The Somerset reporter., 1897-07-15
SNAKES OF BOYHOOD.
SOME EXTINCT REPTlLlANS THAT
HAD MARVELLOUS ATTRIBUTES.

HAD MARVELLOUS ATTRIBUTES.
The Terrible Blue Racer and the Thou
sands of Victims lie Didn't Get-The
Hoop Snake That All Knew of, but Few
Ever aw-Peculiarities of Glaas Snakes.
The blue racer was an ophidian cal
tulated to cause the hair Of the small
boy to stand on end like the quilts of the
fretful poroupine. Nothing could exceed
the fiendish malignity of this snake,
whose powers of locomotion were in
credibly swift and whose appetite for
boy was forever on edge And it was
only by relieving himself of all impedi-
menta, such as the bucket containing
his small store of berries or his fishing
tackle and can of bait, that a boy was
able to avoid capture. 1t was the cur
rent belief that when the blue racer
came up with his prey he swiftly in
folded the unlucky wight in his deadly
coils, crushed the life out of him and
then devoured him at his leisure. So far
as history goes and the mortuary records
show no boy was ever cut off in the
bloom of his youth by blue racer, bot
disasters of this kind We're only avoided
by the remarkable fleetness of foot dis
played on such occasions.
His terror gave him supernatural
&trength and added wings to his feet,
and the blue racer was incontinentlv
left in the shade. The blue racer. ao-
cording to a cloud of youthful witnesses
who have testified thereto, was a snake
ranging from l. to l6 feet long, the av-
erage length being about 10 feet Its
aspect was threatening in the extreme,
and its eyes CLEANED with baleful and
hungry light. AS it reared its ugly head
four or five feet above the surface in
search of the trembling youngsters his
underside was seen to be of bright blue
color, and from this fact and his swift
movements he received his apt and dis
tinguishing name Blue racers are as
scarce as hens teeth now.
But the most deadly, the most grew
some and the most appalling snake
known to boyhood was the fearful
hoop snake, now happily extinct
This scourge of the forest was the bette
noire of the urchin, who was continual
ly in mortal terror of encountering it as
he wandered through the pleasant woods
or angled in the waters of his favorite
stream. The hoop snake roamed the
darksome shades of the forest like an
avenging Nemesis, and, like the blue
oil II E..
boys. The hoop snake differed uniquely
from all other ophidia. When in mo-
ton, it was the habit If this snake to
insert the end of its tail in its mouth.
and, bending its body into perfect cir
Gle, it would roll silently and with in
credible swiftness through the woods.
The tail terminated i'll horny spike
harder than steel, in which was conceal.
ed a sting of the most venomous de-
scription, and woe betide the object
that came within striking distance Of
this fearful weapon. The virus in the
tail was far more toxic than the venom
of the rattlesnake or the tooth of the
copperhead and was Synonymous with
instant death.
Fortunately no boy was ever stung
by one of these snakes. His caution, his
prudence and proyerbial good luck al
ways enabled him to circumvent the
Vaccinations of the enemy, but it re-
quired ceaseless vigilance ON his part
Indeed, but few boys ever saw one of
these reptiles, although we were well
aware of their existence. But at rare
intervals some youth favored with ex-
ceptional eyesight and vivid magma
ton would get a glimpse Of hoop
snake rolling its way along a distant
path
Another curious snake that used to
interest youthful students of herpetol-
ogy was the glass snake As far as
Its habits We're known, the glass snake
seemed to exist for the sole purpose of
affording fun for the boys, who, when
they encountered one of them, hit it
across the back with stick, whereup-
on his snakeship broke into a thousand
pieces, more or less, according to the
mathematical proficiency of the boy
and his brittle anatomy few IN all al
while it interested the youthful expert
mentors greatly, never disconnected
the snake, or only temporarily, for as
soon as left to itself the parts all united
and the snake was whole as before
This invariably happened, but although
boys have watched for hours to see the
mysterious process the reptile nevel
got together until they had departed.
Glass snakes are not nearly so common
now, nor are they so brittle as they
used to be.
One fact in serpent history, however,
remains the same IN spite of the dicta o.
scientists, as any boy of today can tell,
The tail of snake will wiggle after il
is killed until the sun goes down There
isn't a boy in the whole country bat
knows this to be rock ribbed fact III
natural history. Learned men tell Us
that this notion. as they please to call
it, is a relic of far distant time when
our ancestors worshiped the sun, which
at one time was depicted with serpent
attributes. Chicago Tribune,