Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-07-03
SNAKES ARE VALUABLE
To TILLERS OF THE SOIL
Temperate and Tropic Zones Rep
tiles Lend Priceless Aid in
Cropping Land.

Some snakes may be very useful about
n farm, and Western farmers are beginning
to evincc interest in the propagation of a
large plains reptile-the bull snake"
Authority for this statement contained
in a bulletin of the National Geographic
Society, is Raymond L. Ditmars, who re-
Gently returned with his family from a
curious vacation he spent In the Georgia
swamps, where his daughter captured the
most deadly reptile known to that region
Mr.. Ditmars became curator OF reptiles
of the New York Zoo because his hobby
was collecting snakes instead Of postage
stamps or heather idols His collection
grew too large, and perhaps, too danger
Gus for his uptown apartment and he
offered them to the ZOO. But the director
would not even let them into a ZOO until
MIR. Ditmars consented to be their care
taker.
Not that Mr. Ditmars has any Illusions
about the dangers of snakes. He says,
a communication to the society:
"a great proportion Of snakes has be-
come highly specialized Ii Is among
these creatures that we find the most eX-
traordinary and deadly weapons for the
purpose Of killing the prey that are pos
sesSed hy any of the vertcbratcs.
Popular interest is always strong re-
garding serpcnts of great size. All of the
yerv large serpents are members of n
single family. the Boidae. None is poi
sonous, and the members of this family
kill their prey by constriction-squee
it to death.
The largest known serpent occurs in
the Malay Peninsula Java, Borneo and
Sumatra This is the regal. or reticulated.
python. IL attains length of 30 feet.
Second in size is the Indian Python. inhab-
iting the Indian Peninsula, Indo-China
the Malay Peninsula and Java. This
constructor grows 70 be 25 feet long and
is very abundant.
Throughout the temperate and tropi-
cal regions of the globe are species of
serpents of high economic value. These
are mostly the members of the largest
family of snakes. the Colubridae. The
greater number of the nonvenomous ser
pents belong TO this family. Our familiar
hlacksnake and kingsnake are members
of this family. In some parts of the world
the rodent-eatlng species are protected by
law. Distributed throughout India Is a
large and active species known as the rat
snake. Its useful habits are recognized
in many areas This is likewise the case
with a closely related species found
throughout tropical America. 1 ne creole
French call the latter the cribo, and in the
coastal regions. where the bubonic plague
has appeared, there is q fine imposed for
the killing of rat-eating snakes.
"Queerly enough we find some Of the
deadliest known serpcnts belonging to the
same family as the nonvenomous species.
The Indian Ocean and the waters of the
tropical Pacific are inhabited by a great
number of wholly aquatic, veritable sea
serpents that possess deadly fangs and
sometimes swim IN schools of countless
thousands These snakes have paddle
like tail TO assist them IN swimming.
Another offshoot Is the subfamily con-
tanning the formidable cobras and their
allies. The members of this important
subfamily are treacherously deceptive in
appearance.
''Most spectacular of the elapine ser
pents are the corbas, or hooded snakes.
The genus Naia of India, Malaysuia and
Africa contains ten of these reptiles, of
which the most conspicuous is the Indian
or spectacled cobra. Members Of several
allied genera rear the body from the
ground and spread the neck in similar
fashion.