SOUTHERN ARIZONA 235 



Arizona. My personal experience absolutely be- 

 lies them all. For instance, I had in Tucson 

 a pet Gila monster, which lived in our room at 

 large for a period of three months. It had exca- 

 vated in one corner of the adobe wall, behind an 

 oUa, a little hole to which it retired; but daily it 

 appeared, crawling about the floor, and I have fre- 

 quently held it in my hands, stroking it and ex- 

 amining it closely for long periods. It was fed 

 occasionally upon an egg, which for this purpose 

 was broken into a saucer and presented to the 

 animal, which would lap it much as a dog or a cat 

 does milk. Then "monster" would retire to sleep 

 in the " burrow," and might not appear again for 

 twenty-four or forty-eight hours. 



One day when Mary was sweeping the room the 

 Gila monster lay in the middle of the floor bask- 

 ing in a patch of sunshine in his usual indolent 

 and sluggish fashion, and Mary, being in a hurry, 

 grabbed him up quickly to place him to one side 

 out of the way, whereupon he seized her by the 

 thumb, which he grasped and bit until the blood 

 ran. In her efforts to rid herself of him, for 

 he was holding on tight, she tore away a con- 

 siderable portion of skin. Of this happening we 

 were not aware at the time, and it was only 

 after several hours that, noticing Mary with her 

 thumb done up in a bandage, I asked how she had 

 cut her finger. She answered in the most non- 



