186 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis. 



finally strangled. The King Snake is a very useful snake 

 for the farmer, destroying many injurious rodents. 



Ditmars in his Reptile Book says: — ''While the ma- 

 jority of snakes quickly succumb to an injection of serpent 

 poison, the King Snake may be repeatedly wounded by 

 the fangs of a living serpent, or injected hypodermically, 

 without showing ill effects from the introduction of the 

 formidable fluid into its blood. Some three years ago, 

 repeated experiments were conducted upon a large speci- 

 men that is now thriving. It was injected with the venom 

 of the diamond-back rattle snake, the copperhead snake, 

 the moccasin and the West Indian ' ' f er-de-lance, " with- 

 out showing any bad effects beyond an intimation of slug- 

 gishness appearing an hour or so after the injection and 

 entirely passing away several hours later." 



In 1891 Mr. Arthur Erwin Brown, Director of the Zoo- 

 logical Garden in Fairmont Park, Philadelphia, sent me 

 a King Snake, Lampropeltis gehdus, from Florida. While 

 I had this snake my son brought home a Black Snake, 

 about five feet long, putting it in the cage with the King 

 Snake. The next morning — not knowing about the snake 

 my son had brought home — I found the King Snake, 

 which was only four feet long, curled up in the shape of 

 a horse shoe. It was perfectly rigid, only showing signs 

 of life by moving its tongue. I thought the snake was 

 sick. Later in the day I learned the true state of affairs. 

 The four foot King Snake had swallowed the five foot 

 Black Snake. The tail of the victim was bent over in the 

 neck of the King Snake, making it resemble a Cobra very 

 much. It took the snake an entire week to digest its prey. 

 During this week it was harmless and almost liveless. 

 Toward the end it became pliable again and as lively as 

 ever. 



Bates of capture. — April 2, 4, 15, 26 ; May 13 ; June 20 ; 

 October 1. 



