The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-06-15
STARVATION PROLONGED.
In the Case of Snakes it is q Process
 That Requires Much Time


 That Requires Much Time. | Few persons have a partiality for snakes, but it does a cruel thing to deliberately starve two inoffensive rep tiles to death before putting them in a jar of alcohol for preservation as specimens. This was and probably is being done at a room in the Smithsoni- an Institution by scientist who calm ly conducted his classification unheed- ing the frightful suffering close beside him. The visitor to the professor g room was engaged in watching an as sistant drawing Cuban boa constric- tor which he did from the life, or rath- CT the death, the defunct reptile being hoisted out of its jar every now and then by means of a huge pair of pin cers and accurately sealed with a pair of compasses. All around, upon shelves, tables and floor, were jars, large and small, containing a vast va- riety of snakes, frogs, lizards, &c., all rendered long since harmless.
 A faint rustling sound, however, be- came at length so distinctly audible that the fear of a specimen having, by some means or other, broken loose, be- came almost inevitable The assistant being questioned, merely pointed to a wooden box with a screen top which had hitherto escaped the visitors no- tice, and which, being more closely ex- aT3oir1aG fnl1rl6 n i'm, od- ders They had been caught not far from the district and had occupied their present quarters ever since last summer without food and water. The immense vitality of snakes which ena- bles them to go without food for sev- eral months is accountable for their holding out so long, but it must also be remembered that the sufferings of starvation are increased in proportion with this same amount of vital force in the victim.
 One of the adders was hedding it's skin, the dry. faky colorless substance, as 1t peeled off, revealing a beautifully marked under-surface. Somewhat to the astonishnent of the spectator the assistant quietly opened the lid of the
  ding process, by taking hold of the DOT ton already off and pulling it with as much unconcern as though 1t were n glove on his hand The adder did not att empt to bite, nor did it seem at all the professors assistant. Left to it. self it continued to unburden itself of It's old clothing, as it were, and to re- veal the gorgeous raiment with which nature had provided it. The snake, in shedding it's old skin is popularly sup posed to crawl through a narrow open ng or rub itself against some rough surface, as the bark of a tree. That 1t ,an, however, dispense with any such assistance with little or no inconven- ence was sufficiently demonstrated by he adder in question accomplishing the md very efficiently by muscular action alone The movement of the ribs by | which the snake progresses, peels the | ,ld skin off, the entire process lasting, | n the case of a snake three feet long, Ibout three quarters of an hour.
 A few pebbles in the box and tin | which was well-nigh eaten | y rust from disuse, were eagerly ex- lmined every now and then by the | tarving creature In search of food, | while its companion, small gray ad- Ter, had evidently long since given 1t ID as bad job, and had coiled itself lp in corner, apparently lifeless.
 It may be remarked, generally, that he serpent, ever since the Garden of Iden episode, has been a much ma lgned animal. So far from wishing to ntrude in human affairs, it has ever edlously sought to avoid mankind, and | seldom strikes, unless first attacked, xcept for food. It is fact that mong the present large number of makes in the Geological Park, only one,
 king snake, has been taught to dis ense with live food Yet 1t is a we'll nown fact, that snakes can be educa- ed to feed exclusively upon the meat l f animals that have already been filed. The fact that they prefer and pparently require live animals arises rom the habit acquired by them in a tate of nature where they, of course, ould procure no other kind of food Washington Times.