The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1894-02-26
SNAKES USED TO WALK.
At Least So Says a Smithsonian
Expert ON Reptiles.
The Python Has Feet-An Illustration OF
the Serpent's Power OF Locomotion
Tho Snake Moves Like
Man Walking In . Bag.

land, and, perhaps, IN Ouner parLS OF tne
country, are wont to meet the ques-
tions of inquisitive youngsters with
the exclamation: "Ohi snakes footi"
an expression like sshen's teeth,'' and
''side-hill BADGER denoting the i'm
possibility of a thing. The snakes
foot, however, is something more than
a nonentity, and the story of the SER
pent in the Garden of Eden, that was
doomed forever to crawl upon its belly,
is only partly, if it is at all, true.
This was proved to a representative
of the Washington Post the other day
who called at the Smithsonian institu-
tion. The wise men there who are
skilled in anatomy of animals have re-
Gently received big python that sick
| ened and died in New York. His
mottled hide was drying in the sun at
| the time in sequestered spot between
the Smithsonian building and the wood
en- shed where the taxidermists have
their workshops. 1t is an uncanny
place, and the man who chances to
glance in there may behold anything
from the carcass OF an ourang to that of
buffalo. Prof. F. A. Lucas, who had
the remains of the twenty-foot snake
snakes had feet.
On! yes, Sdlo he, anu he OOOh dOWn
the skeleton of the python, which had
been stripped of all the flesh so that
the frame work of bones fastened
with cartilage remained as perfect
as life. 1t was coiled up like a
bunch of rope and as light as kite. 1t
was surprising to know how frail a
structure of bone could make very
supple snake, able to give an elephant
a hard tussle.
sYes,'' said Prof Lucas again,
"snalzes have feet, and the best exam.
pie among living species is the
python" He pointed to the skeleton
of the python, which he held in his
hand, and showed two long ribs on
each side of the body well back to-
ward the tail. Those are the remains
| of the snakes feet and legs. Like the
vermiform appendix in man, the snake
has no earthly use for them now, and
can get along quite as well as he is.
| All the big snakes have these remains
of former feet, especially the boa con
strictors and the anacondas. Prof.
Lucas says that the bones of the legs,
which have withered and shortened in
the ages during which big snakes have
| enjoyed existence, are found in some
small species of snakes in this country,
known species is the glass snake of
Florida, of which So much has been
said.
There was monster of old that fre-
quented the waters of prehistoric seas
/ when the world was young that was
probably the ancestor of the present
snake. He was called the plesiosaurus,
and acquired monstrous dimensions.
/ Popular biologists like to picture bat
ties in the seas where the water was
made red with the blood of these mon
sters and others of their tribe. Their
sole surviving descendants are the
half mythical sea serpents. They had
fins, and the rudiments now found
may be the rem aims of these. When
the reptiles came to the land to live,
and learned, for some reason unknown,
to burrow in the sand, they would un-
doubtedly lose these. There are miss
ing links. however, in the line of de-
scent of the snake, and all the scien-
fists tell about reptilian genealogy is
partly matter of conjecture.
Of the many snakes that live in the
water nowadays the major part are
rapid swimmers and are deadly to
handle. Prof Lucas mentioned one
called the platurus, on account of its
: big fat tail, which swims in tropical
waters. He says it is accounted great
sport to catch it with hook and line,
but, the danger comes when the catch
is hauled in, and the average man is
very shy of that kind of fishing, as one
bite means death right speedily, and
in the most agonizing form.
There is still another explanation OF
the rudimentary foot of modern times
~ ha hot SC hot
, is the remains of flying dragon
There were undoubtedly dragonsin the
times of old, and when the dragons
ceased to fly and came to the earth tc
drag out an existence, it is not i'm
3 probable that some of them survived as
snakes, and that the remnants of theil
, feet and wings survive in the species
that tempted Eve in the Garden o.
Eden.
!, The usual method of loeomotion with
the snake tribe is rather peculiar, and
is more like walking in a bag thar
anything else. In fact, snake walk
s ing, for a snake does not crawl, is
e like number of boys put in bag a
Fourth of July sack race. Prof. Lu
cas- was showing the other day how thi
done. The snake walks on his ribs
The old Germans, or Teutons, as the,
= were called in the early days, used t.
It have a warlike custom of proclaimins
: their kings. The sturdy warrior
/. would lock together their brazel
: shields, lifted high above their heads
on which the future king was elevated
A snakes belly is in all respects lik
! the inter-locked Teutonic shields. Hi
feet are his ribs, which he is capabl
of working backward and forward
j and at the same time bending them
G Over each rib, or foot, there is shield