646 



OPHIDIA 



easily tame. A gentleman in Berlin, rather too much addicted 

 to making pets of poisonous snakes, had a pair which propagated 

 regularly. When I was a boy he invited me to feed the young 

 Water -Vipers with fishes cut into strips, and I enjoyed this 

 immensely until he warned me not to touch the mother, which 

 might bite strangers. 



A. contortrix s. I'rigonocephaluscencJtris (part), the " Moccasin- 

 Snake " or " Copper-head," is one of the few poisonous snakes 



m^D 



Fig. 178. — Ancistrodon contortrix (Moccasin-Snake or Coppci--liead). x 



which possess a loreal shield, i.r. a shield intercalated between 

 the pre-oculars and the nasals : below it lies the pit. The general 

 colour is yellowish to pink or pale brown, with dark brown or 

 red cross - bars or triangular marks. The under surface is 

 yellowish or reddish, speckled with grey or brown, and with a 

 lateral series of large blackish spots. Total length of full-grown 

 specimens about one yard. The Moccasin-Snake ranges from 

 Massachusetts and Kansas to Northern Florida and Texas. It 

 prefers swampy localities or meadows with high grass, where it 

 hunts for small Mammals and Birds. 



Lachesis. — Witliout a rattle. The upper surface of the head 

 is covered with very small shields or with scales. About forty 



