The herald., 1897-07-21
BUGSANDO OTHER THINGS
vINEGARooNS, RATTLESNAKES,
AND CHIGGERS
Some Of the Live Creatures That Are
Met With in Arizona, and
Their Habits

bugs. IL has been estimated that II
these infinitesimal creatures were big in
proportion to their poison one of them
would be able to wipe out nation. Out
side of "chigos," however, mosquitoes ar
| occasional flea and those silent and raw
enous wanderers OF the night found most
| frequently In cheap boarding houses, IL
lirois has no poisonous insects worth
mentioning. Also the snakes in this
country are largely made of Clark street
whisky. Some there are in the woods and
fields, but they do not amount to any
thing. 1t has been years since we'll
authenticated death from snake bite has
occurred in this region 1t may be as well
to state in this connection that physl-
clans now declare that alcohol is of no
value in such cases. Liquor, they say,
is a heart depresser instead of slim
ulant, and a man who takes 1t in order
to obviate shock materially increases his
chances of giving Charon a job. This
will come with the force of surprise TO
fishermen, many of whom have pursued
the finny dwcllers OF the deep merely be-
cause of the opportunity it gave them to
make themselves immune from snake
poison, but it is safe to say that they Will
continue to take the jug along, If merely
as a reminder of old times before the
doctors got SO smart. Sal ammoniac IN
teaspoon doses is now the only recog-
nized remedy
I met man the other day who lives
in the sand places of southern Arizona.
That is country where they are going
to raise everything in the world is soon
as they get irrigation. Just now they
;Iar than
thing else. My Arizona friend told me
about the insects and reptiles they have
in that part of the world, and long be-
fore he finished I had made up my mind
to stay away from there. 1t is an inter-
esting section to the student OF bugol-
ogy, but a man who can make a living
in Chicago, with an occasional san on
the lake and few fresh ones brought
by the German waiter thrown IN, mlsnt
go further and fare worse.
He began his successful attempt TO
induce me to see things by casually
mentioning "vinegaroon," which l as
certained to be a sort of cross between
centipede and tarantula with the
most vicious characteristics of both. Its
bite was certain death, he said, and the
only reason that men were able to live
in the country at all was because OF Its
scarcity. 1t was fatal to cattle, many
Of which it destroyed each year. The
only remedy for it was to steer clear OF it.
1 was told that the Qualities of the cele-
brated ella monster had been exag-
gerated. 1t seems to be only an alleged
lizard, with sharp teeth and an uncer-
tain temper A bite from it's fangs is no
more poisonous than any other wound
in an exceedingly hot climate. The ella
monster. said my acquaintance, does not
make a bad pet if properly treated. II
is, at any rate, as attractive as the little
Florida ohameleons our women used to
wear chained to them three or four
years ago.
insects of the southwestern torrid
lands,' said the Arizona man, vary
with the seasons. In the hottest and
dryest of summers that are always not
and dry, the poison seems to gain an
added ferocity. 1 live near Nogales, and
already since spring three Mexican
herders have been killed by the taran-
tulas. These hairy black spiders will
sometimes measure six inches across
They live in holes burrowed six feet
deep in the sand. If irritated they VIII
attack an aggressor as big as a mouse.
They are remarkably active. and nave
known them to jump as much as -FOUR
feet in a straight line They breed rap
idly aud would overcome the country
but for small red wasp that is locally
known as a 'tarantula killer This IN
sect pursueS the tarantula with relent-
less hatred. 1t stings the spider in the
back Just behind the head jointure, and
the affair is ended in few minutes. Ii
YOU ever see tarantula making frantic
leaps across the hot sand you will find
a killer lowering somewhere near, and
the odds are ten to one that the hairy
monster will never reach his burrow.
"a strange thing happened on ranch
near Nogales last April. A Mexican
who was camped out had removed his
clothing for the night and was lying
upon his blanket nude, when he felt
something crawling on his leg. Looking
down, he was Mortified to find that it
was a centipede. Reaching stealthily
for his revolver, which was near It
hand, he cooked it, put the muzzls with
in three inches of the insects head and
pulled the trigger. The centipede of
course was blown to atoms, and the
Mexican, although his leg was badly
powder-b burned was all right in few
days. The bullet, however, after pass
ing through the centipede, broke the
skin on the leg of mule that was teth-
cred thirty yards away. The mule was
dead in the morning and its leg was
swollen to an enormous size. This will
give you an idea of the virulence of CEN
tipedal poison. / do not believe that
there is any antidote for it. The toxic |
virus of the centipede, like many other
similar juices is innocuous when taken |
internally. The Digger Indians used to
tip their arrows with it. The sage hens
and rats they killed did not seem to
disagree with them.
Next month the rattlesnake goes
blind. This happens always in August
and lasts about three weeks. When
thus afflicted the snake is in a state of
chronic irritation. The eyes are blood
red, and since it cannot search for food
it remains coiled and ready for a spring
night and day Owing to its fever the
venom is much more deadly than at
other times. In this condition, If a small
stone is thrown to strike the ground near
him, the RATHER will launch himself in
the direction whence the noise comes,
and he will keep this up until utterly
exhausted. There is no doubt that It
such times he is insane. If one takes a