The Adventure of the Speckled Band the snake wrong, a theory that the swamp adder was an artificial hybrid between the Mexican Gila monster ("Heloderma suspectum") and "Naja naja". His speculation suggests that Doyle might have hidden a double-meaning in Holmes' words. What Holmes said, reported by Watson, was "It is a swamp adder, the deadliest snake in India"; but Klauber suggested what Holmes really said was "It is a "samp-aderm", the deadliest skink in India." "Samp-aderm" can be translated "snake-Gila-monster": "Samp" is Hindi for snake, and the suffix "aderm" is derived from "heloderm", the common or vernacular name of the Gila monster generally used by
The Monster (short story) The Monster (short story) "The Monster" is a science fiction short story by Canadian-American writer A. E. van Vogt, originally published in "Astounding" in August 1948. It was one of van Vogt's favorite stories. It was included in several anthologies, including 1952's "", sometimes under the title "Resurrection". It involves aliens who come across a long-dead Earth and explore it in an attempt to find out what killed the obviously intelligent life forms. Their exploration leads to their mortal danger when they discover a deadly monster. Enash, an alien of the Ganae race, lands in a city that is crumbling