144 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



The Rattlesnake's Worst Enemy. 



Aiken, South CaroHna. 

 To the Editor : — 



Some years ago while I was 

 riding in Atascosa County on the 

 Frio River in southwest Texas, a 

 rattlesnake crossed the road about 

 twenty-five yards in front of me, 

 and looked back as though he were being- 

 pursued. He paid not the least attention 

 to the sounds of the horse's hoofs, al- 

 though as a rule rattlesnakes will coil at 

 any sound and prepare for fight. To see 

 what was going on I stopped my pony. 

 The rattler had not advanced more than 

 fifteen or twenty feet, when a blacksnake 

 appeared. I knew that a blacksnake will 

 kill and swallow any other kind of snake, 

 so I waited to witness the struggle. In 

 a cleared space in the mesquite. a few 

 steps from the road, the rattler was 

 coiled ready for the battle that he seemed 

 to know must be fought. With his rattles 

 hissing, a menace and warning to man 

 and beast, his eyes glaring fiery hate at 

 the enemy, he waited. 



The blacksnake, his head slightly lifted, 

 his eyes on his victim, approached the 

 edge of the clear space. With a slo\v 

 and deliberate movement he circled 

 around his enemy. Faster and faster he 

 made the round, and the rattler followed 

 the movement with his head — faster and 

 faster until I could see only a black streak 

 and a film of floating dust. The rattle- 

 snake's head steadily followed the mov- 

 ing streak. A sudden silence. The 

 lilacksnake had crossed the circle and w^as 

 eyeing his victim that was again coiled, 

 his head showing signs of weakness, and 

 his rattle only faintly hissing. In the 

 twinkling" of an eye, the blacksnake 

 caught him behind the head, and coiled 

 himself around the rattler and stretched 

 himself until I heard the rattler's bones 

 crack and snap. When the blacksnake 

 made the dart at the rattler, the latter 

 struck himself on the back, pouring all 

 his poison into his own body. 



Then I went my way, knowing that 

 I had that day seen a battle that I was 

 not likelv to witness again. 



W. D. Kkrshaw. 



What "The Evening Star'' Says. 



"The Star" today has given over con- 

 siderable space to the annual statement 

 of the Agassiz Association because "The 

 Star" wants to help along Dr. Bigelow 

 and the others who are engaged with him 

 in his work at ArcAdiA. 



The public ought to read every word 

 of the statement and those of the public 

 who can afford it should put their hands 

 down in their pockets and "shell out." 

 The Agassiz Association or AA as it is 

 abbreviated is doing a good work, a 

 public work, and one that the public 

 ought to appreciate. 



There are many institutions in Con- 

 necticut receiving regular grants from 

 the general assembly each year. ]Many of 

 these are much less worthy than the 

 AA's ArcAdiA at Sound Beach. 



This matter should be put up to the 

 next general assembly. 



Until then the institution must con- 

 tinue to rely upon the public as a whole. 

 If anybody doubts the statement that the 

 AA is a thing that should be encouraged, 

 let him go to Sound Beach and visit 

 ArcAdiA. If he goes to scoff he will 

 remain to pray. There isn't another thing- 

 like it in Connecticut, perhaps not in the 

 country. 



It is invaluable — or could be made so 

 — to the sch(X)l children in this section of 

 the state. Nature study is part of the 

 curriculum of the schools. Botany is 

 taught in the High school. If these bud- 

 ding botanists would go to ArcAdiA to 

 supplement their "book-learning" they 

 would get a new idea of nature and its 

 wonders. 



To sum it all up, ArcAdiA is built for 

 use. It can be used by anybody who has 

 a serious wish to study nature. It is 

 not, as a matter of fact, a playground, al- 

 though part of it is ideal for that pur- 

 pose. It is a place for serious work, and 

 it is up to students of nature to interest 

 themselves in its opportunities and then 

 they will be able to share its responsibili- 

 ties. — The Evening Star, Stamford. 



Report comes of the finding of a 

 mastodon tusk in glacial gravels, 

 twelve miles southwest of Ithaca, Ncaa' 

 York. The fossil has been presented 

 to the Cornell ^Museum. 



The famous Zoological Station at Na- 

 ples, among the oldest and best equipped 

 institutions of its sort in the world, is in 

 a serious condition financially owing to 

 the withdrawal of German support. It 

 is proposed that the American universi- 

 ties take up the places in the laboratories 

 left vacant bv the nations at war. 



