The sun., 1916-08-20
SNAKE SHEDS SKIN
AND HIS GLORY TOO
That Wonderful "HOrn" Van
shed When Rather Donned
New Fall Suit.
pITMARS WINS AGAIN
Scientists Who Pronounced
Specimen Real lose "Goats"
to Texan.

Como is the glory Of the great ''bull
cow ra'tlesnakc. the wonderful rhinoc.
eros diamond back. the unparalleled
Texas unicorn. Gone also IL the pedi-
greed goat" OF the New York scientists
who let a simple Texas ranger fool them
with a new -reci"s OF Cro,alus adaman-
teus from the Mexican border. moro
wonderful than the sea scrren, OF ATTAIN
IL CITY bathing places, tina. wore a horn
an inch long on the top OF his skull. For
B'rcr Snake shed his skin the other might.
and the horn came on.
The mysterious RATHER came 10 Ray
mond L. Ditmars. curator OF reptiles at
the Bronx Geological Park. about three
months age, having been shipped North
by W. \. Snake King. as he calls him
self. a Texan who lives near Browns
vile and who spends a great part OF his
time ba sring reptiles for the zoo. II
vas he who sent the huge diamond back
that nearly cost the life OF Keeper
Toomey n few months ago. and the freak
snake was really an outcropplng OF this
accident.
Curator pitmars wrote TO King In
Texas telling him OF the affair. and the
snake hunter refused 10 take Il seriously.
He has been bitten so often by the
"varmints" that he could not conceive
~ any one. even n New York zoo keeper.
being inconvenienced by them. Also Il
had cost him not n little trouble to get
IT,. .at .-l .xl.-. ~. cas-. ..A,,.
that his acquisition was not n desirable
citizen.
Promised Rare Specimen.
"you see.' explained Mr.. Ditmars
"vhen the army went to the border they
drove all the snakes away for miles. and
II was hard 70 get specimens. Kinc
wrote me tina. ne drove his fivver auto
mobile across the boundary line Into the
sand desert IN search Of some for us. and
when he was In Mr.. Carranza's territory
some deliberately unfriendly natives
plugged n couple of holes in his gasolene
tank with American rifles. He had TO &c
back home and get n couple OF horses tc
tow his machine 10 where the snake
were. OF course Il hurt after that &c
hear that one Of the few he captured or
the trip started n campaign OF 'schrech.
lichkeit.' Anyhow. he wrote in answer
20 my letter. saying Tie neNt time
send YOU one it'll have a horn on II"
Sure enough, a few weeks later tn
mysterious snake arrived. 1t had q
beautiful horn. fully an inch Ions, ex'
tending fror, the skin over the eyes. II
was the only reptile the snake experts
Rad seen with such an appendage. The
so-called horned RATHER OF Texas only
has two little bumps over the eyes. much
Nka fha Tin np "A gnnIrQ mead.
King wrote me that he couldn't class
~ the snake said Mr.. Ditmars. "Ru!
re had discovered an entirs race ~ them
and he could furnish any number to the
roo. He asked me to examine u thor.
oushlv and nave some other scientists
look /, over and possibly write a treatise
on the new species"
The curator did rs MIR. Snake Klnc
asked. He called on two or three ex.
PEI biologists. They got out their mag
n!fying glasses and their microscopes
AID they looked a, Senior Snakes horn.
"wonderfuI'" exclaimed one, whose
name II wouldn't be fair TO tell. why
one can see the blood vessels In the mem
branous composition of the protuherance
Y, IL absolutely genuine and unique"
The rest either agreed or admitted
,hst they were s;umped. hut Raymond
T.. n!,mars has been handling snakes
siuce'he was In short k~nickerbockers. anc
a. the age of 90 he was occurring OF
'hern for the Board OF Education. II Il
sall he wasn't a success as n lecturer
tecarse he insisted on illustrating hi
A. COURSES with live specimens instead o
s,ereoptiron slides. Anyhow. he wa,
canny and wary on the new marvel.
IN walt until Monsieur Snake sheds
his skin he allowed.
skin and Horn Come on.
Tho reptile was put in "A glass cage
where the public and more scientists
came to marvel AT him. He seemed &c
enjoy the discussion that he caused. foi
Re refused to slough. In the hot weather
The average RATHER gets n new suit o'
scales every few weeks. like n new Palm
Beach suit. but this one stuck TO his old
uniform until 1t was positively shabb,
about the rattles and had a seedy look
where 4, got the most wear.
~ last came signs of the expected
change. The reptiles eyes turned bluisf
n color and the next morning MY. INT
mars. visiting the cage saw n strange
sna.s inside. u had a head as bald OF
horns a. the outside of an egg. Rut OF
The skin. the old suit which had beer
discarded. stuck n strange c~ontraptior
that looked Ike a bone collar button with
the tip s%harpened.
Mr., A. W. Snake King, with the as
distance of AN Indian, had cut an incisloi
N the snakes skin over the eyes and hac
inserted the spine OF some Mexican bush
The base o' which had been fattened II
frm a foundation. Then the skin hac
grown over again, the tiny scales hac
ringol themselves about the o~ri1ce, until
II seemed perfectly natural. Only wher
ne skin was shed did nature cast on tn
tang.
Nov the skin lies on Curator Ditmars''
desk n n" reptile house, "A warning u
natural scientists and Il monument to tn
simple Texas ranger who had the biolo
glS's plumb locoed for three month";
A0d little pancho Snake, no longer &
mystery but an ordinary Crotalus ada
nartcus once more. coils his six and s
hAf fc@i ~ new fail fashion union sui
~ In he cage and sticks out his fang!
IN !ul. appreciation of the hoax.
SCHOOL CLEANER FOUND DYING