The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1907-08-07
HORNED LIZARD.
Which Elects Blood From Its Eyes
at Will.

4 Reptile That Stands Unique Among !
All the Queer Things of the Ami
mai World.
A letter from St. Louis says no
creature in the world but the horn
ed lizard can eject blood from its
eyes. That reptile now stands uni
que among all the creeping, craw-
ling, flying, walking things Of AMI
NAL nature. 1t is the only animal on
earth whose eye is an offensive wea-
pon, a squirt gun to eject what may
Drove to be g. poisonous fluid.
So strange and fantastic is this
habit of the horned lizard that sober
scientists pooh-poohed the stories
told by Indians and "greasers' Of
the Southwest, where on sandy, SUI
uer-heated, excessively dry plains the
lizard has it's habitat. No class Of
men in the world are more conserva-
tive than the scientists. Yet nobody
better than they appreciates and un-
derstands the wonders to be expect
ed of nature. They are willing to
investigate and study day and night,
because they know that what infor-
nation they now have is but a tiny
portion of the staggering wonders
creation yet has to reveal.
But the story that the horned liz
ards eye is a syringe used to resist
attacks from its enemies was too
grotesque, too utterly at variance
with every other known fact Of ana
tony and physiology to receive con-
sideration even from the most IN
quisitive of the mature students.
Naturally they looked upon such
unhcard-of-tales as vagaries of the
ignorant and superstituous or weird
illusions Of men whose brains had
become unhinged by intense heat and
drought in the desert.
Among all creature Of which sci
ence had knowledge. the eye had one
function and one function alone,
identical in all cases. The eye is the
organ Of vision. There are strange
things to be found in the eyes of ami,
mails, but every popularity of the
optic construction is to meet some
peculiar and special need of the par.
, ticular creature. All the different
formations and constructions are
based only on laws of optics. Until
, the horned lizards popularity was
seen and verified, no eye had ever
been heard Of which was more than
machine for seeing.
But the lizard, when aroused to a
high pitch Of anger or fearful Of
great and impending danger, stiffen:
itself, makes it's eyelids rigid ano
then, exerting some inward force yet
unexplained, elects from the corner
Of its eye a jet of blood that shoots
, many feet and is of volume enough
, to spatter big stains on wall.
The first time this phenomenon
was recently observed by a scientist
he was startled and amazed. He hac
heard stories about the habit of the
horned lizard, but was skeptical and
had dismissed them from mis- mind
He was engaged in measuring a fine
specimen of the lizard when the anil
NAL, after exhibiting signs of great
excitement, suddenly grew rigid anc
saot out a stream of blood from its
, eye. the elected fluid passing close
to the head Of the naturalist. 1t gave
him a distinct nervous shock, but he
felt the thrill Of a scientist confront
ed by a new discovery.
The man was Raymond L. Dltmars
curator Of reptiles in the New York
Zoo. Like other scientists, he .hac
ridiculed the idea Of the idea Of the
animals eye being q syringe, but
, convinced beyond doubt by what he
witnessed. He has described the in.
cident in his new contribution tc
J scientific literature, The Reptile
Book" just published.
; Mr.. Ditmars says the lizards are
, known as the genus phrynosona OF
American lizards and that there are
all told, seventeen varities, four Of
which are indigenous to Mexico. Ir
describing how he learned the won
Gerful truth about the eyes Of these
lizards, he says:
"An unusually large specimen was
received. / photographed the lizard
and then proceeded to measure it, a
process which greatly excited the
creature.
''It finally threw the head slightly
upward, y he says "the neck became
rigid, the eyes bulged from the sock
cts, when there was a distinct sound
like that produced if one presses the
tongue against the roof of the mouth
and forces q. small quantity Of air
forward.
This rasping sound, consuming
but the fraction Of a second, was ac-
companied by jet of blood at great
pressure. 1t hit the wall, four feet
away, at the same level as that of
the reptile.
The duration Of the flow Of blood
appeared to be about one and a half
seconds, and toward its termination
the force gradually diminished, as
noticed by course of drops down
the wall and along the floor to a po-
sition almost under the spot where
the reptile had been held.
The stream Of blood seemed to be
as fine as a horse hair and to issue
from the eyelid, which was momen-
tarily much swollen. For some time
after the performance the eyes were
tightly closed and nothing could in
duce the lizard to open them. With
in two minutes after it was placed on
the ground the protruding aspect of
the eyeballs and the swelling Of the
eyelids had disappeared.
- L