The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1915-06-04
philadelphia Record)

surrounded with weird and fallacious
narrative, deplorable ignorance and
superstition as that dealing with the
serpents, the result being inherent
fear and relentless crusade of CLUB
and heel against group of creatures
of great economic value, and, with
few exceptions, absolutely harmless.
one hundred and eleven distinct
species of snakes occur in the United
7 States, of which only IL are danger
Gus to man. Thirteen of the latter are
rattlesnakes, genus Crotalus, with an
unmistable mark of identification, the
tail ending in rattle. The four re-
naming dangerous species comprise
the ccpperhead and water moCcasn.
genus ancistrodon, and two small bril-
liantly colored coral snakes, genus
elaps. The range Of the water moe
casn and coral snakes does not eX-
tend farther north than the Carolinas,
leaving locally only the banded or
timber rattler tcrotalus horridus) and
fhe copperhead (ancistrodon contor-
trx) to be considered in the light of
dangerous reptiles.
The economic value TO the farmer of
most of our snakes is of great import
ance, and an examination of the stom-
ach contents of few wantonly killed
specimens would soon convince an
intelligent person Of the force of this
plea for the protection of our snake
friends. The presence of large num-
bers of snakes in fields of growing
crops or about barns containing grain
at once indicates an abundance of des.
troying rodents, upon which the
snakes feed voraciously, putting to
shame the feeble efforts of the family
cat.
At a conservative estimate an adult
reptile will kill four rats week for
10 weeks in the year. or 100 rats. If
these rats were allowed to live and
propagate their kind the result at
the lowest calculation would be as
follows. If so of the 100 rats surviv'
ed and bred they would raise three
litters of six young each, totallne
,4i0 Granting that one half of these
young reach maturity and raise one
, litter of six their first year, it woult
mean an increase of 1920, making ;
grand total of over 5000 injurious ro
dents accounted for by one snake in 6
single year.
The poisonous rattler and copper
head are never found close to the hab
i'ation of man, and their appearance
easily distinguishes Them from thei
. harmless allies.
The shape OF IA reptiles head is NJ
sure indication of its character, as
is the common belief. The pit vipers
crotaline snakes $50 named on ac
count of the presence of an oritice be
, tween the eye and nostril embrace al
the rattlesnakes, together with The
copperhead and water moccasin The,
all have heads distinct from the body
but deadly coral snakes have all th'
outward appearance of being harm
less.
The hognosed snake, heterodoi
. platyrhinus, is "A good example o
, this mimicry of the venomous snake
and has little chance for eXistenc,
when it crosses mans path. OF uel.
, and sinister appearance, when corn
: cred they tiatten the head and hiss IL
! q threatening manner, but soon feigl
death, rolling over on their back
aud SO remaining until the danger ha
, passed. They cannot be induced t
bite by any amount of tormentins
This is greatly feared and is called b.
. many formidable names, such a
y spreading adder death adder, bloy
, adder, sand viper, according to local
ty
The most interesting of our loca
serpents is the King, or chain snake
ophibolus getulus. This beautiful rel
tile is "a powerful constructor and car
nibalisic, feeding on all manner O
y snakes as well as rodents They ar
immune to the venom of the rattle
or copperhead and win kin and d,
- YOUR all OF these snakes they encoul
u ter. Their attitude toward man
quite the reverse. as they are readil
V handled and make by far the most il
teresting specimens for study purpo
es, thriving well in captivity, and al
parently developing real affectio
for their keepers. They attain lengt
OF six feet,
The garter snake, genus eutaeni
l. are our most numerous variety, er
o bracing IL well-defined species, Il
: Guiding the beautifully-marked ribbo
e. snake. This group defies eXtinctio