The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-11-29
FErGNEp DEATH IN SNAKES.
Pretend to Commit Suicide when
Cornered by an Enemy.


For a long time 1 have desired infor-
nation from others about common
trick of the. ordinary blowing viper,
or 'spreadhead snake Heterodon, in
several species). 1 have observed that
such animals when much worried, or
slightly hurt, will frequently feign
death. This habit has doubtless been
often reported before, but L do not re-
call having seen definite mention of ii
in print but once. Several months ago,
some one writing about snakes in a daily
newspaper, alluded to this matter, and
gave, as an explanation, the off-hand
statement that the snake became fright
ened and tainted from fear" That
this is not the explanation will,
think, appear from what L have noted
about several cases that came under
my own observation.
The first time l ever noticed this be-
havior on the part of a snake was
when I was a child. At that time
was one day crossing a field accompa-
MED by an old negro man and a small
dog. The dog found common black
spreadhead," and without actually TAX
ing hold of II. began TO worry it by run
ming around it, swapping at ii and bark
ing. Anxious to save my friend, the
dog. from what l supposed was deadly
peril, l struck the snake with the only
weapon quickly available. a small whip
l carried in my hand. The snake i'm
mediately elected a toad it had recently
swallowed, chen appeared to bite itself
in the side, and promptly turned on
its back and stiffened (but did not be-
come stretched straight OUT and lay
perfectly stin. There was not even
wiggle in its tail when pinched. Belev-
ing, as i then did, that all snakes were
venomous, L supposed this one had killed
himself; and remarking that he seemed
dead enough" / was on the point of
leaving him. But the old negro said.
oh, no! II you leave them when they
bite themselves, then their mates
come along and lick the bite, and
they come to-" SO smashed
the snakes head in a way that no
amount Of licking would ever heal The
old man evidently knew, by some means,
that snakes which appeared thus to COM
NIT suicide would recover and knowing
no real explanation of why they should
he invented one. Therein he followed
the example of more eminent men than
himself. Before / again noticed such
action by snake / had studied zoology
little and had learned that the spread
head was said to be non-venomous. Con-
sequently, when / next met one, and
began TO cultivate closer acquaintance
with him, and he seemed after time
to Kill himself | was much surprised.
and began TO investigate his mouth TO
see If he did not have poison fangs after
all. He, as they all do, had turned
himself on his back and was lying rigid
in that position. In the course Of my
investigation / turned him over. fright
side up" again. He was playing dead
so earnestly that he could not lie i'm so
lifelike a position, but Immediately
turned himself on his back again. Then.
Of course, / knew that a snake which
was too dead to stay in the position i'm
which / placed him was too alive to be
very badly hurt. / determined to watch
him. Accordingly l removed him 10
smooth, clear place, and then withdrew
TO little distance To quietly watch de-
velopments. In about fifteen minutes
the snake cautiously raised his head and
two or three inches of his body and
looked around. If he saw me he failed
to recognize me, and in a few seconds
had turned himself over and was maxi
ing off. When | advanced quickly
toward him he redoubled his efforts to
escape, but was easily captured. He did
not, at that time, again play possum. ="
Often since then ] have watched them
go through this pretended suicide. Usu-
ally when becoming active again, they
behave like the one just described; but
occasionally when they find themselves
overtaken as they. are making off, they
viii again at once feign death. Some
times while playing dead" if one is
sharply pricked with a needle or other
wise acutely simulated, he VIII prompt
ly resume his interest in surrounding
things and either show fight or try to
escape.
Occasionally. when I have spoken to
friends about this matter and they have
shown a disposition TO regard my state
mentS as ''snake stories" i'm the popu-
lar sense of that expression. / have been
fortunate enough to get hold of a
spreadhead and show them what | had
before described to them.
1t is usually easy TO provoke a Hete-
rodOn niger, II. platyrhinus, or H. ST.
mus into feigning death by striking him
with small twigs a good bunch of
broom straw, or by a little brisk hand
ling | wish some one else would ex-
anime these snakes with reference to
this habit and report his conclusions.
think "fainting from fear" is shown to
be wrong by the snakes refusing to stay
in any other position than fiat on his
back"
Recently while conversing with a
friend about this matter. he suggested
that perhaps the rattlesnakes which are
so often provoked into biting them
selves and then seeming to die. were
also acting deceptive part in order to
escape. This seems more probable, as
one noted experlmenter, DIR. S. Weir
Mitchell. says that the injection of rat
tlesnake's venom into the snakes own
circulation does not appear to cause any
special inconvenience to the snake
Science.