Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1899-04-14
THE CHA MONSTER.
DISCOVERY OF POISON RESERVOIR
THAT HAS PUZZLED SCIENCE.


Creature Is Dangerous and That Its Bite
May Kill-Curlous Habits and Mysterious
Ways of tho Reptile.
A mystery long inexplicable to
science has at last been solved.
1t relates to the ella monster, so
long suspected, though not proven, to
be poisonous. The name bestowed up
on it, helodrama suspectum, is an eX-
preston of this doubt Now, for the
first time. it is known positively that
the creature is dangerous and that its
bite may kill.
1--WE have discovered the poison
gland, which hitherto has been declar-
ed not to exist" said DR.. Leonhard
Stejneger, the famous reptilian ex-
pert of the Smithsonian Institution.
at is located in the lower jaw
just where we would have least expect
ed to find it, inasmuch as the poison
glands of venomous snakes are in the
upper jaw.
Furthermore, | think that we are
now able to account for the contradict
tons Of opinions among naturalists re-
specting the danger TO be apprehended
from an attack by this creature.
CAS- to whether or not suffering or
death may follow its bite, it appears to
dereud upon the manner in which the
injury Is inflicted,
when a snake bites a man the ven-
ON, located in the glands at the base Of
the fangs in the upper jaw, is instantly
conveyed into the wound through
grooves in the teeth provided for the
purpose. The teeth of the ella mon
ster have grooves, which have been i'm
agined to be designed to a similar end,
but we have reason now to believe that
this form of structure has reference
merely to strength. At all events, the
venom of the ella monster cannot be
conveyed to the wound made by it's
bite with much quickness.
when the animal strikes the poison
flows out of the gland through a series
of little holes between the teeth and
the lower lip. 1t is in no sense squirt
ed into the wound, and it will not enter
in getting good grip with its teeth
and in holding on for quite a little
time
You must remember also that Ii
guilds do not flow upward as readily as
downward. This accounts for the fact
that some persons who have been Bit
ten have not suffered in consequence,
while others have experienced very
painful results. There seems to be au-
thentic evidence to the effect that
deaths have followed assaults by the
reptile. But what l have said will
suffice in a large measure to explain
the contradictions of testimony on the
subject.
Some years ago DR.. Weir Mitchell,
of Philadelphia, who is an authority on
reptile poisOns, made an elaborate Sc
ries of experiments concerning the ella
monster, but was unable to fully estab-
fish whether it was poisonous or not.
This reptile lives under the ground,
or under vegetable debris, and is tor
pid except before daybreak and in the
evenings, when it goes abroad and
preys upon slow-moving insects. 1t
also eats the eggs and perhaps the
nestlings of ground-nesting birds.
Nobody knows whether or not the
ella monster lays eggs. Eggs have
been found in the bodies of female
specimens, but they may be Matched in
the body of the mother reptile. They
are about three-quarters of an inch
long and covered with smooth. white
skin. The Indians of Mexico, by the
way, claim to have cure for the pois-
on of the ella monster, which is effica-
cious if administered promptly"
The Smithsonian Institution has now
in its possession the skeleton of a
monstrous water snake which was
dug up recently in Alabama. 1t was
fully twenty-five feet long when alive,
with a body circumference of about
two feet. Probably 100000 years
have elapsed since it died.