Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-09-02
THE GLASS SNAKE INDICATED.
He Does All That fs Claimed of Hin
or Experts Are Deceived.

From the Philadelphia Press
The employees Of the Geological Garden
and q number OF well-known savants who
are interested In natural history re puzzled
over the conduct of one Of .he snakes in
the garden. They had been studyine this
particular snake since Wednesday last, and
have come to the conclusion that there are
more things in nature than they wot OF, end
are now prepared to believe almost any
thing that is said about the apheo -saurus
ventralis or glass snake"
This particular specie cannot be classed
with the snake family. for their nature ana
habits lean more to the lizard family, but
just the same. the apheo-saurus ventralis 10
known as the glass snake" and his
strange conduct breaks himself. as well a.
those who are interested in him, all up
Last Monday the keeper noticed that the
glass snake. which is I'm one OF the cases
near the entrance to the reptile house. had
become sluggish and did not care for the
s small things Of life He kept his eye. on
Improvement On Wednesday he came &c
the conclusion that something was wrong
ana oetermined TO investigate Accordingly
hand on the snake There was no move
ment TO denote life. and the keeper thought
that his pet had died. He gently picked IL
up and almost instantly the snake became
animated. 1t wriggled and sqairned and
finally fell 20 the stone floor with n crash.
a
that the snake had tumbled, but lie could
not understand the cause of the crash.
His mind was soon settled as to this how
ever. for he saw the glass snake rad broken
into q dozen pieces and each section was
moving about as IL IL had head and tail OF
its own; The keeper was astonished. but
did not lose his presence of rlind and has,
tened TO gather up the pieces. Some OF the
middle sections. however, had wriggled
under pile of stones. while 9th .rs Lad bur-
There was nothing to do out to put he
pieces that could be found together. This
was done. The keeper knew that the glass
snake lived for long time with only the
head and body and a small piece of the tail
attached, and he was not much worried. sc
the snake back in the case ana went about
his business.
Thursday some friends called on him. and
the keeper related his experience OF the day
before and his friends laughed They
thought he was Joking. To show them that
he was In earnest the keeper allowed them
TO handle the snake and examine the new
joints. one of the visitors, more clumsy
than the rest, let the snake fall and to tie
CONSERVATION OF the entire party il broke In
half, and the tail end OF he glass snate
wriggled over to the pile of stones while the
other half made for the soil under the case
Here was a state of affairs that was not
looked for, and for more than an hour the
keeper hunted for the two sections OF the
glass snake, but in vain. That night he had
but little sleep. He saw snakes all The time.
heavy heart
About O'Clock Friday morning, while
cleaning up the house, the keeper discov-
| cred the glass snake making a meal OF a
spider and a dozen flies that had been
| caught in the web under one Of the cases.
| and to his great astonishment and delight
the snake was almost whole and intact All
| of the sections save a small piece OF the
tail had come together. fhe snake was
placed in the case and soon became lively.
| No trace OF the glass snakes tail can lie
found. but IT is said that IL may appear some
day with a head and body attached. and IL
! IL shows itself In the garden will be cap
tured.
Reference TO natural history shows that
the glass snake is found in all :he states
east of the Mississippi river and south of
the Ohio. In dry, sandy places. While IL
may be classed with the lizard family IL has
no feet, and its tail Is as fragile as glass.
from which fact IL gains its name. It's color 10
green lined with black and she under side
is yellow. The tail Is twice as long as the
body, and is cylindrical. The vertebra is
poorly articulated. and this accounts for the
extreme brittleness OF the reptile and lite
readiness to fall I'm pieces when shocked
violently.