142 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



A Milk Snake Mimicking a Rattler. 



Andover, Mass. 

 To the Editor : 



I have just had an adventure which 

 seems to cast doubt on the statement of 

 the natural histories that the common 

 milk snake confines its mimicry of the 

 rattler to its coloring and the trick of 

 shaking its tail. I found a milk snake, 

 some two feet long,, which on being 

 annoyed struck viciously at my foot 

 some half dozen times, the blows com- 

 ing in rapid succession and so hard that 

 I felt the jar through the thick boot- 

 sole which I presented to his attention. 

 Einding he made no impression on the 

 leather, the animal tried apparently to 

 reach my shin by shooting straight up 

 into the air nearly half his length. This 

 he repeated three or four times. Mean- 

 while he kept his tail going like the 

 clapper of an alarm clock. 



In fact, the whole imitation was so 

 very convincing that I began to wonder 

 whether I might not myself be mis- 

 taken. And so, the chance for observa- 

 tion not being at all good, I killed the 

 animal, to be on the safe side. There 

 proved to be neither rattles nor any 

 sign of fangs. It was beyond all doubt 

 just a common milk snake. 



Now I wonder wdiether the books are 

 wrong or whether this sort of perform- 



ance is really uncommon. 

 Yours very truly. 



Edwin^ Tenney Brewster. 

 Upon referring- the above to Raymond 

 L. Ditmars of the Herpetological De- 

 partment of the New^ York Zoological 

 Park, he writes as follows : "The only 

 indication of mimicry is in shaking the 

 tail. Eorm of body and coloration are 

 rather unlike the rattlesnake. The 

 greater numl^er of the harmless snakes 

 vigorously put up a defence when cor- 

 nered and strike at the enemv." 



Decorative Fish Eggs. 



Ocean Grove, New Jersey. 

 To the Editor : — 



I send with this letter a small box 

 containing what I take to be the eggs 

 of some marine animal. I have found 

 them before, but have never been able 

 to learn what they are. 



During a storm large numbers of 

 them were cast on the beach. The 

 colors of the different clusters were so 

 varied and so beautiful that they at- 

 tracted considerable attention. 



I wish I could send you a picture of 

 some of the clusters which I have ar- 

 ranged in water in a glass dish. The 

 colors run through various soft shades 

 of brown and green, some having a 



•••f#v.^ 





XrfE DECORATIVE FISH EGGS. 



