Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1877-02-28
SNAKES.
some Curious Misapprehensions About
the Hated Reptile-Snakes that are Use
Iul to Farmers and Others.
From the Country Gentleman.

the Hated ReptiIe-snakes that are Use
fnI to Farmers and Others.
From the Country Gentleman.
Snakes are peculiar withou
arms, legs or feet, and without wings O
inns; yet how gracefully and swift,
some Of them can move!
Most persons consider them all hor
r1ble and disgusting creatures. I fea
they. speak from prejudice, withou
much reason. The almost universe
hatred for the serpent tribe has, with
few exceptions, arisen from the teach
lngs Of the third chapter of Genesis
That the aOord serpent is used through
out the chapter to designate the instru
ment OF Satan used in the temptation
and fall, is plain enough, but no mar
has yet. or ever will be able to prove
that the serpent of Genesis is Identical
with the serpent or snake of the pres
ent day. Some writer's suppose it tC
have been 8 flying dragon, others a
winged serpent, and DR.. Adam Clark
held the opinion that the animal was
an orang-outang. The great masters
nave generally painted it 8 serpent
with the head of g. woman.
Ii we take the chapter in literal
sense, we must naturally suppose that
previous to the serpent's overthrow. it
mad the power of walking erect, for the
curse was: "Upon thy belly shalt thou
go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days
of thy life"
If the animal had at one time the
power of walking erect or flying, it
was not what we at the present day
would call serpent or snake. And
that serpents exactly similar in form
and habits to the existing species in
hablted even the preadamite earth, &C.
illogical 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,
tor some species of 7ropido,,ota1s and
other water snakes never seize their
prey out of the water. No one has
yet discovered q serpent whose chief
article OF diet is dust; but it must be
acknowledged that all serpents, when
they capture and swallow an animal
upon 8 dusty surface, must swallow
more or less dust, which necessarily
adheres to the object. Serpents al
ways swallow their prey whole, and
therefore do not carry into their stom-
achs near SO large q quantity of dust
as most carnivorous quadrupeds 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 objects of animated nature.
What serpent can be compared in
subtleness with the elephant, fox or
cat? Not one.
[ would entreat the farmer and
others not to scrush 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.
shall now endeavor to review some
of the species Of North American
snakes, which are pretty and harmless,
and disgusting and venOmous.
! There are a few farmers who have
not, at times, plowed up the milk snake,
| Ophibolus doHatus Linn, var. trianguhts
Bole. Is it not beautiful, with it's cream
colored coat, marked with chocolate
and black blotches? In some parts of
the country this is called the "house
snake, and is wrongly thought to he
venomous. Both names are inappro-
pirate and calculated to mislead, for it
neither dwells in houses nor drinks
milk. AS it is principally found in
open fields and meadows, I think clod
snake, which is the translation of the
generic name OphiboEus, would be q
more appropriate name. It is as harm
less as a duckling. l, on two occasions,
have carried it alive in my hand. The
common garter snake, Eatenso sirtahs,
Linn, is rather pretty in its black and
yellow striped skin; SO also is the ring
snake, Diadophis pumctatus, Linn, with
it's black body and little white collar,
The bead or harlequin snake, Flaps
fatluia<s, Linn, encircled by numerous
rings of scarlet, yellow and black, is
indeed beautiful, although it is armed
with small, erect poison fangs. The
scarlet snake, Csnophoro coccineo,
Blum, is similarly colored, but with
cut fangs, consequently harmless. For
merly, the Indian girls of Florida used
to Irvine the bead snake in their hair,
thus making a neat and pretty head
ornament. Some may think this hor-
rible fashion, but snake in the hair is
not worse than q bug in the ear-is it?
Yet we have often geen bugs hanging
to the ears of civilized ladies' How
ever, they are called Brazilian
Beetles" not bugs. Willis writes in his
poem entitled Glove in d Cottage"
"You lie down to your shady slumber,
And wake with bug in your ear"
suppose the poet intends this to be
one of the terrors of rural life. Now,
since Dom Pedro's visit has made
everything from Brazil SO fashionable,
there is more than one lady who would
be happy to
Awake from her shady slumber,
And put a green bug in her ear
"a bug like glossy cucumber)-
Without ever dreaming of fear!
But to our snakes. We can not omit
from the list of pretty serpents the
Osceola snake, Osceola elapsoidea, Helb.,
which is brilliant red above, crossed by
pairs of black rings, each enclosing q
white one. It is nOn-venOmOus. Our