AmASust,Pi89a7"m' }         Heloderma  Suspectum,  Cope.  393 
There  is  another  account  of  a  person  bitten  by  a  heloderma,  which 
is  perhaps  not  so  well  known  by  our  American  readers.  Mr.  J. 
Stein,  of  Mexico,  who  once  sent  two  heloderms  to  Fischer  for 
anatomical  and  histological  examination  of  their  poison  apparatus,10 
was  on  one  occasion  deeply  bitten  in  a  finger  by  one  of  them.  The 
finger  and  the  zvhole  arm  swelled  tip  considerably,  causing  the  most 
violent  pain,  and  his  general  condition  was  greatly  disturbed.  For  a 
long  time  afterwards  the  skin  of  the  arm  had  a  yellow,  parchment- 
like appearance.  Short  as  it  is,  this  description  of  the  specific  local 
effect  of  a  poison  could  scarcely  be  clearer.  In  accounts  of  death  as 
a  consequence  of  heloderma  bites,  it  may,  perhaps,  not  be  worth 
while  to  place  too  great  confidence. 
Even  the  experience  hitherto  gained  seems  decidedly  to  show 
that  the  heloderms  are  specifically  venomous,  although  their  bites 
are  less  dangerous  than  those  of  poisonous  serpents,  and  generally 
not  fatal  to  men. 
The  heloderma  on  whose  venom  I  have  made  the  most  of  my 
experiments  (from  October,  1895,  till  February,  1896)  was  a  female 
H.  suspectum  (Cope),  40  centimeters  long,  in  good  health.  It  could 
not  be  induced  to  bite  animals,  was  sluggish  and  good-natured.  The 
venom  was  gained  in  the  following  manner :  With  a  pair  of  long, 
crooked  tongs,  I  took  a  clean,  dry  sponge,  about  as  large  as  a  wal- 
nut, and  forced  the  animal  to  bite  it.  When  I  had  sufficiently 
irritated  the  reluctant  animal,  it  would  seize  the  sponge,  and  I  then 
generally  succeeded  in  pressing  it  into  the  animal's  mouth.  The 
venom  in  the  sponge  was  then  drawn  out  by  means  of  a  little  quan- 
tity of  0  6  per  cent,  solution  of  common  culinary  salt.  The  fluid 
thus  obtained  was  turbid,  slimy,  slightly  alkaline,  having  an  aro- 
matic smell  not  at  all  unpleasant.  Some  simple  preliminary  tests 
showed  that  the  fluid  contained  protein  substances ;  these  could 
almost  completely  be  precipitated  by  alcohol  in  excess,  the  fluid 
having  first  been  rendered  slightly  sour  by  the  addition  of  acetic 
acid.  If,  after  thus  having  acidified  it,  the  fluid  was  instead  boiled 
for  a  short  time,  a  part  of  the  albumen  coagulated,  while  the  rest 
remained  in  solution. 
10J.  G.  Fischer:  "Auatomische Notizen  Ueber  Heloderma  horriduvi  (Wiegm)." 
Verhandl.  d.  Verens  f.  naturwissensch.  Unterhaltuug  zu  Hamburg,  1883, 
pp.  2-16. 
