The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-11-05
4 roam rHAr puoroeRlPHa
An Eastern Man said to Have Seen Hin
Out In the Sierra Madres.

Out In the Sierra Madres
Il believe there are moro curious thinEs'to
be seen among the Sierra Madre Mountains In
California than anywhere else in this country"
said O native Of Pasadena. Tho oldest toaJs.
most curious lizards. q~ueerest snakes and
most inexcusable spiders live. move and have
their being among the rocks and canons and
groves of tho Sierra Madres. TO say nothing Of
the strange wild beasts that roam that varied
region. ] have seen most OF the curious rep
tile life OF the Sierra Madres. but have searched
long and fruitlessly for a toad'such ns an East
ern friend OF mine. an amateur naturalist. dis
covered one day. which was the most interest
ing reptile product. according to his descrip-
ton OF IL. yet discovered in the region.
The place where he discovered the toad. he
said. was on the dry bed OF a mountain stream
which was filed with huge boullers. As he
and his companion were jumping from rock to
rock he scared his companion almost into a ft
by selling him by the arm.and whispering ex-
citedly in his ear:
Look therel'
His companion. thinking he was about to
tread on a rattlesnake or be bounced upon by
a mountain lion. felt himself turn pale but his
the naturalist take out his pocket microscope
ana. STOPPING down, apply Il with great eau
boulder they were standing ti' on. OH Ny friends az
companion was about to give him q piece Of his
mind when the latter assured him that the sup
posed bump on the boulder was not only q
toad. but such O remarkable example OF pro-
tective resemblance in nature that he be-
lieved it to be q new species.
"A close examination OF the diminutive cause
oil, all this excitement showed that, IL it could
take on the resemblance OF other objects IL
might be located on as perfectly as It had that
OF the rock IL was then linging to. It's power Of
protecting itself against discovery by foes was
indeed wonderful. The rock was OF notified
gray, tine 6DOt9 being prominent In hu0- and
they were reproduced on the toad with minute
exactness oil over its back and down to the
ends of it's toes.
TO test the ~capacity OF the toad in protec-
tive resemblance my friend touched It.. 1t
leaped three feet, and alighted on a ROCK that
running. sinuously through IL. which. being Of
material harder than the body OF the rock. had
not been worn away with 1t, but were raised
slightly above the surface. In less than a
minute the dark gray spots on the frog began
to fade like the dissolving view OF q magic lam
other rock and, its t%ortuous white streaks
began to show through them. In three min
utes the toad was so exact o counterfeit OF
the rock 1t was on that the white streaks were
not only reproduced. but had the appearance
Of being raised above the redl After contem-
was driven of the rock and 1t landed on one
purely white. In a short time the remarkable
little reptile was as white as snow. Several
other tests as extraordinary as these were
made. all with the same astounding result.
he happened TO have in his pocket. In. five
minutes the frogs back bore a copy Of the
photograph upon it as clear cut as IL It had
been printed there from the negative"