Young Snakes Taking Refuge in the Mothers Mouth. 71 



total number of testimonies was 120. Some of these cases 

 were as follows : 



Herman Strecker, the entomologist of Reading, Pa., men- 

 tions two cases of the garter snakes where the young took ref- 

 uge in the parents' belly. In one case he says, "I caught one 

 of these snakes that seemed to be of immense size. I took it 

 home and placed it in a cage, and on going to look at her some 

 time after, I discovered that about thirty young ones had 

 emerged, and while I was looking, two more crept out of her 

 mouth and finally a third one did likewise.'' 



C. F. Brackett, of Princeton, gives the following: 



"A workman, mowing on my father's hay field, cleft ofif a 

 thick mass of moss and sphagnum, revealing about a dozen 

 snake's eggs. Some of these wxre torn open and out of them 

 came perfectly formed 'milk adders.' Soon the old snake 

 appeared, and, putting her mouth down to the ground, all that 

 had been liberated from the eggs voluntarily and hastily went 

 into the mother's mouth." As usual, the mother was killed 

 and the young were found in her belly still active. This habit 

 does not seem to be confined to the snakes, for Mr. Newman, 

 in Zoologist, page 2,269, gives a note concerning the ''scaley 

 lizard" (Zootoca vivipara), where one of this species was found 

 with two young ones. She was brought home in a vasculum. 

 and when this was opened the young had disappeared and the 

 mother's belly was greatly distended. It was supposed she had 

 eaten her young, but the next morning the young reappeared 

 and the mother was as lean as at first. 



Dr. Goode, in summing up, says sixty-seven witnesses saw 

 the young snakes enter the parent's mouth. Twenty-two of 

 these heard the old snake make a whistle, hiss, click or sound of 

 her rattles to warn the young ones there was danger. Five 

 persons were considerate enough to wait and see the young re- 

 appear when the danger seemed over. One saw this repeated 

 several days. Three saw the young snakes coming out of the 

 mouth and, not having seen them enter, were naturally much 

 astonished. Five struck the parent snake and saw the young 



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