The record-union., 1893-02-27
STYLES IN SNAKES.
A Fascinating Study for the
Naturalist.

Odd Reptiles in Odd PIaces-The
Howlers of the Andes Hammer.
heads and the Wapti-wapti, OF
Shooting Snakes.
The subject of snakes, from some rea.
son or other, is very fascinating to the
general run of mind. They are regarded
by many-perhaps unconsciously il most
lnstances-as symbolic of the devil
crawling, cunning agents, infesting divers
hooks and corners Of the earth, always
glldlng out where least expected to re-
mind us of evil things. If the snake W ere
cooling, lovable animal-like the turtle
dove, for instance-he would loose inter-
est, and we should consign him to that
already large category of unspeakably
common trash that are too good even to
attract a side glance; but, thanks to his
olllness and concentrated evil, he is not
liable to suffer for want of attention for
some time yet. Then, too, you know, lie
is hypnotist of the most finished ability.
with his black. lancet eyes, no matter
about his flat, idiot-like head, he is ac-
credited with being master of that oc-
cult something which reaches and
shackles the mind without physical con-
tact, and which man, with all his learn
ing, has but lately got a glimpse OF. This
latter OF itself is sufficient to establish his
reputation; but 1t must not be lost sight
of that, in addition to this, many of his
KIND manufacture for their tangs death
dealing poison that would put the great
est chemist to shame. Thus, taken all in
all, there is no wonder about the subject
OF snakes being so enhancing to mortals;
nor little wonder either that newer kinds
are being discovered from time to time
faster than most other things, seeing the
immense amount Of interest invested in
the subject
There are always doubling Thomases
among us and some, therefore, refuse to
| believe ordinary stories or descriptions
OF snakes which snake specialist would
regard as almost too tame to waste words
on. IL the reader had never seen any,
thing but animals that progressed by
walking, or placing one foot before the
other in the usual way, and were told by
a traveller from Il strange country that he,
the traveller, had seen an animal which
had no legs whatever, but which Went
along just as well without any, the
listener would no doubt arch his eye
browS and wink at some other listener in
a way to say:
Here we have a liar of refreshing
| type, but we'd Just as well listen to him
because he is weaving something abso-
| lutely original"
That was probably the first snake story
ever told, and of course was promptly
doubted by all who had never seen such
thing. Since that time every soourner
to distant part who had met with a new
kind OF snake and come home and de-
scribed 1t faithfully has been gibed at:
and no doubt some very curious snak es
have gone unrecOrded Just because the
finder OF them, knowing the fate of his
predecessors in that line, suppressed the
true facts, or never even mentioned the
discovery at all.
The object OF this paper is to describe
briefly few of the more curious kinds OF
serpents seldom or never heard of outside
the pale Of the snake tancier: and the
writer, no matter whether he is believed
| or not, buoyed up by a strong moral
sense, will go ahead and tell what he
knows about the subject.
Every schoolbOy who lives in the coun-
| try knows all about hoop-snakes. glass
snakes and coW-Suckers, so there is little
use wasting space on them here, Some
boys, however, listening to the nonsense
OF their parents, have affected to doubt
that even any of these old varieties ex-
listed until they had met one face to face,
when they ever atterWard sung his praises
as glibly as the rest had done. The hOop-
snake is such a funny fellow that verv
few Will believe in him till he (snake( has
taken his tail in his mouth and rolled
straight tor the douhter; after which it is
ludlcrouS to the initiated to hear the fell
low tell the story TO outsiders, looking for
all the world as il he were a bloody
scoundrel and telling the biggest lie he
could think OF. OF course this comes
about naturally, because the narrator
having been scotfer at the very thing he
has had manifested TO him, knows that
he will be hooted at in turn, and that is
what makes him look so villainous when
he is telling the simple truth.
The advice Is: In giving description
OF a snake you have seen exclusively do
not get excited and act as if you were beg
ging to be believed. Don't sweat and
tume and try to get some one to 90 out
with you and look tor it; for no matter if
you have left but a minute, il will not he
there when you go back; it isn't snake
nature to wait for you to come back.
Even if you have smashed his head into
lntinlteSlmal mlnce-meat, the chances are
as soon as you have lett the slippery fell
low Will wriggle into some hole or creyice.
being careful to obliterate his track. If
you want to describe snake do so in a
w uIb lIldlDSI, DIS becomes
gentleman who knows what he is talking
ABOUT.
HOW To TELL 4 SNAKE STORY
If the listener constantly interrupts
you, suggesting various details and de-
nouement after you have advised him TO
remain quiet the necessary number of
times, he has as good as called you a halt
dozen vile names, and the proper thing
to do then is to knock him down. After
he is up and thinks the thing settled. An
excellent plan is to knock him down
again. You will then have doubly shown
him that you are in earnest, and that you
are not talking about an apparition from
your boots.
There are many curious serpents whose
habits and description make interes ting
reading, as, Tor instance, the Whip-snake es
OF Brazil, the bowling snakes OF the Pc
ruyian Andes, the hammerheads OF Cali
fornia, the splitting snakes OF South At
rica, etc., but in an article of this kind
only a few can be noticed and these
briefly.
In California there is a reptile common
to the Sacramento Valley known gener-
ally by the name of bloW-snake Thew
are about three feet long, spotted yellow
and black or yellow and dirt color.
Their specially is blowing and swallow
ing hens eggs whole, and they are con-
sequently enelnieS 10 tne farmers. a
fuligrown blow-snake thinks nothing of
swallowing half-dozen eggs at time.
There is a novel way of trapping the egg
eater when he is trying to get into the
chicken house, which is as follows:
Find the crack or knot-hole through
which he comes in; deposit an egg on
the ground outside close to the aperture.
and one on the inside where he can reach
it easily Having bolted the first egg, the
snake reaches his body through the knot
hole and tucks the other one away, after