Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1922-10-11
RATTLERS BOTHER FEW
# LEFT UND|STURDED
New York Zoo Curator Says He
Only Heard of Ono Man
Being Bitten.

Raymond T.. Ditmars, curator OF rep
tiles of the New York Geological Gar
den, who is said to now more o
the creatures than any other expert,
while saying that there are many rat
tlesnakes in this country, notably In
New York and PENNSYLVANIA, declares
that there are very few records of in
Jury from them, (says the New York
Times.) In a recent investigation.
where he questioned the residents Of
districts where the makes were known
TO be numerous. he heard Of only one
serious accident, and that was to an
intoxicated man who invited disaster.
Rattlesnake dens are raided with
impunity by Mr.. Ditmars and his as
s~istants, and many OF the snakes are
caught. A den about 125 miles from
New York. which was raided last
spring. yielded many rattlesnakes and
copperheads, blacksnakes and scrpents
of other varieties. Many of them were
sent to the Antwerp Geological Garden
I'm Belgium. a r~attiesnake's den is not
n den in the general acceptance of the
M cave such as a large animal
would occupy.
Dt' tta ~ A't ~ sc VIZ WV
southern side of a hill. where there
seems Il have been an upheava, of
large rocks with big spaces and
crevices between them. The sun
throws its rays there winter and sum-
mer, and 1t is thought that there are
hot springs beneath. 1t is underneath
these rocks that the snakes hibernate
in winter. and on the last warm days
in the fall they may be seen summing
themselves outside on the doorsteps
of their home. n after n long sleep
they come out again in the spring for
n few days and then. thoroughly
warmed and awakened, start off in
pairs to cover the country and find
food. Where they GO it is difficult TO
tell. for Mr.. Ditmars says that, cover
Ing the country where they are liable
TO be, IL Is very rare TO fine one.
In discovering dens where the snakes
hibernate, year after year, on collect
Ing trirs. the curator and his aids have
made every effort to learn OF cases of
people who have been injured by them.
After basking for a few days in the
sun at their dens in the Spring, a
small number. 1t is found, will stray
down into the meadows and farm
lands and are seen and killed. Oc-
casional specimens are found in the
barrens II open spots AMOR low
huckleberry bushes. but this is a
small proportion Of the large numbers
that emerge from the dens most of
which go up into the rocky portions
Of the mountains and are never seen
by human beings again.
Al the base of n great snake den
which Mr.. Ditmars visited last spring,
there is a long stretch Of farm land
which has belonged for many genera
tons, since Immediately following the
American Revolution. in one family.
The present members of This family.
Intelligent and knowing well the history
OF the region. say hat they have
never heard OF an accident from a
rattleenake in their locality OF in the
surrounding mountains. At the base
of 10TH mountain and below a
ledge where forty-four r~attlers had
been captured within a few hours and
where as many more a escaped, in
the little town of a few hundred in
h~abitants. there was only one record
of a rattlesnake bite, and this ended
fatally.
1t a a case OF invited injury. A
laboring man, an alien, who was in
toXicated, was pulling down a stone
wall and a snake was heard to sound
its warning. The mans companion
warned him to keep his hands away
from the stones, but he was in a reck-
less mood. Snakes were nothing 10
him, he said. and he finally put his
hands directly on the snake and then
refused TO go TO the doctor to be
treated