64 ON THE "GILA monster." 
fore him. He took none of them voluntnrily, but would 
swallow occasional offerinsfs if they were put into his 
mouth. Some things he would not accept on any terms, 
thev' were put out of the mouth as fast as put in ; others 
that he might be induced to swallow were held in his jaws 
for a long time. At the end of a year the only evidence 
of loss of flesh was to be noticed near the end of the tail, 
where it had grown a little more thin and pointed. The 
body had retained its plumpness, being rather more than 
three and a half inches wide to twelve inches long, without 
the tail. 
His only sound was a long-drawn aspirate hah, like a 
sigh, produced by expelling the l)reath from the lungs. 
If teased till out of patience, this was given out with the 
mouth partly open, when it had all the force of a warn- 
ing ; whether it was intended for that purpose or was 
merely preparation f(n' a strnggle, l)y lessening the bulk, 
are still to he considered. It reali}^ answered both pur- 
poses. 
In regard to the ntiture of the venom and fatality of the 
bite there is little to offer that is new. The results of the 
experiments suggest danger for small animals but little or 
none for larger ones. Large angle worms and insects 
seemed to die nmch more quickl}^ when bitten than when 
cut to pieces with the scissors. 
Acquaintance with this specimen has satisfied me, how- 
ever, that the reports of the deadly nature of the species 
are mainly exaggerations, with little if any foundation in 
fact. Popular opinion and for that matter its manner of 
origin are illustrated l)y the following, credited to Col. A. 
G. Tassin, U. S. Army, in the Overland Monthly : "The 
"Gila monster is an ugly reptile peculiar to Arizona, and 
"as its name im[)lies, most connnon along the Gila river. 
"It is a sort of a cross between a lizard and an allii^atcu", 
