The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1877-04-12
About Snakes.

/
Snakes are peculiar animals-withou
arms, legs or feet, and without wings o
fms yet how gracefully and swift
some Of them can move. Most person
consider them all horrible and disgust
ing creatures. fear they speak iron
prejudice, without much reason. Th
almost universal hatred for the serpen
tribe has, with few exceptions, arisel
from the teachings of the third chapte
of Genesis. That the word Serpen
is used throughout the chapter to desig
nate the instrument Satan used in tk,
temptation and fall, is plain enough, bu
no man has vet, or ever will be, able Il
prove that the serpent OF Genesis il
identified with the serpent or snake o
the present day. Some writer's suppose
it to have been a flying dragon, others
winged SERPENT, and DIR. Adam Clarl
held the opinion that the animal was ar
Ourang-outang. The great masters gen
orally painted 1t serpent with the head
of woman. If we take the chapter in
a literal sense, we must naturally sup.
pose that previous to the serpent's over.
throw, it had the power of walking
erect, for the curse was: "Upon thy
belly shalt thou 60, and dust shalt thou
eat all the days Of thy life" If the ami.
NAL had at one time the power of walk.
ing erect or flying, it was not what we al
the present day would call serpent OF
snake. And that serpents exactly SINH
lar in form and habits to the existing
species inhabited even the preadamite
earth, geological researches have clearly
proved. We know that the serpent
goes upon its belly, but we also know
that many snakes never swallow any dust
at all, for species of the TropiGOnOtus and
other water-snakes never seize their prey
out of the water. No one has yet dis
covered serpent yet whose chief article
of diet is dust, but it must be acknowl.
edged that all serpents, when they cap.
ture and swallow an animal upon a
dusty surface must swallow more or less
dust, which necessarily adheres to TIE
object. Serpents always swallow their
prey whole, and therefore do not carry
into their st0machs near 80 large guam
tity Of dust as most carnivorus quadru-
peds which tear their prey to pieces, and
drag it about while eating.
We are also told that the serpent
"was more subtle than any beast Of the
field" yet in the serpent family we find
some of the dullest and most stupid OBJ
jects of animated nature. What serpent
can be compared in subtleness with the
elephant, cat or fox? Notone. / would
entreat the farmer and others not to
"crush the head" of every serpent one
meets. Many species are beneficial in
the number of field and meadow mice
they destroy, and some of the smaller
species feed almost entirely upon insects.
There are few farmers who have not at
all times plowed up the milk snake.
Ophibolus Doliatus. Isit not beautiful,
with its cream colored coat, marked
with chocolate and black blotches3 In
some parts of the country this is called
the house snake, and is wrongly thought
to be venomOus. Both Eames are inap-
propriate and calculated to mislead, for
it neither dwells in houses or drinks
milk. AS it is principally found in
open fields and meadows l think clod
snake, which is the translation of the
generic name Ophibolus, would be a
more appropriate name. 1t is as harm
less as duckling. !, on two occasions,
have carried it alive in my hand. The
common garter snake, Eutenia SiItalis,
is rather pretty in its black and yellow
striped skin. so also is the ring snake,
Diadophis Punctatus, with its black
body and little white collar. The bead
or harlequin snake, Flaps Fulvius, en-
circled by numerous rings of scarlet,
yellow and black, is indeed beautiful,
although it is armed with small, erect
poison fangs. The scarlet snake, CemOp-
hora Coccinea, is similarly cOlored, but
is without fangs, consequently harmless.
Formerly, the Indian girls of Florida
used to twine the bead snake in their
hair, thus making neat and pretty
head ornament. Some may think this a
horrible fashion, but a snake in the hair
is not worse than bug in the ear-is it
Yet we have often seen bugs hanging to
the ears of civilized ladies. However,
they are called Brazilian beetles, not
bugs. Willis writes in his poem entitled
Love in Cottage:
You )ie down to your shady slumber,
And wake with bag In your ear.
Isuppose the poet intends this to be
one OF the terrors of rural Ii e. Now,
since Dom Pedro's visit has made every.
thing from Brazil so fashionable, there
is more than one lady who would be
happy to
Awake from her shady slumber,
And put green bug In her ear
"a bug like glossy cucumber)-
And without ever dreaming OF fear
We cannot omit from the list of pref
ty serpents the Osceola snake, which Is
brilliant red above, crossed by pairs OF
black rings, each inclosing white one.
1t is non venomous. Our well-known
green snake, Cyclophis Vernalis, clad in
its brilliant green coat, has rather pre-.
possessing appearance. In the far South
west and Mexico are found several beau
tiful marked serpents, mostly small and
non venomous, but as they are only
known to me through descriptions and
IL a.