The evening world., 1894-01-02
PLAYING SNAKES.
WHEN CORNERED THEY PRETEND
TO KILL THEMSELVES.
mt They Revive As soon As
the Enemy Leaves
Them.


For a long time I have desired infor-
uotiop from other, about a comnor
,rtch -, ,ho ard,nnrn .SIor,, ,,nnn', ~
"spreadhead snake" says a writer in
Science. I have observed that .ucb ami
mas when much worried or slightly u :
will frequently fcign death. This habit
has doubtless been often rcnorted before
h,,, : ~, na, .aaau aonI
ou' ! no nol recall having seen oehnite
Several months ago some one writing
,ha,,, as...a "'''le
a"ou' Snahes III u uaiiy newspaper al
luded to this matter and gave as an ex-
,ho .raLa haa.ua r.,.." .., 80.
Us va" 'i'sn''heu anu iaih'-
ed from fear" That this is not the ex-
PLANTATION will. I think. appear from wha,
= ,a,,o 1901 &c.,, ~ 80"
1 nave noteu ABOUT several cases that
cam" under my own observation.
ba vior nj, tho nar, ~, - 80,
+ W. vi" p"it ot u snake was When
A., tnnh, ~ 'hut tInl 1 was one
al r eids d neIo, acc1fnpanied py an
aUh = Sofnnnon PACK
d ~ "nnout actualy taking nolu OF IL
onsnn, WITTY IL py runnlns around IL,
~ IL and barking; ANXIOUS to
SAY my iriendmthe dogIfrom what
supPPosen vas aead.y peril. struck the
ave- Ia bi" III my wehpoh qulckly
hand lTba ssn ,ntai M m ! carried IN my
, mp I, h IN snaht immtniateiy elected a
Ia a iUt H. s"al'oWen' then ap,,
praren 10 prte User IN the side and
ffened but ' ny n on IT'S pacR ana stilI
SS,phu,sn GU. anl 'ay perfectly, stu;
,rure Vas h9t eyer a wlggle IN Its tail
tThmnttn PinSnen beiievinR, as then did,
,ms -" ,,i shahes were xehoinous, sup
poneu ,ins ont nah hiileu hllnseif, ana,
Iennarkins lhat ne seemed dead
shni m ! was on me point or Leaving
I'm, bnt me oia negro said; oh; no!
81 you leave them when they bite them;
stiVes. tnsn their mates come along and
hSk inc D,te; ana they come to-"
wac sU ibs smashed nn ,he nake,s head In q
EYER zeal me olI man eveidently knew
by some means that snakes which thus
apIeared TO commit suicide would re-
o@ wny 1h tbo Kno s%dn no real c~xplanation
lhtreln ne followed the example of more
eminent men thar himself. Before |
ag1ih noticsd such actions by u snake
had studied zoology q little and had
learned that the spreadhead was said to
be n~on-venomouS., Consequently when l
n n,os met one ana began to cultivate a
seemed after a time to kill himself. l
was much surprised, and began to inves-
tigate his mouth to see If he did not
have poison fangs after all. He. as they
and was lying rigid In that position. In
the course Of my. investigation l turned
MN over, right side up again. He was
playing dead SO earnestly tina he could
not ne IN so llfelike q position. but i'm
mediately turned on his back again.
Then, of course. | knew that q snake
which was too dead to stay in the posi-
ton In which ] placed him was too alive
TO be very badly hurt. l determined to
watch him. Accordingly ! removed him
to a smooth, clear place and then with
rev to a little distance to quietly watch
developments. In about fifteen minutes
the. snake cautiously raised his head and
and two or three inches of his body and
looked around. II he saw me he failed
10 recognize me, and In a few seconds
mad turned himself over and was MAX
ing on, When | advanced quickly to-
wards him he redoubled his efforts to
escape, but was easily captured. lie did
not at that time again "play postum"
otten since then have watched them
go through this pretended suicide. Usual
" when becoming active again, they be-
have like the one just described. but &C.