The Washington herald., 1921-08-07

to the prairie rattler Of the upper Mississippi
Valley, the diamond rattler of Florida and
the timber rattler of the Eastern States.
These different varieties of this particular
snake are differently colored and marked,
but to all intents and purposes the snake is
fundamentally>th same everywhere. Its
dominant popularity is the rattle. No other
snake in the world has the means of giving
the strident warning that is possessed by the
American rattlesnake. This snake appears
on no other continent. In numbers and in
deadliness it is second only to the cobra Of
India.
"VET vithal the rattlesnaks is a clumsy
sort OF creature. whose combative
characteristics and possibilities have been
Very'much exaggerated. As a matter of fact,
INC ra''lesnake is slow and sluggish, and 1t
very dislnclined to give battle unless
Iorced 10 II. In giving battle it is incapable
OF a stroke that reaches much more than ,
foot, and it has almost no capacitv n,
pursuing its enemy.
1T, therefore, becomes obvious that III.
sensational stories that are seen in the nres.
and other literature are more or less fat..
There could not be any such thing as a haiti.
between a man and a rattlesnake. ATm.n
has only to be careful to remain two or tb,..
feet away from a coiled rattler and to hi, n
with stick or to throw stones upon r. r. L,,,
it. The only manner in which il can ,.,-
ticipate in battle is to coil itself and st,it.
its blows in its radius.
IL, therefore, comes to pass that a rsttl..
snake seldom bites a human being s,..n.
when 1t is stepped on or when IL in .;,a,
unusual opportunities while held in ca ntiv;tv
The snake of the widest distribnt;o, :.
the United States next to the rattlesn,ks ..
the copperhead.. This copperhead. str,nso -
say, is a distant relative of the rattIer tn.
water moccasin is close relative to the
copperhead and likewise a distant relative -
the rattlesnake. Thus, the rattlesnake. the
ropperhead and the water moccasin, make
up group of poisonous snakes which in
cludes all such snakes in the United States
with the single exception of the coral or
harlequin snake of Florida and the Gulf
Coast.
All Theses related snakes, excluding the
coral snake, may be identified upon close
examination. They are all classed together
as pit vipers.' This term does not mean
that they live In pits, but it means that upon
the head Of each of these poisonous snakes
there is q deep pit which identifies it and
which Is not to be found on the heads Of any
nom poisonous snake in America. This deep
pit on the snakes head is to be found half
way between its eye and its nostril. It is
a mark SO deep and unmistakable that it is
al kLzI Il L.
poisonous North American snakes.
"It usually happens that when one Is
bitten by a snake that creature is killed
This event having transpired, 1t should
slways be the next act Of the sufferer to ex-
anime the head Of the snake which has
bitten him and thus determine whether or
not It is poisonous. II the pit does not
exist on the head Of the snake, there II
little to worry about. II the pit does exist,
the victim should proceed upon the theory
that he has been bitten by poisonous snake.
''It is never, wise to put too great de-
.pendencs In this mark Of Identification
Of the poison varieties Of snakes, however,
o. mistakes are possible. Down In San
Diego some years ago the proprietor Of q
pet store had q cage Of snakes and among
then, was a iittls fellow, apparently harm.
less, with no trace Of the PIT. Because ol
this an individual who knsw good deal q
snakes handled this creature eareiessly and
Il utuns him and he died, later identi.
ded It o. poison snake Of Australia, eomt
salon had probably brought 1t In and tn,
pet store had bought IL without knowleds'
Of Its origin, .s - Y, .y's.se
.'The copperhead 10 called By different
pames In different localities, Il Is soms.
times called the upland ,meccssin, TN