The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-01-20
BIG SNAKES.
Indications That Mr.. Jamrah May Soon
Have to Pay e1 900 for 3o-Footer.

Indications That Mr.. Jamrah May Soon
Have to Pay e1 900 for a 3o-Footer.
From the Rochester Post-Express.
\ reward of fl 200 has been offered by an
| Engshman named Jamrach for a serpent
measuring thirty feet or more In length,
and the prize is increased to 10000 for a
snake ecuaIing or exceeding forty feet.
In a letter TO the London Standard Arthur
stradling, an ophidian expert. expresses
his conviction that the first mentioned re-
ward will shortly be claimed, and even
| intimatcs that he may himself enter the
| lists as competitor for the 10000. He
names instances. well authenticated,
where snakes of size approaching or ex-
ceeding thirty feet I'm length have been
| captured or killed. In the museum OF
| ~. A. Ward at Rochester is a python
| skeleton twenty-five feet long. Mr. Strad-
| ling tells Of a snake hide seventy-five feet
long and Of the girth OF a bullock. which
used TO be stretched across the ceiling OF
an exhibition hail in Rio Janeiro Close
examination OF this skin was not per-
mitted, and the expert thinks it was prob
ably made up Of "a number OF hides Joined
To his own knowledge. however. snakes
grow 10 exceed ten yards In length He
writes:
II have carefully tapped n dead ana
/ conda and found il TO be thirty-one feet
I
us tail to the point where sound skin
terminated the other end, its head having
been smashed TO pieces with stones The
sum total OF the creatures length would
therefore have demanded an addition OF
eight or nine inches to the figures re-
corded. Another member Of the same spe-
cies. whose individuals probably attain a
greater average. as well as exceptional size
than do those Of any other. was seen by
me near Mahaica, In Guiana, ascending
narrow ditch In such a position Of extern
sion as to permit Of subsequent calcula-
ton by measurement OF ground with a
fair presumption OF accuracy by which
means we came to the conclusion that IL
was at least thirty-four feet long More
over great African traveller a man OF
world wide reputation in another branch
OF science ana a most exact observer has
assured me personally that he has meas
ured "a python which he found dead in a
stream at thirty-three feet, and 1 have
IN my possession fragments Of skins and
| sloughs the scales Of which indicate that
| their original owners must have boasted a
magnitude equal to any OF these"
MT Stradling prOpounds the theory that
the size OF a snake is in direct proportion
to the food supply. He does not mean bv
thls mat garter snake provided with
three meals a day would assume the pro-
portions Of boa constructor, but sim
ply that a snake which is well fed will out
grow another snake of the same kind
which is i'll fed. The average snake is I'M
red he says and instances the common
grass snake, which, perhaps, gets half a
dozen frogs in whole season Therefora
ne thinks that II he can get hold ~ q
snake approximating ten yards in length
ne can by tudicious and frequent feeding
brlng II up to forty feet At any rate IL is
worth trying with 10000 in prospect.
II the reward that begins at 81 600 for
thirty feet and increase to 10000 for forty
rect or serpent continues at a like rate a
brilliant fortune will reward the cantura
OF any one OF the many sea serpents seen
roaming about. For instance. the Norwe-
gan specimen, for the capture of which a
company recently organized sboul5
brlng upward Of 100000 according to the
estimates made by its observers Accord
ing TO Mr.. Stradling these estimates were
probably underestimate. He says:
Most curiously a live snake is the oniv
animal whose length is apt TO be under
rather than over estimated by the eve for
the reason that it is never seen extended
In a straight line during life. IT is abeo-
lutely impossible to obtain even an an
Proclamation to its correct dimensions ~
the application of a measuring tame ~.
loot rule TO a living specimen. some idea
may be gained by watching its progress
along an angle formed by two walls or hv
making a slight deduction from it's csst
skin II the latter be whole bur an a5utt
snake rarely If ever. sheds a perfect
slough. / find that visitors invariabl,S
mnify instead Of exaggerate in their mis-
calculation OF the reptiles in my cages a
serpent ten feet being set down as M
more than six feet or seven. while a newly
Matched colubrine, in reality seven or
elght hches long appears even less than
half as much.
BY the proportions of this latter reck-
ohlng TINS country must be overrun with
garter snakes that would vie with rattIerq
IN size ana the neighboring parts of New
Jersey probably TEEN with ton -fo.a4
heads. As for the ubiquitous sea. sernen+
the rule applied to him would enable hin,
10 take his tail in his mouth and girelIe The
earth. Al any rate this theory of sernent
extension ought to give new impetus to
snake tales.