MUSEUM NOTES 



135 



them with my stick. At the 

 time, it seemed to me as though 

 the male was dehberately pro- 

 tecting the retreat of the fe- 

 male. 



Snake.s seem to be beyond 

 hard and fast rules of individ- 

 ual action and the more they 

 are studied the more unex- 

 pectedly interesting are the 

 traits discovered. They offer 

 an endless subject for fascinat- 

 ing investigation. 



The liog-nosed snake {Hetcrodon 

 platyrhinus) otherwise known as 

 "puff adder" and "spreading ad- 

 der," is a big bluffer and the "pos- 

 sum" among North American snakes. 

 It is absolutely harmless in spite of 

 its warlike posturings and hissings 

 and can under no conditions be 

 induced to bite. When its threats 



prove vain, it simulates death. Even the young snakes newly hatched from the eggs hiss, spread and flatten 

 the head and neck and strike savagely, later playing dead. The ringhals cobra of South Africa also is reported 

 to feign death fF. W. Fitzsimmons. Snakes of South Africa] 





M 



useum 



Notes 



8i\cE the last issue of the Journal the 

 following persons have become members of 

 the Museum: 



Lift Members, Mrs. Frederic Delano 

 Hitch, Mrs. Stephen V. Harkness, and 

 Messrs. William Franklin Luxton Ed- 

 AVARDS, Alfred Warren Gale, Norman 

 James and Frederic A. Juilliard; 



Sitstnining Members, Miss Emeline Roach 

 and Messrs. A. W. Erickson, J. Prentice 

 Kellogg, and Philip C. Lindgren ; 



Annual Members, Mrs. P. B. Acker, Mrs. 

 Robert C. Birkhahn, Mrs. Arthur C. 

 Blagden, Mrs. Charles H. Brooks, Mrs. 

 Joel Feder, Mrs. Henry E. Hawley, 

 Mrs. E. R. Hewitt, Mrs. Robert Hunter, 

 Mrs. R. G. Hutchins, Jr., Mrs. William 

 B. IsHAM, Mrs. S. M. Jarvis, Mrs. Philip 

 B. Jennings, Mrs. Helen M. Kennerley, 

 Mrs. Percy H. Stewart, Mrs. A. W. 

 Swann, Mrs. Carll Tucker, Misses 

 Marian Hague and Margaret C. Hurlbut, 

 Dr. Myron P. Denton, Dr. L. Emmett 

 Holt, Dr. Oscar H. Rogers and Messrs. 

 T. Howard Barnes, Welcome W. Braden, 

 WiLLi.-ui B. DowD, Sandford D. Foot, 



George S. P'ranklin, Henry Hering, 

 Bernhard Hoffmann, Arthur S. Hyde, 

 Joseph A. McAleenan, F. H. Theakston, 

 Samuel Hinds Thomas, Lewis M. Thomp- 

 son and William Turnbull. 



All doubt as to the jirobable safety of the 

 members of the Crocker Land Expedition, 

 and of the party sent under Dr. Hovey to 

 bring them home, was removed on February 

 6 by a letter from Mr. Knud Rasmussen, the 

 Danish explorer, dated London, January 28. 



Mr. Rasmussen was in London in order to 

 meet his .ship "Kap York" which had re- 

 cently arrived in an English port from Green- 

 land. Captain Pedersen of the "Kap York" 

 was in connection with the "Cluett" and Dr. 

 Hovey on September 12 for about two hours 

 and therefore had the latest news of the 

 relief party. 



The ports were then full of new ice and 

 Dr. Hovey dared not put into port from 

 fear of becoming icebound for the winter. 

 The "Cluett" was therefore waiting in Wol- 

 stenholme Sound for the return of Mr. 

 Rasmussen's motor boat, which had been 



