The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-02-21
SOME OLD SNAKE
 MYTHS EXPOSED No Basis for Many Widespread
 Traditions NHlPSNAKE Is IMAGINARY Oldest RattIesnakes Have the Fewest RattIes-Horned Toads Are Not loads, But Lizards-cham-
 eIeons Do Not Change.
 Color.
NHlpSNAKE IS IMAGINARY
St. Louis correspondent of the New Yorl


 Horned toads are not toads. They are lizards. The whipsnake does not use It's tail as a whip when 1t attacks it's enem- les. The glass snake does not grow to- gether again when it has been broken. Our chameleons are not real chameleons. ana they do not really change color, ex- cept when they swallow too many flies and the dark bodies of their victims show through their semitranslucent flesh. Tur- ues do not hold on ''till it thunders" when they bite an object and then let go. They never let go unless their jaws are pried apart There is no such thing as hoop snake. The snake exists, but the hoop-making character istic does not A rattlesnakes age can not be computed by the number of rat ties he possesses. Usually the older the snake the fewer the rattles
 These are the things that a herpetolo- gist will tell you If you ask him. And if you are interested he will go further and explode many other popular beliefs about snakes and their relations, telling you that these beliefs are based upon super stltion pure and simple, and have been handed down, most of them, in some form from the time of the gods of Greece and Rome. But all the time he Is making you disbelieve the things that you have believed all your life he will tell you others equally remarkable, and Tar more interesting, because they are true
 The herpetologist will tell you about the little frog no larger than your thumb that lays her eggs and then, after string ing them together in nice little bundle hands them over to her spouse to carry around with him until the little tadpoles poke their heads through the shells. He will tell you that a certain queer crea- ture that looks like a mummified Gila monster is the oldest reptile known, and is closely related to the prehistoric ani- mals We know only by study of their fossil remains.
 Then. too, he will show you a frog that reverses the usual order of nature and is the only member of the animal kingdom that does. The male of this species lays the eggs, depositing them upon the back of the female and there they remain buried in the yielding flesh, till matching time. This frog is also different from all other frogs in that the young do not go through the usual metamorphosis from tadpole to frog, but are frogs from the moment of matching.
 Only One Poisonous Lizard.
 He will tell you that there is only one poisonous lizard in the world, the Gila monster, and that the venom of a snake reaches the victim from the teeth and not from the tongue. That a snakes teeth are all turned backward to prevent the escape of an animal they are swallowing and that very few of the tropical snakes are poisonous.
 like creature with tiny five-toed feet near the head which lives in the weeds and under the rocks at the waters edge and lures its prey by it's voice. This creature is called a siren, and Is said to be the original of the sirens of mythology.
 He will show you the dos cabesas two heads), the lizard that has lost both legs it's present name because only an expert can distinguish between the head and the tail of 1t.
 Then, as a final privilege, he will show you the real chameleon, the lizard that looks no more like lizard than you do like a gorilla and will tell you more in- teresting stories about it than you ever dreamed of in all your transformation anent the reptile world.
 There is no branch of natural history that is so little known as herpetology, the science of reptiles, and none about which there are more misconceptions Comparatively few scientists have gone into the subject with a view to making an exhaustive study of 1t, and far the greater number have contented them selves with the knowledge gained in a general study of biology. Other forms of animal life. even the lower forms, have attracted the investigator far more strongly than the reptiles and their cous- ins, the amphibiana, and for that reason the legends and folk tales about these creatures have held sway so long that few people dare to contradict them even today.
 Has Large Collection.
 Julius Hurter of South St. Louis, Is recognized as leading authority on the herpetology of western North America, and one of the few whose word regard ing reptiles in any part of the world will not be disputed. He owns the largest private collection of herpetological spec imens in the world, and his collection em- braces several specimens that no museum in she world possesses. Most of his specimens he obtained himself, travel ing far and wide in his search for them, and having the most interesting expe. riences in obtaining them.
 MT. Hurter Is a scientist for pure love of the work. In private life he Is a teacher of mechanical drawing, but few except his neighbors in St. Louis know him in that capacity. Natural history is his pastime and herpetology is his great est pleasure.
 His collection is full of interest even to the tyro, If you can once rid yourself of that feeling of disllKe for the live things, and as MT. Hurter takes you. step by step, along the develoment of the species from the lowest to the high est orders, and tells you incidents con nected with many of the specimens, you And vo,1rself loath to leave those long shelves and their hundreds of glass jars.
 The most interesting specimens to me. said a recent visitor to MT. Hurter's col- lection. were the chameleons. possibly be- cause they were the most surprising. My idea of a chameleon was the little green lizard with tiny gold collar and chain that you find for sale at every turn in Florida and on the gulf coast. had owned dozens of these little beasts. and had watched them for days, vainly hop ing to see them change color, and I be- lieved that the color-changing propensity attributed to them was as much a myth as the hoop-rolling propensity Of the hoop snake.
 MT. Hurter's chameleons range from the size ot a small mole to that of a large rat and in the alcohol they range in color from dingy black to a very light tree-bark gray. They are covered with a thick, coarse skin, and they have queer hoods on their heads. But their feet are their most remarkable features. They are like double hands on the ends of their legs, and fold together like a pocket.
 These creatures have no menas of de- fense other than their ability to render themselves invisible by assuming the color of the object upon which they hap pen to be resting at the time and are trort and will submit f0 caDf11rp