Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1895-10-26
THE RATTLESNAKE.
COMMON ERRORS REGARDING ITS
FIGHTING ABILITIES.

Fancs-He VIII Not Go Out of Hi0 Way
to Attack Anything.
"Nobody was ever bitten by rattle
rnake, and nobody ever will be, said
man who has studied them. "And the
reason is the best that could possibly be.
A rattlesnnke can't bite. 1t isn't likely
that any creature that lives and is pro-
yided with teeth and jaws has less pow
er of biting. The snakes jaws are not
hinged. They are attached to each other
by an elastic cartilage. Thus the snake
has no leverage whatever i'll closing one
jaw against the other, and if it attempt
ed to inflict injury by biting it couldn't
40 much as pierce tho skin. The fangs
of rattlesnake are driven into tho
flesh by stroke, not bite, as is well
shown by tho fact that punctures are
r.ade only by the armament OF the up
per Jaw. The lower jaw has nothing TO
Go with the act. A man striking boat
hook into a log is an exact representa-,
ton of the manner in which the rattle
snake bites. So whenever any one tells
Won about some one else being bitten by
q rattlesnake bet him it isn't So You'll
win. 1t is an impossibility for o rattle
snake to bite.
"But although the rattlesnake can't
bite, If you're fooling around in coun-
try where he is spending the summer,
you want to keep your eye peeled. And
there is one particular thing you don't
want to forget. 1t is common and
widespread fallacy that rattlesnake is
entirely harmless so long as he is IN
coiled. l believed that once and found
out by startling personal experience
that it wasn't SO. It is true that when
q rattlesnake is stretched at full length,
with the muscles extended TO the utmost,
he could not strike an inch forward,
but from that position he can strike
backward his full length and with
lightninghke velocity. One day drop
ped a big stone on the head of big
rattler that lay III this position, crush
ing the head, the stone lying partly on
the head. After gazing for some time
at the quivering reptile so suddenly
taken from life, I stopped down to re-
move his rattles. I had no sooner
touched his tail than his mutilated head
flew back, and almost grazing my
cheek struck the sleeve of my coat just
below the shoulder, where both fangs
were buried, pulling out of the jaw and
remaining in the sleeve as the snake
fell back to the ground. They had not
missed my cheek by more than hairs
breadth. With precaution have made
that test of rattlesnake's capacity Of
striking in that way many times since
then, and the snake always struck. The
instinct is so strong in this reptile that
I have known a rattler two hours after
its head was severed from its body to
strike back fiercely with its bleeding
stump the instant its tail was touched
but the typical position Of the rat
tlesnake when intent on deadly assault
is the coil. This is not always SYM
metrical spiral, but the body is massed
in more or less regular folds, the mus
Giles are contracted, and the reptile is
literally an animate set spring. From
this position the rattler can spring from
one-half to two-thirds of his length.
Before the stroke the mouth is opened
wide, the fangs falling down from their
sockets in the upper jaw and standing
firmly in their position. The head is
thrust forward, the half coils below it
being Strengthened out to lengthen tho
neck and to give power to the strike.
There is no preliminary motion. The
stab is made with abrupt swiftness that
defes escape of the victim. There is but
one strike. The snake passes back into
its coil again with the same swiftness
that it threw itself out As the fangs
enter the flesh the venom is injected. If
the thing struck at is beyond the rat
tiers reach, the snake has the power Of
squirting its venom in jets, which it
can do to distance Of four feet or more.
Sometimes rattlesnake loses its
fangs in the flesh of the object it strikes,
but that does only temporary damage
to its deadly armory. There are plenty.
of incipient fangs lying in the jaw, only
waiting for chance like that to come
forward and be in line for business.
They grow very fast, and in the course
of two or three days rattlesnake that
has lost its fangs is reftted with q
brand new pair. This is good thing
to remember, for 1t is the popular be-
lief that rattler is made harmless by
extracting its venom fangs. The only
way to render one of these reptiles
harmless, besides killing it, is to apply
redhot iron to the cavities left by the
fangs This will destroy all the vitality
of these dangerous parts, and new fangs
will not come in.
"The rattlesnake never pursues his
prey; he waits. He will not go out OF
his way to attack anything. He will in
yariably keep on his course if not cor
nered or teased. You may step within
four inches of a rattlesnake and will
not be disturbed By it if you keep right
on your way If you stop, the snake at
once will take it for a challenge and
hit you only too quick. 1t is said, as if
by authority, that the rattlesnake never
sounds his rattle until be has coiled. If
that is so, rattlesnaies that I have seen
must have been freaks, for they have
ratified when lying at full length and
even when moving, as well as in their
coils. The RATHER, when travelling, will
cross lakes and streams, and he swims
with his head and his rattles raised
we'll above the water The force with
which a rattlesnake can strike is such
that once leased one into striking at a
piece of betting at least a quarter Of an
inch thick. and he sent his fangs clear
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