590 Lake Maxinkuckee, Physical and Biological Survey 



Indiana it is known only from the northern portions of the State. 

 It is the only poisonous snake occurring about Lake Maxinkuckee, 

 all the other species found in that region or elsewhere in northern 

 Indiana being entirely harmless. Formerly the Massasauga was 

 abundant throughout this part of the State, but, with the settling 

 up of the country and the draining of the prairie grass land and 

 the marshes, it has become wholly exterminated in many places 

 and practically so in many others. About Maxinkuckee, however, 

 and elsewhere in Marshall County, it is far from extinct. It is 

 apt to be found in any and all suitable places such as prairie mead- 

 ows, about the borders of vanishing lakes and in prairie marsh 

 ground anywhere. 



In May, 1891, when the spring meeting of the Indiana Academy 

 of Science was being held at Lake Maxinkuckee, several specimens 

 were caught by members in attendance, chiefly in marshy ground 

 about the lake. About 1896 a young man on the eastern side of 

 the lake was bitten on the leg by one. The leg remained swollen 

 for some time and complete recovery was very slow. On August 

 6, 1899, one was caught on Long Point between the Scovell and 

 Walter Knapp cottages. It was 23 inches long and had five rattles. 

 On August 3, 1900, one was killed 2^ miles south of Arlington sta- 

 tion. It was 18 inches long and had two rattles and a button. 

 Several weeks earlier near the same place a dog was bitten by 

 one without fatal results. On August 26 a small one was killed on 

 the east side of the lake near the T. W. Wilson cottage. On the 

 same day one was killed in a field on the Hawk farm south of 

 Culver. It was about 2 feet long and had nine rattles. Another 

 young individual was killed September 3 on the east side 2 miles 

 southeast of the Maxwell cottage, and one with nine rattles was 

 killed September 26, 1907, in a meadow on the Newman farm four 

 miles southeast of Culver. 



These are all the records we have of the occurrence of the 

 Prairie Rattlesnake in the immediate vicinity of Lake Maxinkuckee. 

 We have heard, however, of numerous examples being killed in 

 marshy meadows northwest, west and south of the lake. In those 

 regions there are numerous and considerable meadows of the wild 

 grass or sedge, Carex stricta, which are cut in the early fall by 

 farmers and others for hay or for use in the ice-houses, and other 

 purposes. It is then that this venomous snake is met with most 

 frequently. 



Though habitually dwelling in marshy situations it is some- 

 times seen on higher, open ground. It is rarely seen in open woods 

 or dry thickets. 



