Hitherto, as noted in a previous article, American naturalists have regarded the heloderm as quite harmless--an opinion well sustained by the judgment of many persons in Arizona and other parts of the West by whom the reptile has been kept as an interesting though ugly pet. While the Indians and native Mexicans believe the creature to be venomous, we have never heard an instance in which the bite of it has proved fatal.
A correspondent of the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, "C.E.J.," writing from Salt Lake City, Utah, under date of September 8, says, after referring to the article on the heloderm in our issue of August 26:
"Having resided in the southern part of this Territory for seventeen years, where the mercury often reaches 110° or more in the shade, and handled a number of these 'monsters,' I can say that I never yet knew anybody or anything to have perished from their bite. We have often had two or three of them tied in the door-yard by a hind leg, and the children have freely played around them--picking them up by the nape of the neck and watching them snap off a small bit from the end of a stick when poked at them. We have fed them raw egg and milk; the latter they take with great relish. At one time a small canine came too near the mouth of our alligator (_mountain alligator_, we call them), when it instantly caught the pup by the under jaw and held on as only it could (they have a powerful jaw), nor would it release its hold until choked near to death, which was done by taking it behind the bony framework of the head, between the thumb and finger, and pressing hard. The pup did considerable howling for half an hour, by which time the jaw was much swollen, remaining so for two or three days, after which it was all right again. By this I could only conclude that the animal was but slightly poisonous. I never knew of a human being having been bitten by one. My sister kept one about the house for several weeks, and fed it from her hands and with a spoon. The specimens have generally been sent (through the Deseret Museum) to colleges and museums in the East.
"The Indians have a great fear that these animals produce at will good or bad weather, and will not molest them. Many times they have come to see them, and told us that we should let them go or they would talk to the storm spirit and send wind and water and fire upon us. An old Indian I once talked with told me of another who was bitten on the hand, and said it swelled up the arm badly, but he recovered. From some reason we never find specimens less than 12 or 14 inches long, I never saw a young one. There is a nice stuffed specimen, 18 inches long, in our museum here."