Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1895-03-22
TEXAS HOOPSNAKES.
THEY HAVE HOOKS AND HOLES IN
 THEIR LIPS AND LIKE FUN.

phers and BulIsnaISes Create Lively Situ-
 ations For the Hoopers.
 'oThe hoopsnake of Texas is as inter esting a reptile as you can find any where U said former resident of the Lono Star State. 'tIt is unlike any hoop snake l ever saw in the east and a good ,Aaal livelier. Under its lower jaw there is lip with hole ill it, and on the end of its tail there is a hornlike hook that curves upward. Whenever the snake takes notion to roll, it throws it's tail over its snout, hooks into tho lip, and goes spinning away over the grass as merrily as you please.
 'The snake can get over the ground pretty fast by crawling but it seems to take great pleasure in rolling. The un- der part of its body is bright red and you can see the snake quite distance when it's rolling Some say the horn is hollow and capable of ejecting poison, but don know how true that is. Peo- pie who arc ignorant of how the Texas hoopsnake is built are simply amazed whom they happen to see one change from crawl to a roll. They can t make out how it is possible for the snake to put it's ends together and roll away at such speed unless it sticks its tail into IS mouth You will often run across a hoopsnako that is crawling along lei surely, when all at once it will throw it's tail forward and go dipping off at a speed, you imagine that makes it's head swim. But its hoad is always level, no matter how fast 1t rolls or how far.
 Eve seen many man and boy amusingly taken ill by hoopsnakes out there. Every newcomer desires to possess specimen, and they got it into their heads that it is as easy as lying to catch one. The tenderfoot thinks he can cap turo hoopsnake by poking pole or stick through the circle made by its bodys He gets fooled, however, for the cunning snake instantly unhooks it's tail, thus ridding itself of the stick or pole, runs along on it's belly for short dis tanee and then hooks into the lip again and resumes its frolio with perfect free- dom. The hoopsnake has q fine sense of humor, reckon, for it takes delight in soaring women and tenderfeet by roll ing right up to them and lodging away when they scream or jump. They tell story out there of man who ran the handle of rake through hoopsnake's circle and unlocked it. The snake got mad struck at the man and hit the trunk of mesquite bush with it's horn. 1t sped away then. and tho man found the print of it's horn in the bark He OK amined the bush often, and he took his oath that it died ill loss than 90 days
 'I once saw a hoopsnake hanging to one of the hind feet of a gopher. The gopher kicked and squealed and pulled, and the snako kopt tapping it on the head and back with its horn. The snake couldn't have swallowed the gopher, and it tormented the little thing out of pure deviltry Its aim with the hook was unerring, and it acted as if it was tickled all over every time the gopher sq&ealed The hoopsnake's fun came to all end very suddenly the moment an- other gopher appeared The second gopher took i'll tho situation at a glance, and it immediately hopped upon the snake and bit it in the back of the neck. Tho snake lot go of the foot mighty quick, and all the lively writhings iln # aginable that snake performed Ill the next eight or ten minutes. 1t thrashed the grass flat in space five feet i'll di ameter, and l mover saw a creature hate to dio as that snako did. It finally stretched out motionless, and cut off its horn, which had no hollow in it. The wounded gopher was squealing ill some brush, and it's roseuer was trying hard to COAX it into hole, but it had been dono for by the snake, and it died i'll little Whilo
 "How it does make a toad s eyes hang out when hoopsnake gets after itl s The toad knows that 1t s q goner. and it begins to hop and peep and squeal with. terror before the snake has touched it. V f1fo snake is in no hurry, for it knows a very well that the toad can't get out of its sight, and it takes downright conn fort in hearing the toad vail It erawls behind the toad, and when it gets good and ready it throws it's tail forward and gives the toad a. smart thump be- tween the eyes with the point of the horn. The toad backs up a few inches, and the snake seizes it by hind foot. Then the toad kicks with its free hind foot and claws the grass with its front feets keeping up piteous squealing all tho time. The snake lets it kick and claw for spell, but by and by knocks the toad on the head till it stops kick ing and swallows it
 While hoopsnake was handling toad in that way one spring l saw a &llsnake interfere. The bullsnake of Texas is a big headed reptile about 3 feet long Its body tapers all the way like cone, and it has two curved teeth in the upper jaw and is nonpoisonous. The hoopsnake had the toad by hind foot, and of course the toad was mak7 ing all the noise it knew how to. Sud- denly bullsnake glided out of the bush and struck at the hoopsnake's middle with its upper jaw. The hoopsnake inr stantly released the toad, faced the bull snake and hit it on the neck with its