Poisonous Animals of thk DesKrt 



367 



some bleeding and then washing the wound with an antiseptic. 

 The venom is not to be regarded as deadly to man, hence there is 

 no need for hysterical fear. 



In closing on Helodcrma we would suggest that there is no 

 good reason for remorselessly slaying every Gila Monster encoun- 

 tered. Rather should we class it with the road runner and the 

 peccary as unique features of our fauna, a part of the characteristic 

 landscape of Arizona, like the giant cactus among the flora of the 

 State. 



We have already said that all other lizards are non-poisonous, 

 yet the majority are more or less feared by many people. Of these, 



Fig. 1.— Banded Gecko {Ettblcpluiris ivricgatiis) . Harmless. 



if there be any one kind deserving mention here as perhaps more 

 often feared by those Avho meet with it than are the general run of 

 lizards, that one is the delicate, retiring, absolutely harmless, little 

 lizard known as the Banded Gecko (Fig. 1). it is feared b.ecause 

 it is mistaken for a "young Gila Monster," this being in part due, 

 possibly, to the light-yellow and dark bands, which, however, are 

 much more regular than on the Gila Monster ; and to the fact that 

 its small soft scales have somewhat the rounded, bead-like shape 

 of those of the larger animal. (This is assuming that the frightened 

 person looks closely enough to see the scales, which is doubtful.) 

 The Gecko does not hiss, but produces an audible squeak. It is 

 probably mainly nocturnal in habit. Ditmars gives the length as 

 three inches, but the specimen from which our figure was taken is 

 four and three-quarters inches long. 



