Stránka:roll 1911.djvu/120

Woodcra/t 99 greatly resembles a "horn," being conical and pointed, and has thus given rise to another equally silly/able, v/s., that of the horn sn?lre, or hoop snake, which is said to have a sting in its tail and to be deadly poisonous. The lizards are all pedectly harmless, except the sluggish Gila monster (pronounced Heela, named from the Gila River in Arizona) which lives in the deserts of Arizona and Mexico, and whose bite may be fatal to m?n? The poison glands are situated at the point of the lower jaw, and the venom is taken up by the wound while .the animal hangs on to its victim with the tenadty of a bulldog. All the other lizards are harmless in spite of the dread/ul stories told about the deadly q?,?!ity of some of the spedes in various parts of The snakes form the last group of the reptiles. Universally legless, though some of the boas aud pythons have distinct outer rudiments of hind limbs, they are not easily mi-?taken. And it is perhaps well so, for unless one is an expert at distinguishing between the poisonous and the harmless kind it is just as well to keep at a respect/ul distance from them. It is safest not to interfere with them, espe- dally as those that are not poisonous are usually very useful in destroying rats and mice and other vermin, except perhaos those living in trees and feeding on eggs and young birds, which certainly do not deserve our protection. Of course Rattlesnake palate the rattlesnake is not to be mistaken. The horny appendix to its tail, with which it sounds the warning of its presence, is enough to distinguish it. It should here be explained that both lizards and snakes at various intervals shed the outer layer of their skin, the so-called epidermg. This transparent layer, after a certain length of time, loosens and is usually stripped off whole by the animal crawling out of it and turning it inz/deout, as a tight glove is turned. Now, at the end ca W ' '