The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-09-21

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 region of the southwest. It biinked It's bright little eyes at the reptilian expert as he rubbed the front part of its head with his finger. When angry. this ani- mai sauirts jets of blood out of It's eyes to a distance of a foot.
 Though called a toad. this creature is in reality a kind Of lizard" said Dr. stejnegar. But. speaking of lizards. the aueerest one We have seen in long time reached us the other day from New Zealand, It Is named the 'cyclo- pean Uzard.' because 1t has third eye on the top of its head. This third eye Is interesting chiefly because 1t cores ponds to the third eye with which every human being is provided. The so- called 'pineal gland Is actually an eye that has become rudimentary. The gland is of about the size and shape of a pea and is situated in the middle of the head. Place the tip of your finger pust above the bridge of your nose. on level with the eyes. and di- rectly behind that point about i've inch es is the gland. The ancients supposed it to be the center of consciousness and the seat of the soul"
 The doctor pointed to big jar of al- cohol In which a single huge snake with stripes was coiled up. That is a python." he said. but 1t is very large one. The species attains length of thirty feet and n diameter of a foot. Not withstanding my enthusiasm as a collector, would certainly run away If met such a serpent. Suppos- ing that the animal seized me, the only thing to do would be to grasp the crea- ture by the throat and try to strangle 1t.
 Snakes have their usefulness in the world. They are the scavengers of swamps and morasses. It Is in the tropics. of course, that serpents chiefly abound. All snakes are of tropical or igin, but some species have spread Into cooler attitudes. In very cold countries there are no snakes. Con- trary to the popular belief. there are some snakes in Ireland, but they are very rare.
 The tooth of rattlesnake or cobra Is so sharp an instrument that beneath a powerful microscope the point looks perfectly smooth, whereas under the same magnifler the point of needle appears rough. It often happens that an ignorant person will remove the poisonous fangs of a venomous serpent, imagining that the operation renders the animal permanently harmless. This mistake Is apt to give rise to fatal accidents. Within few days the next two teeth behind the extracted fangs move forward and establish connec- tion with the poison glands. Then the snake Is as dangerous as ever"
 My scientific ardor has never in- duced me to try the effects of snake bites on my own person. But several of the people attached to the staff of the National museum have been bitten. MT. Schindler permitted a coral snake to bite him in order that he might study the results. Our taxidermist, Joseph Palmer narrowly escaped a nip from a rattlesnake which was torpid and came to life while he was handling 1t. Dr.. Shufeldt was bitten by Gila monster, and suffered considerably in oonse- quCllCSs n ldh ou6hI always bC VII ling to sacrifice himself for the sake of getting knowledge. A certain person in the employ of the Smithsonian institu- ton found a peanut in the stomach of Peruvian mummy and, ate it. He wanted to see if anything would hap pen."
 From a shelf near by Dr. Stejnegar lifted down a bottle containing an enor- nous toad. He said that 1t was the biggest toad in the world-that is to say, a representative of the largest known species. When a fresh speci- men, 1t tipped the scales at nearly four pounds.
 There are ever so many superstitions about toads," remarked the doctor, "but the most interesting of them relates to the stone in the toad's head. Every which is a charm against poisons and the evil eye. To get one, take large and old he toad and place him on a table upon red cloth. Watch him all night carefully, and before morning he will vomit up his stone. That is the accepted recipe, at all events. Plenty  of toad-stones exist. They are of par ticularly good ivory and are shaped somewhat like an acorn cup. Science, however, has discovered that these stones are actually the teeth of an ex- tinct species of shark.
 The toad is higher animal than the frog, because.it gives birth to little air breathing toads, whereas the frog lays eggs that produce f1sh-like tadpoles. But the frog Is in certain respects the most wonderful creature in the world. Think of & vegetable-eating fish, with gills, that turns into an air-breathing land animal, developing teeth and be- coming a carnivorous quadruped. That is the life history of the frog.
 "The biggest frog is the gigantic bel