1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



843 



tricating herself. The drone's weight would then 

 bear the queen down ; but if this were not the case, 

 she could not pull loose without some resistance to 

 pull against. This resistance would be afforded by 

 falling with the drone to some surface, and there 

 getting rid of him, after the manner practiced by 

 the bumble bee. 



As our bees can fly out almost any time here, we 

 are arranging to make a series of experiments con- 

 cerning the question as to whether the drones from 

 a mismated queen are the pure children of the 

 mother only. We have always been one of the 

 doubters. We will send you the bees if we gather 

 any evidence; at any rate, we will report progress 

 if desired. C. Ryan Mitchal. 



Ocala, Fla., Oct. 7, 1889. 



THE JOINT SNAKES MADE OF FLESH AND BLOOD, 

 AND NOT OF A BONY SUBSTANCE. 



I read in October Gleanings, p. 777, about joint 

 snakes. You said that the part that broke off was a 

 bony substance, without life or motion. Now, I 

 think you are mistaken. I have killed quite a 

 number of them in Iowa; and where they broke in 

 two the body was composed of flesh. They do not 

 unite after being broken; but if only a short piece 

 is broken from the tail, the snake will live minus 

 the piece. If you had been' in California during 

 the summer you could have seen " swifts," a small 

 animal much like the lizard. It has four feet, and a 

 long tapering tail. Now, if you should catch him 

 by the tail, or strike the tail with a whip, off it 

 comes, and it will show signs of life by wiggling 

 about for some time. Now, this tail is not bony, 

 but flesh and muscles. P. A. Bliss. 



Duarte, Cal., Oct. 11, 1889. 



JOINT, or grass snakes, a reality. 



I have seen numbers of them. There is no hard, 

 horny substance about them except the head, and 

 possibly small scales. It may be that they are 

 mostly tail, as is stated by Mr. Mclntyre. I can't 

 say; but I do know that they snap in two almost as 

 readily as a glass tube, seeming tougher as they 

 near the head. I have broken them in many 

 pieces, and they remain so until decomposed. They 

 show no blood, as we understand blood, when bro- 

 ken, but I have sometimes noticed a colorless, 

 sticky exudation from the broken parts. The joint, 

 grass, or glass snake, is a reality. 1 have seen him 

 many times, and he is quite pretty. Ordinarily he 

 would be called a garter snake, but he certainly is 

 not. J. M. Shuck. 



Des Moines, la., Oct. 5, 1889. 



THE GLASS, OR JOINT SNAKE ; HOW IT BREAKS. 



Mr. E. Mclntyre, in Gleanings, page 777, gives a 

 good description of the glass-snake, except the 

 length of the body part and the shape of the break 

 joint. I captured one in Kansas, a few miles south- 

 west of Emporia, and carried it to the house to 

 show to those who had never seen such a snake. 

 There I studied the anatomy of the reptile. It was 

 about 2 feet long, about % tail, which I broke in 

 short pieces, and put them together. The break 

 showed 3 dovetails on each piece— pointed, or miter 

 shaped, as smooth as if done with a carpenter's 

 chisel. The dovetails were about % of an inch long. 

 I wrote a description, and sent a drawing of the 

 dovetailed or miter^break to my sister, Mrs. Laura 

 Henderson, in Pennsylvania. The short miter- 

 shaped muscles were used in propelling the snake, 



and looked nicer to eat than the interior of an oys- 

 ter. There was no horny substance except the 

 skin. D. Tyrrell, M. D. 



Toulon, 111., Oct. 7, L889. 



You say you broke the snake apart and 

 put it together again. Now, that is just 

 the point I want to know about. If you put 

 that snake together so he went off alive, tail 

 and all, then I shall say again, that truth is 

 a great deal more wonderful than fiction. 

 I suppose, of course, that this glass-snake 

 does not have a skin as snakes usually do. 

 If so, how can he let his skin tear apart? 

 Of course, you did not make that part 

 " hitch " when you put him together again, 

 did you? Here comes Prof. Cook to our aid: 



Dear Friend Rout: 



I have already anticipated Mr. E. J. Baird's re- 

 quest, and sent an illustrated description of the 

 whip scorpion, or "black grampus." I believe 

 still, that the only harm that this animal can do is 

 by its bite. Is Mr. Baird's account of the anal 

 poisoning and switching any thing more than hear- 

 say? 



Now, friend Root, why did you not speak, when 

 here, and I would have shown you those brittle 

 snakes? There are two in our museum— the " blind 

 worm," of Europe, which is really no snake at all, 

 but a legless lizard, and the glass-snake of the 

 South— Ophisaurux ventralis, which is also really a 

 legless lizard. When these are alarmed they make 

 their muscles rigid, and this breaks off their tails. 

 All lizards, when caught, are apt to lose their tails 

 in this way. Thus a person who runs a museum of 

 lizards really needs to go into the retailing business. 

 You see, then, that such animals do not break 

 apart— they only lose their tails. I should like very 

 much if some of my Southern friends would send 

 me two or three of these glass-snakes. I will pay 

 for all trouble and expense. T have several fine 

 specimens from readers of Gleanings, received of 

 late. I assure you that they are appreciated. 



Agricultural College, Mich. A. J. Cook. 



Why, friend Cook, I should most assured- 

 ly have asked to see the glass-snake had I 

 known you had one in the museum. With 

 the number of testimonies furnished it 

 wonld seem as though I ought to be satis- 

 fled, and yet I am not. The mystery to me 

 is this: Call it a legless lizard, or whatever 

 you choose, these tails are a part of the 

 body, and must grow as the body does. 

 Now, how could they grow without veins 

 and arteries? 



Since the above was put in type, we have 

 received the following from Prof. Koons, of 

 the Connecticut Agricultural School. As it 

 corroborates the statements of Prof. Cook, 

 and also gives us some additional very in- 

 teresting information, we take pleasure in 

 giving it to our readers, as we close the sub- 

 ject, at least for the time being: 



Bio. Root:— I have been not a little interested in 

 Mr. B.'s and Mr. Mcl.'s references to the grass- 

 snake, in Gleanings for Oct. 1st. It is not a snake 

 at all, but a retrograde lizard without feet, and is 

 more commonly known as the glass-snake, so called 

 because the vertebise of the tail are so loosely ar- 

 ticulated that they part at the slightest blow. 

 Among scientists it is a well-known object of nat- 

 ural history, called by them Ophisawus centralis. 



