Poisonous Animals oi^ the Desert 



Z77 



wound through the beak. The wounds are said to be very painful for a 

 time, even leading to nausea and dizziness, but are hardly to be 

 regarded as dangerous, save possibly in the case of a child or a, 

 person of very weak constitution, or in the event of a germ mfec- 

 tion following. Herms thus describes his own experience in acci- 

 dentally grasping a cone-nose on a leaf : 



"The bite was instant and the pain most intense, and though 

 the wound was on the finger the pain seemed to extend to the head 

 and was followed by a feeling of faintness. The recovery, however, 

 was a matter of less than half an hour with no after effects except 

 for a slight local cellulitis." 



There are two innocent, non-poisonous insects which attract^ 



much attention in the vSouthwest, and are feared without cause.. 



The first of 

 these is 

 known as ttie 

 " sand crick- 

 et," or some- 

 times as the 

 "J e r u s a - 

 lem cricket" 

 and also <is 

 " Child - of - 

 the - Desert," 

 the last ap- 

 pellation be- 

 ing the most 

 used of the 

 three in Ari- 

 zona. This 

 insect is 

 merely a pe- 

 culiarly shap- 

 ed wingless 

 grasshopper, 

 whose habits 

 and life his- 



Fig. 3. — The Sand or Jerusalem cricket (Stenopclmatus ir- torv are not 

 rcgularis). Somewhat enlarged. (From the Monthly Bulletin r ,', ■, 

 of the California State Commission of Horticulture.) lUlly known. 



(Fig. 3). 

 It is entirely harmless, save that its biting jaws are somewhat 

 larger and more powerful than those of the ordinary grasshopper, 



