Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1889-08-23
THE RATTLESNAKE.
Some Peculiarities of this Ophi-
dian Terror.
When His Headless Tail is
Pinched the Neck Strikes.


Mitchell, on "rhe Poison Of s,rpents. %
in the Century We quote the folloviag.
"Let US observe wha' happens when the
rattlesnake means mischief lie throws |
himself into spiral, and about one.
third of his length, carrying the head. !
rises from the coil and stands unricbt
The attitude is flc and warlike and ar.
lists who attempt to portray it always
fail. lie does not pursue. but waits.
Little animals he scorns unless he is
hungry, so that the mouse or toad he
leaves for days unnoticed in his cage.
Larger or noisy creatures alaim him.
Then his head and neck are thrown far
back, his mouth is open very wide, the
fang held firmly erect, and with an
abrupt swiftness, for which his ordinary
motions prepare one but little, he strikes
once and is back on guarl again, vigi.
liant and brave. The blow is stab and
is given by throwing the head forward
while the haIf-coil3 below it are
Strengthened out to leng.hon the neck
and give power to the motions which
drive the fangs into the opponents flesh;
as they enter, the temporal muscle
closes the lower jaw on the part struck,
AMI thus forces the sharp fang deeper
in. 1t is thrust aided by bite. At
this moment the poison duct is opened
by the relaxation Of the muscle which
surrounds it, and the same muscle
which shuts the jaw queczcs the gland,
and drives its venom through the duct
and hollow fang into the bitten part.
''In so complicated series of acts
there is often failure. The tooth
strikes on tough skia an doubles back
or fails to enter, or the serpent mis-
JUICES distance and falls short and may
squirt the venom four or five feet in the
air, doing no harm. l had a curious
experiences pf this kind in which a
snake eight feet six inches long threw a
teaspoonful q more of poison athwart
my folehcld. 1t missed my eyes by an
inch or twd. / have hal many neal
escapes, bus tis.--.sz.sssse sszsa.s=-.sszs---7l
all. An inch lower would have cost mC
my sight and probably my life.
"a snake yin turn and strike from
any posture, put the coil IS the attitude
always assmhe when pos iblc. The
ccil acts as am anchor and enables the
animal to shake its fangs loose from The
wound. A snake can rarely strike be-
yond half his length. If both fanes
enter, the hurt is doubly dangerous, be-
cause the d)se Of venom is doubled. At
times fang is left in the flesh, but this
d es not trouble the serpents powers as
poisoner since numbcrless teeth lie
ready to become firmly fixed in its
place, and both fangs are never lost to-
gethcr. The nervous mechanism which
controls the act of striking seems to be
in the spinal cord, for if we cut off a
snakes head and then pinch its tail, the
stump o. the neck returns and with
some accuracy his the hand of the ex.
rermcntcr-if he mas the nerve TO hold
.. On. z. -. n, 20. have not A
little Irishman who took care of nv
laboratory astoni'hel me by coolly sus-
tailing this test. He did it By closing
his eyes AMI 50 shutting out for a
moment the too suggestive view Of the
returning stump. Snakes have always
seemed to me aversc to striking, and
they have been on the whole much
maIigncl
"Any cool, qrict person moving
slowly and steadily may pic, up and
handle gently most vcnonous serpents.
fancy however, that the vipers and
the copperhcad' are uncertain pets. Mr..
Thompson the snake keeper at the
Philadelphia Geological, handle, his
serpents with impuuity; but one day
having dropped some little moccasin3 a
few days old down hi, sleeve while he
carried their mamma in his hand, one of
the babies bit him and made an ugly
wound. At present the snake staff is
used to handle snakes.
81 saw one October, in Taugiers,
what | had long desired to OBSERVE
snake charmer. Most of his snakes
were harmless; but he refused, with
well-acted horror, to permit me to take
hold Of them. He had also two large
brown vipcrs; these he handled with
ea.ss ~ saw at opea ae.I thss g.. t..ssv were
kept exhausted of their venom by hav-
ing been daily tea'ed into biting on
bundle Of rags tied to a stick. They
were too tired to be dangerous. Ihcte
often seen snakes in this state. After
three or four fruitle1s acts of instructive
use Of their venom they give up, and
seem to become ind ff.rent to ap.
I
proache' and eva to rough hand
ling"