DO SNAKES REFUGE THEIR YOUNG? 489 



Chauncey Loomis, M.D., of Middletown University ; Dr. 

 D. L. Phares ; Mr. Thomas Meham of Philadelphia ; a 

 member of the Convention then present ; and other 



* gentlemen whose statements as naturalists were not to 

 be doubted.' * Due weight should be given to the wide 

 distribution of the witnesses and the remarkable concurrence 

 of their statements/ said the speaker. 



Professors Wyman and Gill, and other physiologists then 

 present, showed that there is no physical reason why young 

 snakes should not remain for a time in the body of the 

 mother. The gastric juice acts slowly on living tissues, and 

 as for respiration, it is almost impossible to smother reptiles. 



* Snakes can live for a long time immersed in water, and even 

 in bottles hermetically sealed, and why not in a place of 

 refuge ? ' argued Mr. Putnam. Instances were given of frogs 

 escaping from the stomach of snakes ; also of other snakes 

 swallowed by a larger species returning to the light of day. 



As a habit, if the swallowing ' is not protective there 

 is no parallel ; if protective, a similar habit is seen in some 

 fishes of the South American waters, of the genera Arius, 

 Bagrus, and Gcophagus, where the males carry the eggs 

 for safety in their mouths and gill openings.' Mr. Putnam 

 instanced the Pipe-fish {SyngnatJiiis Peckianus), whose 

 young when in an aquarium have been seen to go in 

 and out of the pouch of the male fish ; and that a belief 

 prevails am.ong some sailors that young sharks which 

 suddenly disappear have gone into the mouth of the mother. 

 Some South American fishes carry their eggs in their 

 mouth, and why should there not exist an equally motherly 

 regard on the part of snakes ? 



