The Viperine Snakes 



the collection. These snakes yielded over a fluid ounce of poison, 

 which was extracted by tying a piece of cheese-cloth over the top 

 of an ordinary glass and applying the snake's jaws to the former, 

 through which it bit fiercely, discharging two jets of venom into 

 the glass itself. 



A few weeks after the venom was extracted for study, from 

 this collection of serpents, "Rattlesnake Jack" was bitten by 

 one of the larger specimens — a Florida "Diamond-back" — of 

 about six feet in length. The injury was upon the wrist, from 

 one fang, and the man pluckily lanced it and bandaged the arm 

 tightly. A half hour later the surgical staff of one of the larger 

 hospitals was at work on the case. The poison had circulated 

 up the arm, which swelled to a great size. Eleven drainage cuts 

 were made and kept open with tubing. The swelling continued 

 to extend over one side of the body, but persistence and skill 

 were successful and the man went back to his dangerous work 

 some months later. Several years after the writer again met 

 the performer, who was recklessly exhibiting a writhing and 

 rattling mass of Texas rattlesnakes.* After the "turn" he 

 jokingly rolled up his sleeves to show "the good job done by the 

 New York doctors." 



The rattlesnake tamer humorously considered the writer's 

 apprehension and laughingly handed him a souvenir of the place. 

 A few days later came the news that "Rattlesnake Jack" was 

 dead. He survived the bite of one of the big Texas rattlers but 

 a few hours. 



Generally speaking, reports are few and far between con- 

 cerning fatalities from North American poisonous snakes in 

 their native state, although it can be appreciated that the rattle- 

 snakes rank among the most deadly of reptiles. Compared 

 with the official figures, which show the death rate in India to 

 be 22,000 a year from the bites of snakes, a great and very fortu- 

 nate discrepancy is seen between the New and the Old World 

 records. A logical explanation of this might be to the effect 

 that in North America a large portion of the population does 

 not evince a general inclination to go bare-legged through stretches 

 of jungle as does the majority of the native population of India. 



Herewith is given a tabulated list of the PitVipers — the 

 Crotalince — of North America, including all the species occurring 



* Crotalus atrox. 



410 



