The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-12-03

not even a wiggle in its tail when pinched.
Believing as l 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 if you leave them when
they bite themselves, then their mates
come along and lick the bite, and they
come to-
So l 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 commit suicide would recover, and
knowing no real explanation of why they
should, he invented one. Therein he fol-
lowed the example of more eminent men
than himself. Before / again noticed
such action by a snake l had studied 10
OlOgy little, and had learned that the
spread-head was said to be non-veno-
nous. Consequently when [ next met
one, and began 10 cultivate a closer &C
quaintance with him. and he seemed af-
ter time TO kill himself, I 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 living
rigid in that position. In the course OF
my Investigations l turned him over,
right side up again. He was playing
dead so earnestly that he could not lie in
so life-like a position, but Immediately
turned himself on his back again.
Then, OF course, | knew that snake
which was too dead to stay in the posi-
ton in which placed him was too alive
to be very badly hurt. | determined to
watch him. Accordingly | removed him
to smooth, clear place and then with
drew TO a little distance TO quietly watch
developments. In about fifteen minutes
the snake cautiously raised his head and
two or three inches Of his body and looked
around. II he saw me he failed TO recoC-
nize me and in few seconds had turned
himself over and was making of When
| advanced quickly toward him he re-
doubled 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 be-
have like the one just described but oc-
casionally when they find themselves
overtaken as they are making off, they
will again at once feign death. Some
times, while playing dead" if one is
sharply pricked with needle or other
wise acutely stimulated, he will promptly
resume his interest in surrounding things
and either show fight or try to escape
Occasionally, when | have spoken TO
friends about this matter and they have
shown disposition to regard my state
ments as "snake stories in the popular
sense of that expression, I have been
fortunate enough to get hold of spread
head and show them what l had before
described to them
1t is usually easy to provoke a Hetero-
don niger, II. plaiyrhlnus, or II sinus
into feigning death by striking him with
small twigs or good bunch of broom
straw, or by a little brisk handling T
wish some one else would examine these
snakes with reference TO this habit and
| report his conclusions. / think 'faiuting
from fear is shown to be wrong by the
| snakes refusing to stay in any other posi-.
tion than fiat on his back"
Recently while conversing with friend
| about this matter, he suggested that per
haps the rattleSnHkes which are so often
| provoked into biting themselves and then
seeming to die, were also acting a decept-
i've part in order TO escape. This seems
more probable, as one noted experimenter,
DIR. $. Weir Mitchell, says that the intec-
ton OF rattlesnake's venom into the
| snakes own circulation does not appear
TO cause any special inconvenience to the
snake.