218 Kansas Academy of Science. 



IS THE GILA MONSTER A POISONOUS REPTILE ? 



By F. H. Snow, University of Kansas, Lawrence. 



IN the desert regions of southern Arizona, southern California, 

 and Sonora, Mexico, a common reptile is the so-called Gila mon- 

 ster, the Reloderma suspectum of Cope. Three summers spent in 

 the work of the University of Kansas collecting expeditions to 

 southern Arizona have brought the writer of this paper into some- 

 what familiar relations with this creature, in regard to whose real 

 character there has been so great a diversity of opinion among 

 non-residents of its natural habitat. In 1886 I had a healthy 

 specimen of the monster sent to me from Arizona by a former 

 student. This specimen I kept in confinement at the University 

 for three years, during which time it subsisted upon a diet of raw 

 eggs. In order to determine whether it was venomous or not I al- 

 lowed it to bite young kittens, which exhibited no symptoms of 

 having been poisoned, the only effect of the bite being a slight 

 swelling due to the mechanical pressure exerted by the prolonged 

 closing of the powerful jaws of the reptile upon the part attacked. 



During the past summer, on July 26, 1906, I had the fortune to 

 be bitten on the ball of the right thumb by a Gila monster, one 

 of a pair which had been captured some two weeks previously 

 and kept in a large box awaiting our departure from camp upon 

 our homeward journey. In the same box were also placed two 

 specimens of a very large frog. Late one afternoon it was observed 

 that one of the frogs had been bitten by one of the Gila monsters. 

 The next morning the bitten frog was dead and its body had 

 shrunken to half its former dimensions. This was the first indica- 

 tion I had observed suggesting that the Reloderma might be 

 venomous. 



When we broke camp the two Gila monsters were placed in a 

 galvanized-iron water-bucket, over the top of which a towel was tied 

 to prevent the escape of the reptiles. I sat upon the seat with the 

 driver with this bucket in front of me between my feet. The mo- 

 tion of the wagon apparently disturbing the serenity of the reptiles, 

 they soon began to attempt an escape by pushing their heads 

 against the towel. Being fearful that they would accomplish their 

 purpose, whenever the prominence caused by the upward pres- 

 sure indicated the location of the head of one of the monsters, I 

 would force it down by a rap with the handle of the driver's whip. 



