Evening star., 1916-08-06

nm HoUGHTS Of the gila monster. the
hideous and venomous lizard OF
the sun-parched deserts Of the
of the desert regions Of Mexico, will prob
ably keep some of the soldiers awake at
night and may disturb the peace of mind
of many of their friends in the north.
But, although the gila monster is bad
enough in reality. it is not so bad as he
has been painted. The gila monster has
an ugly If not terrifying name. and
physically nobody ought to call it beau
tiful 1t may be that some persons who
are enthusiasts on the subject of reptiles
might apply to the gila monster the word
Handsome.
The gila monster is a member OF the
only family of the great and mighty order
of lizards which is venomous. This fam
lily Is called by the scientists who think
deeply into the matter of lizards the
Helodermatidae, and the Helodermattda
horridum and Helodermatda suspectum
are two varieties of this evil lizard. 1t is
the latter variety which came to be called
the gila monster because 1t was first OBJ
served by white men in the hot and
sandy lowlands of the ella basin. the
Gila pronounced hee-la) being river
which rises in New Mexico. flows west
ward for 40 miles and then unites with
the Colorado river. The ella river has
become famous because of the curious
ruins of stone-built houses which occur
in many places along its banks and in
which are found many fragments Of in
teresting pottery.
1t Is written of this unusual lizard
that various Indian tribes in Mexico
and very probably some of the tribes OF
the southwestern United States have
endowed the gila monster with fabu-
lous powers, or properties. and fear 1t
more than they do the most poisonous
snakes Hans Frederick Gadow. who
was the Strickland curator and lee
turer on zoology in the University OF
Cambridge and the author of amphibia
and reptiles of the Cambridge natural
history publications. has written that
the lizard which Americans generally
call the gila monster reaches length
Of more than two feet, is biackish
brown and orange yellow. and that
on the thick tail these warning colors
are arranged in alternate rings. He
says that small animals are paralyzeo
and killed by the bite. the poison
being effective enough to produce Sc
we're symptoms even in man.
In the National Museum there Is a
specimen of this lizard and 1t seems to
provide at this time a higher degree OF
interest and amusement to the visitors
there than even the rattlesnakes and
cobras Close to the gila monster Is a
descriptive card. written in popular
language by man who presumably
knows all that there Is to be known
about the monster, and the information
he gives Is not SO terrifying as some OF
the tales that have been told by travellers
and by non-scientif1c persons who live In
his country The information is cal
culated to allay some of the fears Of the
friends of the thousands Of guardsmen
now doing duty on the border. The
descriptive card says:
las the only lizard known to be poison
Gus the gila monster holds very Pc
culiar place among the saurians. The
poison glands are situated on the out
side OF the lower jaw, near the chin. They
do not open into canals Of the teeth as
in the snakes, but are outside the teeth
between them and the lips.
when biting. the animal holds its vic
tim tenaciously until the poison has had
time to become absorbed.
''The venom is quite powerful and may
cause death, but as the animal Is Of q
very sluggish. If not gentle disposition. II
cannot be considered very dangerous
reptile.
ut inhabits the desert regions OF
Arizona and adjacent parts of Califor-
mia and Mexico, mostly keeping in
holes in the ground during the day
small animals and birds eggs during
the night"