Sir John Lubbock's specimen, shown in the engraving herewith, for which we are indebted to the London _Field_, is about 19 inches in length. Its general color is a creamy buff, with dark brown markings. The forepart of the head and muzzle is entirely dark, the upper eyelid being indicated by a light stripe. The entire body is covered with circular warts. It is fed upon eggs, which it eats greedily.
It would be interesting to know whether the northern specimens, if venomous at all, are as fully equipped with poison bags and fangs as Dr. Gunther finds the Mexican specimen to be. Some of our Western or Mexican readers may be able to make comparative tests. Meantime it would be prudent to limit the use of the "monster" as a children's pet.
The foregoing appeared in the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN of Oct. 7, 1882.
We are now indebted to a correspondent, Mr. Wm. Y. Beach, of the Grand View Mine, Grant County, Southern Arizona, for a fine specimen of this singular reptile, just received alive. The example sent to us is about twenty inches long, and answers very well to the description of the monster and the engraving above given.
In the course of an hour after opening the box in which the reptile had been confined during its eight days' journey by rail, it became very much at home, stretching and crawling about our office floor with much apparent satisfaction.
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.