Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-06-11
The Government Collection Of Snakes.

! take IN wonderful snake stOries,n said
one of the attaches of the Smithsonian
| Institution to the Times correspondent a
few days since; "and yet many of the
most remarkable of the stories are
| true" This conversation took place as
| was being introduced to the snake
| family that spend their lives so lazily in
the immense snake cage in the Smith
sonian. In this glass case are snakes of
nearly all kinds and dispositions. Some
are exceedingly pleasant looking, while
others will make an ordinary person
! shudder to look at them. These snakes
are long and short, thick and thin, and
| OF all colors, while some are apparently
changing their colors all of the time
One Of them has bulldog looking
head, and is nearly as thick as bologna
sausage, and not over q couple of feet
in length; while another, q whip snake,
is not any thicker than whip-cord, and
| is nearly six feetin length. These snakes
are an interesting study to many; but
the writer would rather look at some
thing else. "I am satisfied" said the
Smithsonian snakeologist, "that more
| people look at these snakes than any
thing else in the museum. They appear
TO have a special fascination for ladies.
| can't understand the reason, but it is a
fact Ladies will hang around the snake
case longer and appear to be more in
terested than in the contents of any other
case. A Bible man said to me the other
day, in explanation of this, that proba-
| bly, Mother Ewes association with
snakes, in allowing herself TO be
charmed into eating the forbidden fruit,
had something to do with it. "Of
! course l do not know whether this is so
or not, but you can see for yourself that
| the snake case is an attraction As
this talk was going on, a group of ladies
were looking at the snakes as they
/ crawled about and tangled themselves
in an apparently inextricable knot. The
snake case is covered with glass, so they
can not get out of it. "Even if they
did get out, I" said the Smithsonian at
tache, in an assuring manner, "they
would do no harm, as we do not keep
any poisonous reptiles in the cage. The
janitors of the building handle them in
cleaning out the cage. At first they
were scared, but after assuring them
selves that the snakes were not poison
GUS they took more kindly to it. As the
snakes are such an attraction we are
forced to cater to that taste, and conse-
quently we are required to keep up our
stock. Snakes are peculiar. They have
a way of swallowing each other now and
then that is surprising. Four days ago,
one of them swallowed q snake that was
larger than itself. After being dead in
him for four days, it began to throw off
gases in consequence of putrefaction,
and the swallOwer was forced to throw
him up, otherwise it would have killed
him. Many of the snakes, that are not
over four feet in length or over two inches
around, can and do swallow small
chickens or frogs alive. The larger
ones swallow rabbits and rats. Nearly
all that they eat is taken alive. After
indulging in a lunch of this kind, they
lay about in half-dead-looking way
for several months. Then as the occa-
sion arises, they take in another meal,
which lasts them as much longer. Now
and then some of the ianitors when they
come in contact with a very gullible
visitor to the Museum tell them the most
wonderful stories, and they are swal-
lowed easier than the snake swallows its
meals. "Don't you know" said the
Smithsonian boss snake charmer, grow
ing enthusiastic, "that some ladies come
here regularly to look at these snakes
and miss one of them as soon as it is
gone. We have a regular supply, SO
that as soon as one dies or is eaten up,
we put another in its place, from the
breeding-boxes that are kept in the cell
lar. Only yesterday we sent one of our
men TO Florida to catch some rattlers
and to hunt up some new varieties.
Yes, sometimes they catch them with
their hands, but oftener with this kind
Of an instrument" pointing to long
pole on the end of which was n double.
hooked prong, operated from the hand
end, similar in looks to the long pole
and cutting hooks used in trimming
trees.
"The snake-gatherer goes about the
lagoons or bayous in Florida in a skiff,
and as he sees his game swimming about
he just grabs them and puts them in
his bag. Its very simple thing to do.
Oh, yes, there are plenty of snakes that
are not found in the water. They are
found in the woods, in clumps of trees,
in hollows, or in decayed logs. They
are caught in much the same way. Now,
every man will not make snake col
lector any more than every man will
make an astronomer. But there are
plenty of men, and women, too, whose
special delight is in catching snakes.
Here is a young fellow that goes by the
name Of " Snakey,n and who is or was
connected with Ford's Opera-house in
this city as property man. He got his
name for his success in catching snakes
and he has nearly always one or two in
his pocket. There is also another young
man, his name is Russell, about this
city. He, too, always-or nearly al
ways-has a snake in his pocket"
awe expect, " said the speaker, "to
have some beauties, soon, from Florida
some real fine specimens, and some of
them the largest that have ever been
seen. Our collection, being confined to
non-poisonous varieties, is necessarily
limited but it is more satisfactory, be-
cause all can approach it without any
feeling Of danger or fright, except that
which comes over many people by the
bare mention or sight Of snakes. Field
snakes are, as rule, uglier than snakes
take 10 the water. The ordinary
water snake feeds on frogs, snaiIs, toads
or worms. The rattlesnakes are found
up among the broken rocks on the hill
tops. 1t is easy enough to catch them
If you have the nerve. In California
some snake-takers make a living by
furnishing them to the Chinese, who
make medicine out of them.n
"Men, then, as rule, who come
here, do not take kindly to snakesP" l
asked.
"No, sir" replied the snake advo-
cate, not one man in ten who comes in
the building ever, devofas Hva n,inntea