Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1881-10-14
Habits of Snakes.

Habits of Snakes.
Correction of Many Popular m,sapprehen-
siOns
Arthur Erwin Brown, of the Geological
Garden, Philadelphia, writes the following
interesting letter to Forest and Stream:
In a recent number Of Forest and Stream
you ask for further information on the
habits of the rattlesnake, as stated in an
interesting letter on that subject from a
writer in North Carolina. While con.
siderable observation has evidently been
made by your correspondent. some of his
conclusions arc not altogether sound, and
you will permit me to state few facts,
which are reasonably we'll ascertained to
be such.
1. No serpent covers its food with slime
before swallowing it. There is no organ
provided for such a purpose, and it would
be about as easy to paint in water colors
with a sharpened slate pencil rs to smear
a "sIimy fluid" over the hair or feather
of an animal with the slender pointed
tongue of a snake. Deglutition usually
begins at once without any preliminaries
when the Ircy is secured, and the secre-
tion Of the salivary gland serves merely to
ldCiiIUdlC pdoSdSO uO"u lAC
and into the stomach.
2. AS to the supposed powers of fascina
ton in snakes. In general, animals placed
in cage to serve as food are perfectly in
different to the presence Of the snake until
the latter becomes aggressive when they
naturally show much fear, but under no
circumstance have ever been able to find
any trace Of y power to charm on the part
Of f1,n III "a <<,c ct,;1
out the iateationG element implied by the
common belief, and to attribute the be-
haviOr Of the victim to trance or nervo;s
exhaustion. 1t is well ascertained that this
curious mental state often known as
".Braidism or Hypnotism'' can be
induced by fear, and also by having the
in fixed manner, for even 4 short space
Of time. Without going into a long dis
cussion, it will be apparent to al! who are
at all familiar with the experiments that
have been made on this subject, that the
slow approach, and the fixed, glittering
eye of the snake might be frequent cause
of this condition in the prey which it was
about to seize, under which circumstances
SO long as no external cause, as noise or
:: sudden movement, occurred to give 4
shock to the nervous system to the animal
affected, there would appear to be 4 com
pleto paralysis Of the motor nerves and an
incapacity to effect any voluntary motion
to escape from the spot. 1t is almost need
less to say that these conditions not infre.
quentIy exist with human beings i'm the
face of sudden danger, which may often be
of such nature that the most firm believer
in the supernatural could hardly suppose
it to be gifted with voluntary power of
fascination.
3. When 4 snake lies quiet for a few
hours after feeding, it can hardly be pos
sible that it docs SO to allow digestion to
take place, as this progress in most if not
in all snakes requires several weeks instead
of from two to nine hours.
The m Scular force cyeit.d by the snake
in drawing food down its throat is consd-
cradle and long continued. Furthermore
the arrangement OF the two bones cOmpos-
ing the lower jaw and some Of those en-
tering into the base of the skull is such
that they are movable on each other,
and can be GiSlOcated ut will, much en-
largins the throat to give passage TO the
food. After this is swallowed they are
drawn back into position by contraction
of the elastic ligaments which hold them
together. When the operation is COM
pletcd greater or less time must be- al
lowed for these nverstrained muscles and
igamcnts to recover their tone and con
tract. Daring this time it is reasonable
to suppose that the snake would-just as
in ordinary eases of fatiguc-bc disposed
to bo still, and to some extent probably
be capable Gf cxertion,
4. The usual number OF young pro
duce'! at birth by the rattleSnake is very
probably from six to twelve, as stated,
but it has been known to he as high as
fifteen on one occasion in the PHILADELPHIA
geological Garden.
.. The generalization that all harmless
snakes lay eggs and ali poisonous ones do
not is unsound. The young Of the rattle
snake, as stated by your correspondent,
and probably all of the vcnemous serpents,
are produced alive, but SO also arc the
young Of many of our harmless species, as
in the familiar cases Of the garter snakes
and common water snakes. The bringing
into the world of young on oviparOus or
viviparuus principles really does not seem
to be matter of vital Importance in the
economy Of tn, animal, as it can frequent-
ly he influenced to scme extent by artificial
conditions.
6. The reason given for the Iuetnde of
snakes ut night in this latitude is probably
correct, viz, the chill OF the night air and
the dew on the ground but in this quiet
ude rcpti!es--if indeed it be general among
them-tlifler from most animals instead Of
agre ling with them. The great propor-
tiOn of wild animals seem to bc nocturnal
in habit, notably all those, both birds and
animals, of carnivorous the therefore
predacious nature
z. The development of the ratt!es differs
somewhat from the manner stated. The
snake is born with small knob at the
end of the tail, which becomes the button
of the forthcoming rattle At the end of
about six wecks--aapendins much upon
the time When the first food is takcn-the
young snake sheds it's skin and one rattle
is then added, and subsequently, as a gen.
eral rule, through life, one new rattle is
formed whenever the skin is shed, but this
is exceedingly irregular the snake some
times sheds three or four times III the
rattles arc produced ut once. and occa-
sionally none at all also, rattlcs arc fire.
quently lost by accident from the end of
the tail, a. G.. end Of the rattle-which are
never reproduced, as the new growth is at
the base. 1t is thus readily seen, that
While under normal conditions there is
general relation between the number of
rattles and tine age of the snake, it is
much too uncertain to afford any correct
indication Of the latter.
What . nest of strange notions is that
part of the human brain which may be
supposed to he devoted to snakes. All
men are pionc to Misrepresentation and
4.