Oliver Cummings Farrington. INDIAN SUMMER. With your hazy distances, And your fine insistences, Of russet, amber, brown, From what region dost thou journey Hither to our fields a-tourney, Flinging thy dim gauntlet down? Dost thou come from Southern seas? Or from mountain fastnesses? Ho, we call thee Indian Summer, O thou late and languid comer, Loitering our forest aisles; Idling with the sunshine dreamy, As with wandering a-weary, Chary, ever, of thy smiles. Thou hast come to claim the glamour Of the dear, departed Summer. —M. D. Tolman. [Illustration: HORNED TOADS (LIZARDS). Phrynosoma cornutus (Texas). Phrynosoma coronatum (California). Life-size. FROM COL. CHI. ACAD. SCIENCES.] THE HORNED TOADS. The Horned Toads form an interesting group of Lizards which are related to the iguanas of the tropical forests of America. They are, however, terrestrial lizards, inhabiting the plains of Southwestern United States and Mexico. Their short, broad and more or less flattened bodies, rounded heads and short tails give these animals quite a striking resemblance to the common toad. Hence their common name. In one respect, however, they are not at all like the toad. The head is armed behind with a row of quite formidable horny spines, and in some of the species shorter ones are also present on the top of the head and on various parts of the body. As these lizards are slow in motion, the horns constitute one of their chief means of defense. When in the presence of an enemy “the muzzle is depressed and the horns are elevated. The back is also arched.” The utility of the horns as a means of defense has been amply proven. The dead bodies of snakes have been found with the horns protruding through the skin of the body near the head. But this is not their only means of defense. From birds they are protected by their coloration, which is a somber mixture of brown, black and yellowish, and when quietly resting on sands or rocks in the open they quite closely resemble stones covered with lichens of varying shades of color. Abundant as they are in some arid regions of the Southwest, they frequently escape the notice of the observer because of their coloration. In such regions, too, they can take refuge beneath the protecting spines of the Agaves and the branches of the prickly Opuntias. Dr. Leonhard Stejneger considers the Horned Toads a most striking illustration of protective mimicry. Of one species he says: “In the cedar and pine belts of the San Francisco Mountains the dark color of the soil and stones covering the surface is closely matched by the ground color of the Horned Toad, while the greenish gray and