THE REPTILES OF OHIO 169 



lymph system and that the tourniquet only needs to be snug enough to impede 

 the lymph flow. Adjusting the hgature so that a finger can be forced between 

 it and the skin will give some idea of how tightly it should be pulled. If it 

 is too tight there is danger of seriously interfering with the flow of the larger 

 and deeper blood vessels. 



2. Incision. An incision should be made connecting the fang punctures, 

 and again at right angles to the first cut, with a sharp, sterile instrument. The 

 incision should be made as deeply as the fangs have penetrated — 1/2 inch in 

 the case of a large copperhead or massasauga and somewhat deeper for a large 

 timber rattlesnake. If the limb becomes greatly swollen it may be necessary 

 to make similar incisions in the most affected areas. Care must be taken when 

 cutting not to sever a blood vessel or to injure a bone. 



3. Suction. Considerable amounts of venom can be removed by applying 

 suction at the site of the incisions. This may be accomplished either with the 

 mouth or by means of one of the numerous types of suction devices now in- 

 cluded as part of modern snake bite kits. Suction should be continued for 20 

 minutes out of every hour and in the most severe cases it may be necessary to 

 continue it for 15 or 20 hours. 



It is essential to keep the patient as quiet as possible. Some feeling of 

 confidence may be instilled by knowledge of the fact that the death rate with- 

 out any treatment is only 15% and that with proper energetic first aid meas- 

 ures it can be consistently reduced to 1^%. The use of stimulants, particu- 

 larly alcoholic ones, should be avoided. Such remedies as kerosene, urine, 

 potassium permanganate and the entrails of chickens have long been proven 

 useless and even dangerous. 



The services of a competent physician should be secured in every case of 

 poisonous snake bite; the use of serum is perhaps best left in the physician's 

 hands. 



It is difficult to establish rules for the identification of poisonous snakes. 

 However, the three in Ohio have the following characteristics in common and 

 may be distinguished by them from all the harmless snakes in the state. (1) 

 They all possess a deep facial pit between the eye and the nostril. (2) The 

 pupils of their eyes are vertically elliptical. (3) The subcaudals are in a 

 single row, at least anteriorly. 



The above characters can scarcely be used in the field for they require too 

 close examination of the subject. The rattle will serve to identify adults of 

 the two species of rattlesnakes; newly bom individuals have only a horny 

 "button" to represent the future appendage. However, in the field the rattle 

 itself may be hidden from view. It is best to learn to recognize the individual 

 species by study so that they may be identified at once. Without question 

 the poisonous snakes are the most dangerous wild vertebrates still forming a 

 part of the fauna of Ohio. 



