714 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1898. 



mals which they dislike oi- fear. Everyone knows how they will con- 

 gregate about an owl who has not sufficiently concealed itself by 

 daylight, and will make their hostility known by cries and efforts to 

 strike their enemy. So I have witnessed a crowd of birds collected 

 about a black snake, which displayed their hostility by many cries and 

 movements, the snake the while eying them with an inactive interest. 

 Should one of the birds venture too near, I strongly suspect that the 

 snake w^ould take advantage of the opportunity to secure a meal, but 

 this I have not witnessed. I believe, however, that the stories of 

 "charming" are due to an observation of this not uncommon experience 

 of the Held naturalist. 



Snakes are for the most part carnivorous ; a few forms, as, for example, 

 the genus Hcrpeton^ are more or less herbivorous. They are most effec- 

 tive restrainers of the undue increase of the small Mammalia, and, in the 

 case of the smaller snakes, of the increase of insects, by the destruction 

 of the larv;e, as well as of the imagines. They are the assured friends of 

 the agriculturist, and as such should be permitted to live and increase. 

 This may be safely done in North America, where there is really but one 

 species of venomous snake not easily distinguished, the Flaps fnlviiis, 

 and that is confined to the Gulf border and a small part of that of the 

 southern Atlantic. Some of the large Colubrine snakes, for example, 

 of the genus Compsosoma, are permitted to live in and about the houses 

 of the natives in some parts of South America, and in some localities of 

 western North America the large and harmless Pityophides perform the 

 same function. All of our species of Oolubroidea, however, are of util- 

 ity to man and should be permitted to live, not only on this account, 

 but also on account of the beauty of their forms and often coloration. 



In discussing the breeding habits of certain snakes Prof. O. P. Hay' 

 makes the following remarks: 



Notwithstandiug the deep impression whicli serpents have niade on the human 

 mind, as shown in literature and in popular conversation, it is astonishing how little 

 accurate information has been accumulated concerning some of their habits. The 

 densest ignorance, the result of inattention and general lack of interest, prevails 

 with regard to some of the most interesting matters connected with the life history 

 of snakes ; while, on the other hand, many of the popular notions about the powers 

 of these animals are either wholly false or are gross exaggerations of the truth. 

 The breeding habits of our snakes, even of the most common species, belong among 

 the things about which little is known. Even our biologists have given but little 

 attention to this subject, while unscientific people simply recognize the fact that 

 nests of snakes' eggs are occasionally met with. For instance, who would not su))- 

 pose that all the essential facts are known concerning the reproduction of the com- 

 mon black racer Bascanion constrictor? Nevertheless, where have we been told when 

 it lays its eggs, how many there are of them, how they are concealed, and when 

 they hatch ? 



Some snakes are known to lay eggs which after a period produce young. Other 

 snakes are known to retain the eggs within the body until the young have attained 

 sutlicient size and strength to care for themselves after birth. Still other species 

 are supposed sometimes to lay eggs, at other times to bring forth living young, - 



' Proc. Indiana Acad. Sci. for 1891, p. 106. - I'roc. Amer. Assoc. Adv. Set., 1873, p. 185. 



