The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-05-27
THE SNAKES OF THE SOUTH.
Harmful Ones Seem to Have Stronger
Fangs.

The Ground Rather, Which Doesn't Rat
tie, Is One of the Few Dangerous
snakes-Look Out for the Kind That
Has Slender Neck-Poisonous Insects
Queer Things about Them.
New York Sum-
Before the jars of picked snakes in the
Museum of Natural History last week
lounged a tall, slender man, who sur
veyed the specimens with interest and
knowledge.
.sIsu't it h1deous?" appealed young
woman, indicating with shudder viii
lain of a water snake cojled lifelike in
his bottle of alcohol.
ssHideous, madam, but perfectly harm
less" answered the tall, slender man,
assigning the appeal to himself. "Do you
notice what a short, thick neck and small
head the fellow has? Well. if you are
ever alone in field or forest and observe a
snake in your path with neck as fat as
this ones and as slender a head, don I
scream or faint or run away, for yourm ay
rest certain he is powerless to injure you.
All harmless snakes have just such long,
slim heads attached to short. coarse necke
nearly as largo as if not larger around
than their heads.
"But when you find serpent with a
head diamond or heart shaped, keep clear
of him, for he is sure to be poisonous.
The harmful snakes differ in this way
from the harmless ones. Their jaws, too,
are better indicated and are broader and
stronger. Likewise there is much differ.
ence in the necks, which, in the case OF
poisonous snakes. are long and slender.
"There are very few varieties of poison
GUS snakes in this country" continued
the tall, slender man, as others grouped
around him and asked for physiological
enlightment. "1he really deadly snakes
are the cotton mouth and highland
moccasins; the rattlesnake, called in some
localities the diamond back; the tiny
ground rattlesnake, which differs from
the big rattlers in that he is vastly infer
Tor in size and has no rattles at the end
of his tail, and the elapse, which is more
often called the thunder snake or calico
snake, the latter name being given him
because Of his brilliant colors.
"The ground rattlesnake and the elapse
are found in the extreme South, where
come from, and the bite Of the latter is
exceedingly dangerous. After he strikes,
his victim becomes drowsy and lethargio.
like man under the influence of an
opiate, and loses consciousness, the contin-
uation Of which is invariably fatal. The
ground raGtlesnake Is poisonous, although
not quite SO dangerous as the big RATHER,
which Is no doubt owing to the small
size of his fangs. They cannot penetrate
to the depths reached by the fangs Of the
big RATHER, snand therefore do not dis.
tribute the poison as surely and as quick
ly, for fangs are simply hypoderm ic
syringes, and the deeper in they go the
greater the victims peril. This is one
South is more serious than the bite Of the
same kind in the North. The fangs of
the Southern serpent are larger and are
set in stronger jaws.
Various snakes have enemies which
they dread and avoid. The rattlers feal
The little king snake, small green rep.
tile which hunts for rattlers and strang
los them when found OTHERS fear the
unromantic razor back hog, which, by
the way, is a very much underestimated
creature. He is more courageous than
many qIadrupeds of accredited valor
and runs about the Southern swamps in
search of snakes, which he destroys and
eats by the wholesale. He has a prefer
ence for rattlers and moccasius, to whose
poison he seems invulnerabIe. No one
ever heard of a 'razor-back' succumbing
TO snake bite.
"But the common and most implacable
enemy to all snakedom Is the industrious
ant, which esueems snake flesh choice
dainty. When a snake is out OF bruised
he sloughs his skin, and then it is gooaby
to him, for the voracious ants soon over
wheim him and dsvour him alive. Even
a perfectly sound and healthy snake
which has come in contact with dead or
injured member of his tribe suffers q
similar fate If the ant gets wind of him.
1.-THE reputed wisdom of the serpent ia
delusion. He has little or no brains
and is q natural born fool. He learns
nothing from experience and is powerlest
TO resist or overcome the wiles of his enc
Miss. He does not attack man and rare.
~ offers combat to other serpents or to
animals The great majority Of his kind
are timid and cowardly. 1t amuses me
to read stories told CT the ferco manner
in which the big snakes of this country
have fought with men-how they have
sprung up and struck at the breasts, mech
or heads of assailants. A RATHER cannot
strike much above his coils, and with
few exceptions all snake bites are con.
fined to exposed places near the knees OF
on the arms or hands.
Down South the darkies are great
snake hunters. There seems to be an ir.
resistible fascination about the sport and
many prefer it to any other form Of
amusement. 1t Is in the marshes and
bayous that the colored people hunt their
game. which is caught by means of long
poles with forked ends and string sliT
moses. Many are captured for the sake
Of their oil, which is supposed to be q
line remedy fer rheumatism and other