The Arizona sentinel., 1885-10-17
SNAKES.


Many Erroneous Ideas Entertained Con-
cerning Them-The Poisonous and Dan
gerous Comparatively Few in Number
and Variety.
More than once, in the history of
wars, two valiant armies have marched
together, looked each other in the face,
and then ran away, each scared out of
its wits by the mere sight of the other.
In the history of men and snakes the
same thing has frequently happened.
The man runs in one direction and the
snake in the other and it is hard to tell
which is the more frightened.
We are apt to look upon snakes as
terrible monsters, but they seem to look
upon men and boys as equally terrible,
and the most poisonous serpent will fly
if it has fair chance, and only fights
when it finds itself cornered.
There are many wrong ideas enter
tanned about these gliding reptiles, and
it may not be amiss to stick pin in
some of these false notions and let out
what truth is in them. The general
idea seems to be that all snakes are hor-
ridly ugly and deadly poisonous mon
sters, tiercely bent on destroying the
race of man, and armed with forked
sting which they constantly thrust out
from their dreadful jaws in search of
victims.
The fact of the matter is that many
snakes are very handsome, being bril-
liant in color and graceful in form,
while their flexible, gliding motion is
perhaps the most attractive of all move
ments in the animal kingdom. AS for
the forked sting, it is only the tongue
of the serpent, and is as soft and harm
less in its touch as piece of velvet.
The poisonous organs are pair of
long teeth or fangS, often sharper than
needle. These are either hollow, or
they have a sort of canal down the
inner side The poison is liquid which
lies in a gland at the base of the fang.
The moment the teeth enter the flesh of
victim certain muscles press on the
gland, the poison is forced out, and
runs down the hollow of the tooth and
into the wound.
As for the forked tongue, which
plays in and out with such rapidity, it
seems to be the feeling organ of the
serpent. 1t is used as we use our
fingers-to find out more about things
that can be told by the eyes.
The great majority of snakes are as
harmless as q mouse. In all North
America there are only three or four
poisonous kinds of snakes. These are
the rattlesnake, the moccasin and the
copperhead, which are very dangerous,
and little snake found in some of the
Southern States, called the harlequin,
which is only slightly poisonous. All
these snakes, except the harlequin, are
marked by deep pit on each side of
the head, between the eye and the nos
triL. What the pit is for no one knows,
but if any of my readers meets a snake
with these holes in the sides of its head,
he had better have business in the other
direction if he does not want to get
into trouble.
Most of our common snakes are as
harmless as doves. The black, the
whip and the milk snake, the water
and garter snake, the hog-nOsed snake,
and the big and ugly pine snake Of
New Jersey, with many other common
species, may be handled rs safely as
one would handle q flexible strip of In
dia rubber There is no reason why
man, boy or girl should show the same
senseless fear of snakes rs is shown by
monkeys These animals, as is well
known, are dreadfuly afraid of snakes,
and can not be made TO come near even
a dead one, but will stand off at safe
distance, chattering and flying in wild
fright if the slightest motion is seen.
The human race is like the monkey
race in this. They seem born with a
natural dread of snakes.
The rattlesnake is born with small
knob or button at the end of the tail.
After that, every time the snake sheds
its skin, as a rule a new rattle is
added. But this may happen three or
four times year, and it is not possible
to tell the age of snake by the num-
Der of its rattles. They are all alike in
one thing; they shake the tail, causing
a rafting sound, when they are dis
turbed or cornered.
There are in all from fifteen to
eighteen species of rattlesnakes. Some
of these average seven or eight feet
long. The most common variety in
the mountains of the Middle States
and in the South is the banded rattle
snake. 1t is about four feet long, of
yellowish or grayish color, with black
bands. 1t is mostly found in rocky
situations and feeds on birds, frogs,
toads and the like small game.
The only other poisonous snake in
the Middle and Eastern States is the
copperhead. This creature is seldom
more than three feet long, is very slen
der, and rather pretty. 1t is of pale
red color, with row of dark brown
spots on the back. The head is of
color something like copper. 1t lives
in rocky places, and grows scarcer the