Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-02-14

rather dusty looking serpent lay coiled up
| lieved to be the deadly Fer de Lance, from
! Martinique. 1 am not certain of its species,
| however, for nearly every snake that comes
| from Martinique or San Lucia is called a
Fer de Lance. 1 am under the impression
that the genuine snake of the name is much
| larger than the two specimens we have here
! The true Fer de Lance, or Bothrops Lance
olatus, is highly venomous. The two that
We have in the cage are the first that have
seen in 15 years. 1 cannot be sure that
either one is Fer de Lance until it is
dead"
"Here is snake with an undeservedly
bad reputation, remarked the naturalist,
| pointing to a serpent whose visiting card in
Latin stuck outside its abode, read, "Hetero-
| don Platyfhinus, or hog Nosed Snake. !"
1--WE find these snakes pretty much all over
the country. They are vulgarly known as
| the Blowing Viper, and are popularly be-
| lieved to be venomous They are perfectly
| harmless, but their habit Of f1attening the
head and kissing viciously has given them a
very bad name In jersey, and other parts OF
the country"
Red and Green fsattlers.
''While the Philadelphia Geological Gar
den has one of the finest collections of rep
tiles in the world, "-said MI. Brown, "there
are some rare specimens that would like
very much to obtain. For instance, it is
not generally known that there is such q
thing as a bright red and bright green rat
tlesnake. There are such curlosities in the
snake world, but not more than two or three
have ever been captured. We have 10
cobra, which is owing to the fact that they
have to be carried such distance and are
very difficult to keep alive in captivity"
"Do professional snake charmers run a
very great risk in handling serpents?"
every little" was the answer, accom-
panied by laugh. ''I will put our keeper
in the reptile house, Mr.. Thompson, against
the best professional charmer in the coun-
try. Very few of the professionalism is
no such thing as snake charming-handle
venomous snakes, and where they do they
are careful to have the fangs removed. A
child could do great many of the tricks Of
public snake charmers. There are only two
requisites, strength and courage"
Seriously speaking, Mr.. Brown, do you
believe that there is such thing as q sea-
serpent?" was asked, as the superintendent
stopped for a moment before tank half
filled with water. The naturalist paused
for moment before replying and then said:
'srhe position held by the great majority
of biologists and paleontologists upon this
religion. We know that in past geologic
ages gigantic saurians existed; that the ele-
phant, rhinocerous, tapir and other great
beasts are groups left over from other
epochs. We do not know, we cannot know
one-third of the seas wonders of animal
life. 1t may be that as the mammoths of
pre-glacial periods have their representa-
tions in the elephant of the present, that a
representative group of the great saurans
of that distant period may still survive"
How a Rastlesnake Feeds.
ga peculiarly about venomous snakes"
continued the keeper, sis their manner of
will strike their pray, then coil up and wait
for it to die. Before commencing to swal-
low it, they will watch intently for the
slightest movement They swallow it head
first, and if there is the slightest muscular
movement observable, they will disgorge at
once 1t is different with the moccasin. 1t
will strike and hold onto its pray until 1t Is
dead"
One of the rare creatures in the reptile
house is Cuban iguana. If 1t were built on
a mammoth scale it would pass muster as a
dragon. 1t has long, flexible tail, with
which it occasionally wipes up the floor in
fit of rage, while the horny spines extending
along its back from end to end, resemble the
teeth Of an elongated buzz-saw. This odd
creature is one of Keeper Thompson's favor
ties. He occasionally shares his midday
lunch with the ugly little brute. To dem
onstrate its abnormal appetite for the lux
uries of civilization the keeper cut slice of
mince pie, and fed it to the iguana from his
hand.
Snakes in captivity are subject to a varie-
ty of diseases, the most common of which is
known as canker mouth. When attacked
with this ailment the reptile refuses food,
falls into a torpor and gradually wastes
away. Treatment of any kind avails but
little. The remedies usually applied are
pulverized camphor and laudanum, and
vasaline rubbed on the lips and mouth,
with iodoform distributed over the affected
surface through a tube.
GEORGE n. MCCAIN