TEXAS NATURE OBSERVATIONS AND REMINISCENCES. 159 



less a person than Dr. Wm. B. 

 Philips, who has held the chair of 

 geology at the State University 

 at Austin, and who has been con- 

 nected with Government and 

 State surveying expeditions 

 throughout the entire West and 

 Southwest for a good niany years, 

 contradicts all of these wild ru- 

 mors. He told me that while 

 camped in various parts of Ari- 

 zona he found them always in 

 and about camp and that they 

 were always harmless absolutely; 

 that they even had them for pets. 

 If I remember right, on several 

 occasions they kept one or two 

 tied right in camp for observation, 

 that the very worst part about 

 them was the foul odor emitted 

 from their throats when they his- 

 sed, a habit which they seemed 

 to have. Dr. Philips ventured the 

 opinion, upon being asked, that 

 about the worst that could result 

 from a bite would be ptomaine 

 poisoning. ' ' 



Now, concerning above data, I 

 again must say, I have no person- 

 al experience — i. e. having seen a 

 person bitten or having treated a 

 case of a Gila bite. However, I 

 do know from personal experience 

 that these animals — similar to the 

 rattlesnake, impart a very dis- 

 quieting and fearful impression, 

 and I must yet see the reptile 

 dealer who does not handle these 

 obnoxious beasts exceedingly cau- 

 tious and with all precautionary 

 measures, especially with a solid 

 iron rod! This impression was al- 

 so made upon me when I endeav- 

 ored years ago and succeeded to 

 photoreproduce a fine specimen 

 of Gila Monster (a view of which 

 appears herein) at Mr. Learn 's 

 reptile collection. Mr. Robin- 

 son, then a partner of Mr. Learn, 

 being present. We had the Gila, 

 a very lively specimen (imported 

 only a few days before from the 

 Arizona Mountains), removed 

 from its cage to the rear yard of 

 Mr. Learn 's herpetorium, after 



previously having focused the 

 snot where the reptile was to be 

 deposited. I quickly took its pic- 

 ture in the right moment. Some 

 years before that I had taken the 

 picture of two other live Gilas at 

 David Menck 's Zoologicum at the 

 San Pedro Springs Park. Mr. 

 Menck had fed the Gilas on milk 

 in a saucer. When drinking the 

 milk, these queer animals would 

 lift their long neck upward, sim- 

 ilar to a chicken, and in this po- 

 sition the Gila can best be photo- 

 renroduced. 



As to its deadly vituperacy, the 

 Gila, like so many other dangeroas 

 animals, may become quite tame 

 and trusted — ^as indicated in the 

 above contribution; sex, breeding 

 time, violence, or other disturbing 

 influences, may play a role there- 

 by; but the real modus operandi 

 of the Gila virus seems yet ob- 

 scure. The Gila has two power- 

 ful jaws which it snaps together 

 like a turtle does when annoyed 

 and in grabbing an object, and it 

 implants its teeth deeply, when 

 undoubtedly the saliva inoculates 

 the lacerated tissues, which soon 

 become gangrenous, with senti- 

 caemia setting in. This is also 

 more or less the case in lacerated 

 bites of some other animals (some 

 rodents, the canine and feline 

 species), the inoculated particles 

 of saliva undoubtedly containing 

 a peculiar and very virulent pto- 

 maine virus, secreted by the sal- 

 ivary glands and inoculated into 

 the lacerated tissues during the 

 biting act. 



I beg to append herein a pub- 

 lished and graphically depicted 

 case of the Gila bite which has ap- 

 peared in a medical journal (Au- 

 thor not recollected) and which I 

 also had published years ago in 

 then the "Texas Field and 

 Sportsman" to wit: 



Florence, Ariz., June 22, 1893. 



Richard M. Farthingay, a 

 tourist from Minneapolis, re- 

 turned here last evening with the 



