268 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



HERE is a right as well as 

 a wrong" way — in the mat- 

 ter of the photography of 

 snakes — just as there is 

 in doing anything else in 

 this world worth the 

 while. Living snakes 

 may be photographed for the mere 

 sake of photographing them, and with 

 no other end in view than such satis- 

 faction as the photographer may gain 

 through the experience, and through 

 the pleasure he derives from getting 

 such pictures for his album. Pur- 

 suits of this nature are all well enough 

 in their way, but the best use of the 

 results are often defeated. The prac- 

 tice is usually more or less selfish, and 

 there is rarely any incentive to scien- 



FIO. 1. A WATER SNAKE AT HOME. 



lific or even to competitive achieve- 

 ment. 



As in the case of all other biological 

 material, living or otherwise, snakes are 

 photographed by the scientific or zoo- 

 logical photographer to meet the var- 

 ious aims of science and of education. 

 There are many points, then, to be 

 taken into consideration, when we 

 come to make a practically useful and 

 scientific photograph of a living snake, 

 and to accomplish this, requires the 

 application of a certain technique on 

 the part of one who is familiar, in all 

 particulars, with the natural history oi 

 ophidians. 



Up to the present time, snakes have 

 been classified in science by the char- 

 acter of their scales, especially by those 

 on the head ; by the presence or absence 

 of certain structures of the eye, tongue, 

 and other parts; by the form of the 

 head, and the development of certain 

 appendages, as horns, and rattles on 

 the end of the tail ; by preorbital nits ; 

 by color, size, habits, geographical dis- 

 tribution, etc. So then, when we come 

 to make a photograph of a living snake, 

 which is to be of any use to the zoolo- 

 gist, or to the teacher of biology, we 

 must have it in mind to exhibit in the 

 photograph as many of these instruc- 

 tive features as possible. 



There is a fairly abundant species of 

 snake found in the woods about the city 

 of Washington, generally known as 

 the water snake and to the zoologist 

 as Matrix faciata sipedon, — rather a long 

 name, but not a difficult one to pro- 

 nounce, or even to remember. I have 

 frequently met with this well-known 

 reptile in the low, swampy lands to 

 the north of the city. On one occasion 

 I got an excellent photograph of one 

 in its very haunts, and this picture is 

 here reproduced in Fig. i of this article. 



This photograph not only gives an 

 excellent idea as to how this particular 

 snake appears in its natural environ- 



