. Atoll research bulletin. Coral reefs and islands; Marine biology; Marine sciences. 56. Figure 1. Camp on the highway near the Rio Corona. June 12, 1961. The work in Mexico was not without hazard, however. During the following summer when Fred, Sid Tamm, and I returned for another session of collecting mountain hybrids, I mistakenly did not check my sneakers for visitors and an inch-long black scorpion jumped out and stung me in the chest. Not only was it extremely painful, but I found, to my horror, that it had also completely stopped my breathing reflex. I realized that I was in considerabl
. Atoll research bulletin. Coral reefs and islands; Marine biology; Marine sciences. 56. Figure 1. Camp on the highway near the Rio Corona. June 12, 1961. The work in Mexico was not without hazard, however. During the following summer when Fred, Sid Tamm, and I returned for another session of collecting mountain hybrids, I mistakenly did not check my sneakers for visitors and an inch-long black scorpion jumped out and stung me in the chest. Not only was it extremely painful, but I found, to my horror, that it had also completely stopped my breathing reflex. I realized that I was in considerable trouble and went for help from my colleagues, humping along on my back like a giant earthworm to where they were preparing breakfast outside the tent. To my panic and incredible disgust, neither of my colleagues could tell what was happening and kept asking "What is wrong, Roger?" when it was pretty obvious to me that I was not breathing and couldn't tell them anything. My thoughts, considering I was afraid I might die, were not very charitable, but as everything was fading to black the breathing reflex kicked back in, much to my relief. I had a hard time even speaking to the others for the rest of the day, but I never again made the mistake of not inspecting my footgear with some care. Later during the trip another incident led me to reflect on the hazards of field work. As we were preparing bird skins in our tent near a road on the Isthmus of Tehauntepec, we heard a sudden popping sound which lead me to turn to Fred and say "firecrackers?" just as Fred grabbed his leg with an exclamation. As it turned out, someone had emptied a .22-caliber rifle into our tent and had gotten Fred. Later I examined where I had been sitting and saw a hole about 6" above where my head had been. While Sid drove Fred to town I waited more than a little nervously for their return, shotgun in hand, but fortunately encountered no one. That humid night, with hundreds of enorm
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