216 MARVELS OF THE ANIMAL WORLD 



in order to accelerate the action of a patient's heart, 

 and also as a remedial agent for the treatment of 

 cholera. 



Passing to the lizards, we find that of the numerous 

 different kinds which populate the earth only one 

 genus, represented by two species, is capable of 

 inflicting a poisonous bite. Found in Mexico and 

 Arizona, and known as gila monsters or heloderms, 

 they are remarkable for their conspicuous salmon 

 and black, or yellow and black colouring, and for 

 the granular nature of their skin, which looks as 

 if it were composed of numerous small beads ar- 

 ranged in juxtaposition to one another. The 

 creatures attain to a length of two feet, and possess 

 very thick tails which serve as a storehouse for the 

 accumulation of fat upon which they can subsist 

 when food is scarce by absorbing it into their sys- 

 tems. As many as fifty poison fangs may be present 

 in the mouth of one of these reptiles, each of which 

 is furnished with a grooved channel for the passage 

 of the venom. Several instances have been recorded 

 of human beings being bitten by these creatures 

 with fatal results, but as a rule they are of a very 

 placid disposition, and those which the writer has 

 known in a captive state did not resent being 

 handled. 



Although in no way comparable to the poison of 

 the foregoing creatures, yet aU batrachians secrete 

 a venomous fluid which they emit from their person 

 as a means of self-protection. In the case of the 

 toads, the poison is contained in glands which are 

 usually very numerous and take the form of wart- 



