The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-10-05
USEFULNESS OF
 AMERICAN SNAKES Only Four Poisonous Snakes Live in United States OVER EIGHTY HARMLESS Rattlers, Water Moocasins, Copper heads and Coral Snakes Are
 Only Kinds of Which To
 Be Afraid.
BY FREDERIC J. HASkIN.


 witnessed the fulhllment of tine prophecy made in the Garden of Eden, that the children of men should bruse the head of the serpent and the serpent should bruise the heel of man. It is human na- ture to make war against the snake and in every country but India, where religion forbids the killing of any living thing the people have set about a general de- struetion of reptiles. Yet if the truth be known less than one-tenth of the snakes one meets are harmful and all have their uses, the bad as well as the good. In the general scheme of things nature will usually keep balance among her stroys this or that animal as a pest he sometimes disturbs this balance and the farm lands and vegetation of the country are the sufferers.
 Recently the Department of Agrcul- ture for the state of Pennsylvania made q careful and exhaustive inquiry into the snake question of that commonwealth, and found among the reptiles of that sec ton many that had been adjudged harm full and had been wantonly destroyed which were really helpful friends of the farmer in that they preyed only on such insects and rodents as were destructive agents to agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture has made no specific report on this subject, though a few individuals in the biological bureau have made researches to gratify private interest. All investigations bring evi- dence to show that the snake is greatly misunderstood member of the animal kingdom, and that 1t is a misdirected philanthropy which decrees his death.
 There are over so harmless snakes in the United States. and only four that are poisonous. These four are the rattle snake, the water moccasin or cotton mouth the highland moccasn or copper head, and the coral snake. The bite of the Florida rattler Is the most poisonous of all, In fact it Is usually fatal, no mat ter how carefully ligatures are fastened above the puncture and no matter how skillful the treatment given by the sur- geon. This rattler sometimes grows to a length of nine feet and is a formidable enemy. The rattler family, however are all talr fighters. They do not attack un- less moested, they warn their enemy with violent ringing of the rattles on the end of the tall and in event the en- emy retreats will uncoil and back away into the bushes. As this snake usually lives in woods and rocky lodges, and f1ees further and further from cultivated regions, the danger from his bite is min mixed, and for every 10000 rattlers taken or killed, there Is only one man bitten by them. Of the 1s species of rattlers in the United States 10 are in the south west.
 Some authorities consider the bite of the water moccasn more deadly than the highland moccasin or copperhead is most deadly of all. As pets, however they prove most tractable, have even tempers and grow sluggish and friendly in a short while. They do not fight among themselves in captivity but woe unto the luckless member of some other reptile family who might venture Into cage of moccasins. One enterprising fel- low in the New York Zoo investigated the Ventlator one night and drew his fourfoot length through the small open ing into the adjoining cage of an ana conda. The keeper next morning found the moccasin calmly sleeping in one cor ner of the cage, while the l2-foot anaoon- da lay in a distorted heap in another. quite dead, with evidences of long fight around him.