a fiat of crystal
line salt sixty miles long and from two to
six miles wide, which is absolutely devoid
Of life, vegetable or animal. Around that
hat IS fringe that IS less salt, where are
found tieShy plants such as grow in salt
marshes. Around that is a rim of more
productive soil, with crossword bushes
peculiarly desert plants, which require
alkaG to feed upon. Then come the
gravel slopes toward the mountains,
which have a score of species of desert
bushes, many of them bearing most
beautiful flowers in the early
spring. The leaves appear in
March and the seeds ripen quickly
| They have to do so else the subsequent
heat would kill them. Seeds and leaves
| drop of in early summer and the plants
| during the rest of the year are mere dry
! sticks. The foliage of these desert plants
is grayish the only one that has green
| leaves being the creOsote bush, which is
the most characteristic type of the vege-
tation is that region. 1t bears big yellow
| flowers somewhat resembling buttercups
and its seeds are like small nuts covered
| Will W Jul. llib leaves nave NdIQlSl,
| to prevent evapOra ton of the juices, and
this varnish is now being utilized COM
mercially in the manufacture of a sort of
| shcllac.
On the west side of the valley are sand
! dunes crowned with straggly mesquite
| bushes, which are the biggest of the
| desert plant, attaining the height of
| twenty feet Among them swarm kanga-
roo rats, which squat on their hind legs
erect and use their tails to help them
jump. To hold spare food they have
pouches outside their cheeks lined with
fur. They feed on the beans of the mes
quite Some of the beans are the So
called screw" beans, which look like
lunches of screws, but other varieties
growing together with them have
straight pods. The Indians are very
fond of the beans, making bread out of
them. Roasted, pods and alls, they are
very sweet and good.
In that desert are also innumerable
scorpion mice-the only essentially carni-
yOrous mice known which feed on scor-
pions and lizards. There are big land tur-
ties more than foot long which shut up,
when they are alarmed, like box turtles
The Indians are very fond of their flesh,
and SO are the coyotes. Two kind of de-
Sert bats there are, both nearly white and
one with big ears. There are desert
foxes, which feed on lizards and kanga-
roo rats chiefly. The latter rodents fur
nish provender for many badgers. There
is kind of bird that lives in the mes
quite bushes which feeds on the lizards.
All of these mammals are Nocturnal in their
habits The only ones which go abroad
in the daytime are a few jack rabbits,
cottOntail rabbits, and white
tailed chipmunks. In Furnace creek.
which runs down into the valley from the
Funeral mountains, are frogs
One of the most wonderful things about
| these animals of the desert is the devices
of protective coloration which nature has
resorted to for their protection. For ex-
ample, the horned toads always take the
tint of the soil on which they are found.
On the alkai grounns they are white as a
sheet of note paper while on the lava
crust they are dark, so that the foxes and
coyotes which prey on them may not spy
them. The rattlesnakes on the valley
plain are of q pale hue, while on the
mountain sides they are nearly black
The white-tailed Chipmunk is exactly the
color of the desert sand. When this little
squirrel is stationary it cannot be seen,
but when 1t runs away it throws it's tail
over its back. The tail then shows CLEAN
ing white, being intended as a signal to
! other chipmunks. This is considered an
extraordinary instance of provision at the
same time for DrOtectiOu and racOgnitiOn