The Hawaiian gazette., 1908-03-27

movements. is provided with the rat
tie. the warning sound of which pre-
vents other animals from stepping on
It. water-snakes have in the nostrils
sort of valve which absolutely pre-
vents the taking of water into the
lungs. In my twenty years of practi-
cal experience with serpents I have
again and again been filed with won-
der at the ingenuity with which Nature
has equipped them"
Mr.. Thompson then described his
method of casting and painting.
The greatest part Of my casting is
done from dead snakes, which is
comparatively simple operation, but in
many instances find it necessary to
use live ones, and. as can be imagined
this Is a task Of no small difficulty.
The occasional necessity OF casting
from live snakes proceeds from two
causes. In the first place the char
acteristic colors and markings OF some
snakes are very delicate. and fade
within a few hours after death. As
result, In painting the cast. It IL almost
impossible to reproduce the colors as
they were In life BY using a live
snake OF course can study the living
model Tho second reason Is the fact
that often receive orders for a par
tlcular kind OF snake. and as We have
a great many varieties here. do not
20 to the trouble ot trying to buy one.
but simply use the proper precautions
and take good live specimen from one
OF the cases"
when asked II this hazardous opera
ton was not attended with some dam
ger he laughed and said, yes, to the
novice, but am 50 familiar with them
that incur comparatively little risk
II Is work requiring great care, how
ever and a miscalculation may mean a
dangerous bite, or possibly the death
or a valuable specimen,
"'rhc first step IL 20 secure the
snake My assistant makes a Slip
knot With n piece OF strong twine. at.
taehes It Go a long pole and opening
the cage places it over the snakes
head The struggling, squirting
snake wild with fear and anger. Is lift
cd out, and when It happens 90 be OF
the venomous variety there are several
exciting moments before he Is finally
conquered, | then take him into my
private room and hold a sponge, satu-
rated with chloroform 90 his nos,rls.
In a short time he Is temporarily dead
To- the world and the cast Is made
with all possible expedition, Quilts are
placed In the nose SO that his snake
ship can breathe, and the mixed plaster
of Paris Is poured all over him, After
the plaster has had time 90 harden the
snake, which was creased IN advance,
TO facilitate It's removal, Is carefully
pulled out from the cast, and, aftcr re-
vlvlng, Is returned 60 It's cage, usually
none the worse FOR It's novel cxperi-
ence. The inside OF the east Is now
flushed out with soapy water. the
grease of which nils up the pores and
prevents sticking The plaster Is then
poured In, and the cast remains undis-
turbed for twenty four hours In order
to insure perfect hardening. The next
step Is the chipping away Of the outer
shell, which has to be done with eN-
treme care, lest the delicate outline OF
the impressioned plaster snake be ir-
retrievably ruined. Particularly is this
true af the head an eyes, which l al
ways leave till last When all the shell
is Clipped away an exact reproduction
of the snake, down to the finest details,
has been secured. and all that remains
to be done is the painting in the origi-
nal colors.
at is this painting which is really
the crucial feature OF the entire opera
ton, and the one which determines the
success or failure of the effort. For
many years l found it impossible to
secure the exact shades I desired. My
cOlors, though fairly good limitations,
always seemed to me too shiny. Oil
colors always showed too bright, and 1
did not seem able to get the exact
shades necessary to a perfect illusion.
After six years of experimenting with
various paints and chemicals at last
struck the desired combination, and
can now produce with absolute accu-
racy any shade of color known to
snakedom, and with such fidelity to
Nature as to deceive even the expert.
The brilliant colors are comparatively
easy, the most troublesome ones being
the quiet shades, especially the delicate
touch of color which appears at the
edge of every scale, as result Of the
under part of the scale being white.
''The painting is very tedious. and
usually spend fully a month on each |
specimen. l place a live snake in a |
glass box beside me and carefully /
study its colors as 1 work. Each scale /
receives separate treatment, and the /
head is usually a labor Of several days. /
To produce the CLASSY shade of the /
eyeball three colors are placed on top /
of each other, and the result is usually I
a good approximation to the original. |
This. of course, is the only way to |
really preserve to future generations
any idea of the snakes Of today As I
stated to the authorities of the Smith
sonian Institution during a recent visit
here, snakes kept in alcohol soon lose
all relation to the original, and become
mere colorless, shapeless masses. I
was shown several specimens of the
Institution, among them this small,
brown cast of a copperhead. It was
work by authorities at the Smithsonian
painted by a well known artist. but, as.
1 remarked to them, it looks no more
like cOpperhead than 1 do. It IS not /
the proper color, and no one ever saw
a copperhead with a sticky. shiny coat
like this. l showed them some Of nv
work, explained my theory of colors.
and demonstrated to them where they
failed, and as a result was given the
contract of repainting this and several