Our correspondent is located in the mountains, some nine miles distant
from the Gila River. He states that the reptile he sends was found in
one of the shops pertaining to the mine, which had been left
unoccupied for a week or so.
Apropos to the foregoing, we have received the following letter from
another correspondent in Arizona:
_To the Editor of the Scientific American:_
My attention has been called to an article in your issue of Oct.
7, 1882, relating to the _Heloderma horridum_, or commonly known
as the Gila Monster.
During a residence of ten years in Arizona I have had many
opportunities of learning the habits of these reptiles, and I am
satisfied their bite will produce serious effects, if not death,
of the human race. I know of one instance where a gentleman of my
acquaintance by the name of Bostick, at the Tiga Top mining camp,
in Arizona, was bitten on the fingers, and suffered all the
symptoms of poison from snake bite. He was confined to his bed for
six weeks and subsequently died. I am of the opinion his death was
in part caused by the effects of the poison of the Gila Monster.
The Hualzar Indians are very much afraid of them, and one I showed
the picture to of the Monster in your paper remarked, "Chinamuck,"
which in Hualzar language means "very bad." He said if an Indian
is bitten, he sometimes dies.
I have seen them nearly two feet in length. Never, to my
knowledge, are they kept as pets in our portion of Arizona.
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