POISONOUS SNAKES OF NORTH AMERICA 405 



Kausas, Indian Territory, Loiiisiaua, all the way down to the pine 

 "woods north of Lake Pontcbartrain, where Dr. G. Kohn informs me 

 that it is scarce, however. In Texas it seems well represented east of 

 the one hundredth meridian and north of the twenty-ninth parallel. 



Habits. — It is agreed by almost all observers that the Copperhead, or 

 Upland Moccasin, Chunk-head. Deaf Adder, or Pilot Snake, as it is 

 called in various localities, is a much more vicious animal than the 

 Eattlesnake; not only because it strikes without giving the warning of 

 the rattle, though it is sometimes known to attempt this by quickly 

 vibrating the tail against some hard and dry objects, but also because it 

 is of a much more aggressive nature. However, although considerably 

 quicker of motion than the Rattler, it is a comparatively slow snake, 

 and as Dr. Weir Mitchell has shown that its poison in proportion to the 

 quantity is less virulent than that of the Rattlesnake, its bite is less 

 dangerous, and as it but seldom exceeds 3 feet in length,* it is a much 

 less terrible animal than generally supposed. 



Dr. H. C. Yarrow has reported quite an interesting series of cases of 

 poisoning from bites of copperheads (Am. Journ. Med. Sc. (n. s.), 

 Lxxxvii, 1884, pp. 422-435). Of the umuy cases recorded in the medi- 

 cal journals he had only found one fatal case, viz, that of a 6-year-old 

 boy, although some of them were very severe, particularly the one which 

 came under his own observation, a case the more remarkable as the 

 snake was very small, "not over 14 inches long." It is plain from the 

 symptoms, however, that the case owed but very little of its severity 

 to the venom injected by the snake, and it is an excellent example of 

 how complicated such cases may be, and how difficult it is in cases both 

 of recovery and death to say how much is due to the activity of the 

 venom and how nuich to other circumstances. 



Dr. R. E. Kuuze (Am. I^atural., xvii, 1883, pp. 1229-1238) thinks 

 that the Copperhead does not strike from a regular coil, like the Rattle- 

 snake, but tbat its effective blow is delivered when the middle of the 

 body is thrown into long, almost rectangular curves, and the head held 

 only slightly elevated above the ground. 



S, Garman, as quoted by Dr. Hay, having studied the Copperhead in 

 captivity, states that they usually eat the prey as soon as it is dead and 

 even before it ceases to struggle. Sometimes lively mice would elude 

 two or three strokes, and this would seem to throw the snake into an 

 ecstacy of excitement. They would not eat fishes. 



The Copperhead produces living young like the other crotalids, the 

 average number apparently varying between seven and nine. State- 

 ments often seen in newspapers referring to female copperheads Avith 

 an enormous number of young ones having been killed are due to a con- 

 fusion of this species with other snakes. 



* A large male killed this year near Washington, D. C, and presented by Dr. J. 

 W. Blackburn to the Museum, measured, when fresh, 38 inches (about 965 mm.), 

 while a female killed near the same place last year was only about 1 inch shorter. 



