THE WATER MOCCASIN. 



97 



beauty. This is the CuEtrcucu, more familiarly known by the popular title of BUSHMASTEK, 

 (Ldchesis mutus.) 



Mr. Waterton, who has incidentally mentioned this Snake in his " Wanderings," has 

 kindly sent me the following information about this terrible creature : " The Bushmaster will 

 sometimes reach fourteen feet in length. The Dutch gave it the name of Bushmaster on 

 account of its powers of destruction, and being the largest poisonous Snake discovered. It 

 still continues to have the same name among the colonists of British Guiana. Its Indian 

 name is COUANACOUCHI. It is a beautiful Serpent, displaying all the prismatic colors when 

 alive, but they disappear after death. All these three species (the Bushmaster, Labarri, and 



BUSHMASTER. LacAesis mute. (One-sixth natural size.) 



Coulacanara) inhabit the trees as well as the ground, but as far as I could perceive, they never 

 mount the trees with a full stomach." 



THE WATER MOCCASIN (Ancistrodon piscivorus). This reptile is restricted to the region 

 between the Carolinas and the Gulf, and the valleys of the Mississippi River. This is 

 emphatically a Water Snake. This reptile is, perhaps, the most dreaded of any in this 

 country. It has the reputation of attacking unprovoked any one that may be in reach a 

 circumstance that is true of very few animals throughout the world. The Southern negroes 

 are much exposed to its venom in the wet rice lands, where it abounds. It is very stout, and 

 in color and markings very forbidding ; the length being about nineteen inches. 



Another species is recorded as a native in Indianola, Texas, called A. pugnax. The 

 Black Moccasin ( A. atrofuscus) is found in the mountains of North Carolina. 



VOL. m. 18. 



