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. They live on mice and other small animals, and when aggravated can jump several times their length.
W.E. DAY, M.D.
Huckberry, Mahone Co., Ar. T., April, 1883.
THE KANGAROO.
To the Editor of the Scientific American:
In page 69 of your issue of 3d of February, 1883, I notice among the "Challenger Notes" of Professor Mosely the statement that "Among stockmen, and even some well educated people in Australia, there is a conviction that the young kangaroo grows out as a sort of bud on the teat of the mother within the pouch." Some eighteen months ago I noticed a paragraph wherein some learned professor was reported to have set at rest the contested point as to whether the kangaroo come into being in the same manner as the calves of the cow and other mammals, or whether the young grows, as alleged, upon the teat of its dam within the pouch. The learned professor in question asserted that it did not so grow upon the teat; but, with all due respect to the professor's claim to credibility on other matters, I must in this instance take the liberty of stating that he is in error. The young kangaroo actually oozes out, if I may use such an expression, from the teat. Strange as the statement may seem, it is a fact that the first indication of life on the part of the kangaroo offspring is a very slight eruption, in size not larger than an ordinary pin head. This growth gradually resolves itself into the form of the marsupial, and is not detached until close upon the expiring of of the fourth month. It is carried by the mother during that period, and thenceforth exists partially at least on herbage. Indeed, from the fourth till the seventh month it is almost constantly in the pouch, only coming out occasionally toward the close of evening to crop the grass. I had at one time in my possession a specimen of the kangaroo germ which I cut from off the teat, complete in form, whose entire weight was less than an ounce; and, at the same time, I had a kangaroo in my possession which measured seven feet six inches from the top of the ears to the extremity of the tail.