The San Francisco call., 1898-10-09

druggist in this city has on ex-
 hibition in wire cage in his
 show windows a GiIa monster
 brought from the alkali deserts of Southern Arizona, and there has been nothing in the line of natural his tory shown here in long time that has attracted so much attention as this reptile.
 There is a great mass of fiction about the fatal effects of the breath of a Gila monster, and any amount of senseiess traditions among the Indians and old soldiers of the Southwest concerning the blighting effects left by the crawl ing of the reptile over any living plant or animal. The reptile gets its name from the Gila River region in Arizona, where the soldiers stationed at old Fort Yuma found hundreds of them years ago before the war. The Pima, Apache, Maricopah and Yuma Indians of the Southwest, who have little fear of the bite Of c. Mexican centipede or a rattlesnake, will hunt a Gila monster cautiously to it's death and will even go many miles to i'd the country of one of these reptiles, which they regard as the most to be dreaded of anything that crawls. Among the Cocopahs of Southern California the tribal belief Is that the most fearful vengeance that may come to the spirit bodies of bad Indians after this life is to be bitten by a red GIa monster that roams, un- seen by mortal eyes, over the adobe plains waiting 10 snap at the red skinned saVages InimlcaI to the great spirit chief
 GiIa monster is a ridiculous mis- homer Tn Teptile is a combination of the basilisk of India and Java and the common Tattlesnake of this Coun- try. It has counterpart in a reptile found in the lava beds of the Hawaiian Islands, but Is the much deadlier of the two. Many settlers in Arizona call the reptiles 'rattlesnake lizards" but it has a more hldeOus and startling appear ance than a Fattlesnake, and for that reason the soldiers probably gave it the name of monster. The Gila monster is about eighteen inches in length and in Slrth about the size of a boys arm. its tail is one third of the body, and 1t has a mOtled or striped skin in red dish yellow and dark brown. Its mouth ls similar in shape to that of an alli- gator, and its little black eyes have the sleepy appearance of those of the alli- gator family. It weighs from three to four pounds. A true saurian, it has four stubby legs, shaped and placed like those of a lizard. but 1t has none of the rapidity of motion of a lizard. It is never found in damp, cool spots, but in the hottest sand or on the dryest sun baked soil. Rattlesnakes do not stay in the heat that the GIla monster enjoys, and it Is doubtful if even a salamander could stand a daily temperature of l35 degrees for hours, which the Gila mon ster grows fat on during midsummer weeks. It lives with rattlesnakes and subsists like the snakes.
 A, 1T 1@ fl- -.I- like that of small boaconstrictor and the teeth are in double rows, thick and very sharp. When the reptile bites it never springs or strikes at its victim, but just simply bites-it means busi- ness, for the grasp of the jaws Is some thing marvellous. Anything once caught between those two double rows of teeth is held as if In a Vise-like steel trap. The Indians have a saying that genu- inc Gila monster will not release a piece of flesh between its jaws until the big spirit in tn mountains causes a thun- der, even if 1t takes all summer. It is known by bot. whites and savages on the deserts of the Territory that 1t is worse than useless to attempt to force the Glla monster to release its hold upon any person or animal, for that only increases the wound and the rep. tile in a rage manufactures fresh venom in its poison sacks in the roof of the
 
 torn flesh.
 The Gila monster Is always killed first when it has bitten a human being and then the jaws are cut and pulled away from the wound The Maricopah Indians do not attempt to release a member of their tribe who has been bitten by Gila monster from tho dreadful little jaws, and 1t is generally believed that they end the sufferings of any hapess victim among them- selves by a deadly blow on the head. They say the know no cure for the poison of the reptiles.
 When att~cked the Gila monster re- treats about half his length and CrOuches close to the ground but rear ing his head and neck in a fierce man. ner, while a black forked tongue over an inch in length darts swiftly out of a mouth abnOTmally wide and caVernous. At the same time it emits hiss, jointly with creaking noise which is made by scraping either it's claws, which aie pointed an sharp, or the rough scales or It's body u. n the stones or gravel beneath 1t. If this demonstration fails to repulse the aggressor the Gila mon ster Will not hesitate, when thoroughly angered, to make a snap at the foe, be 1t man or beast. It bites precisely as a rattlesnake, but has none e. the agility of serpent. But it will never attack anything that 1t does not require for food unless first interfered with. If es- cape De near in the shape of a burrow in the ground or a hole in the rocks large enough for its accommodation the monster will discreetIy retire from view and remain hidden until the enc