556 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



j'.ifh by G. T. K. Norton^ 

 by cunrtcsy of New York Zoological Society. 



A REAL "SNAKE CHARMER." 

 Gladys Ditmars is a born zoologist; she is the dauRhtcr of Mr. Raymond 

 L. Ditmars, reptile curator of the New Vork Zoological Society. Gladys 

 has traveled much with her father and absorbed much of his wisdom. She 

 goes out of her way to save a snake's life. The king snake photographed 

 is a pet she caught in southern New Jersey. 



il Ijcars to successful crops is importanl — more ini])ortant 

 than even the average farmer realizes. 



Re])tiles may not manifest friendship toward us, few- 

 would welcome such a condition, yet they are not ene- 

 mies. They never attack unless in self-defense. Of our 

 111 species but 17 are poisonous — two species of Elaps, 

 coral snakes, and 15 species of Crotaline snakes, the 

 co])])erhead an<l nuiccasin, the dwarf and typical rattle- 

 snakes. On the other hand the help they render is valu- 

 able. The ])ests destroyed each year, esijecially the ro- 

 dents that injure crops and carry communicable dis- 

 eases, roll u]) a large balance of good service in their 

 favor. 



Rodents are destroyers of farm products, cause loss 

 by fire through gnawing matches and insulation from 

 electric wires and of hunian life, through germ carrying, 

 particularly the bubonic plague. P.efore the war the 

 United States Department of Agriculture ])laced the bill 



at $500,000,000, one-lifth of which equals the loss of 

 grain. With advanced prices this is increased. 



They also destroy eggs, young poultry, squabs and 

 pigeons, birds and young rabbits, pigs and lambs. A 

 loss to husl)andry not estimated in figures but realized 

 as extensive is due to the killing of fruit trees by girdling 

 or other injuries to the bark by species of wild rodents. 

 iMiiinent medical .lutborities agree that many plagues 

 can be accounted for by rodents. As a destructive agency 

 the rodents have no rival. 



The ex])lanation of the big figures representing dam- 

 age from the rodent is due to the vast numljers of those 

 small animals owing to the characteristic fecundity of 

 the species. One investigator paired two common house 

 rats late in December. By the middle of the next Sep- 

 tember he had 880 rats. 



Reptiles are a very important factor in the natural 

 work of restraining the too rapid increase of rodents. 

 Practically all our snakes feed largely upon rodents. One 

 in particular which has a wide range is the Latnpropeltis 



W (II li i;\iii; \\|i A KKiuriT .\\ SNAKIC HUNTING 

 George Von Buchren Ueft;, an ardent herpetologist of many years' expe- 

 rience and owner of a very unusual collection of serpents, is really not 

 the sort of ch.ip the photo makes him out to be, and p-rederick Beebe, a new 

 and enthusiastic recruit. George trusts the pine he holds, but Fred wants 

 to see what the large gopher, or indigo, snake he has is up to. The 

 goplier and king are the snakes which domesticate the best. They are both 

 of great economic value. 



