POISONOUS SNAKES OF NORTH AMERICA. 375 



For several weeks similar accounts, some, however, more or less mixed 

 with decided ''snake stories," appeared in the columns of the paper,* 

 with one exception, that of '-E. D. W. S." (June 10, 1892, p. 5G2), whose 

 experience in California with a "Black Eattler," which "arched his head 

 and neck and hissed or blew quite a quantity of froth or sinttle,^^ seems to 

 prove nothing, as it proves too much. The discussion was finally con- 

 cluded by Prof.' E. D. Cope, who disclaimed having represented in the 

 paragraph criticised the normal action of the rattler when ready to 

 strike, as the following quotation t shows: 



I did not state that Rattlesnakes always maintain the position described when 

 about to bite. On the contrary, it is only when prevented from either biting or 

 rnnning away that they act in the manner mentioned. If a Rattlesnake is annoyed 

 by being stirred up with a stick and jiebbles, etc.. thrown at him, and is prevented 

 from escaping, if he is in good condition and the weather is warm he will some- 

 times act as I have stated from actual observations made on tlie Crotalus confiiientiis 

 in New Mexico. When the mouth is opened widely, the masseter muscle compresses 

 the poison gland, t and, if the latter is full, forces. some of it to escape through the 

 duct, and it drops from the fangs. This is an observation Avhich has been often 

 made on various venomous snakes. If the snake expels air from the lungs in hiss- 

 ing, as it generally does when on the defensive, the drops will be thrown out with 

 the air toward the enemy. I do not suppose, and did not state, that this was done 

 voluntarily by the snake; it is simply a necessary consequence of the mechanical 

 conditions. 



I hii vereviewed this controversy so fully because it shows thenecessity 

 of an authoritative account of the normal action of the snake when 

 striking. During the discussion one writer quoted a few disconnected 

 l)assages from Dr. S. Weir Mitchell's elaborate article on the subject, 

 but as a clear understanding of the action involved can only be gained 

 from a detailed account, I have no hesitation in reprinting nearly the 

 entire chapter devoted by the famous specialist on the rattlesnake and 

 its poison, especially because the original is now out of i)rint, and 

 there is no other account eciualing it in accuracy and clearness, and 

 there is not apt to be much added to it or corrected in it until we 

 shall have the series of photographs alluded to above. His account is 

 published in the third chapter of his "Researches upon the Venom of 

 the Rattlesnake" (published in 1861 by the Smithsonian Institution as 

 one of the Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge), entitled "The 

 Physiological Mechanism of the Bite of the Crotalus," and is to the 

 following effect: § 



When the Rattlesnake is in repose and unmolcvSted, it sometimes lies at length, 

 sometimes coiled or wrapped fold on fold in the loops formed by other snakes which 



•^''M. E. J." and " Whippoorwill," .June 16, p. 562; S. D. Kendall, George H. 

 Wymau, and " W.," .Tune 23, p. 588 ; " Barker," June 30, p. 610. 



t Forest and Stream, xxxix, August 11, 1892, p. 114. 



t The masseter muscle is the same as is above called the temporal muscle. It is 

 difficult to see.how in opening the mouth this muscle can compress the poison gland. , 

 This can only be done by a contraction of the muscle, but this contraction must 

 necessarily close the mouth. 



$ Pp! 20-25. 



