having a pair of grooved fangs in the rear of the 

 mouth. The specimen on exhibition is unusually 

 large, measuring 255 mm. in length. 

 ELAPIDAE (Family) Micrurus (Genus) 



70. Micrurus fulvius (Linne). 

 CORAL SNAKE. 

 The Coral Snake belongs to the same division 

 of the poisonous snakes as the Cobra of India. It 

 is perhaps the most beautifully colored of our 

 North American Snakes. A burrowing form, it is 

 seldom seen abroad, and consequently is not dan- 

 erous to man, although its bite is very dangerous 

 and may be deadly. It possesses a pair of short, 

 erect, grooved fangs in the anterior portion of the 

 jaw, and bites with a chewing motion, making sev- 

 eral fang punctures. Found from Ohio and Ind- 

 iana south to Florida, west to Mexico and Central 

 America. 



CROTALIDAE (Family) Agkistrodon (Genus) 

 71. Agkistrodon mokasen Beauvois. 

 COPPERHEAD. 

 One of our smaller Pit-Vipers, the bite of 

 which is seldom fatal. Possesses the typical pois- 

 on apparatus of a Crotaline snake, consisting of a 

 pair of elongated, hollow fangs, which fold back 

 against the roof of the mouth when not in use, and 

 a poison gland located in the head behind the eye. 

 The snake strikes at its prey from an s-shaped coil; 

 the fang actually stabs rather than bites. (For a 

 detailed description of venom apparatus of Pit 

 Vipers, see works in Bibliography.) 



