BUTTERFLIES AND RATTLESNAKES. 63 



in appearance and method of flight so very different 

 from ours; instead of that sort of jerking or insane 

 method of progression which our ephemeral insects have, 

 the larger insects in America glided over the sweet blos 

 soming clover, or settled as if they were birds. As there 

 was no sign of game of any sort whatever, I sat down 

 under the shade of an overhanging wood, fenced from 

 cultivation by a high zigzag rail, and called on the in 

 dustrious and persevering Chance to cease his abortive 

 labour. This he instantly did, as well as reluctantly, 

 though the thermometer at noon in the shade stood at 

 75, and in the sun at 110 degrees. On sitting down, I 

 asked the lad who was with me if the spot was safe on 

 account of venomous snakes, when, on looking at the 

 ground, he replied, " Oh, quite ; you never find a snake 

 where the hogs have lately been, and they have been 

 basking here." I found, on subsequent inquiry, that pigs 

 and deer are reputed to destroy snakes with their fore feet, 

 and that the poison takes no effect on swine, neither in 

 a bite nor when swallowed, for the hogs are said to eat 

 snakes. During my travels in America I particularly 

 turned my attention to the consequences of poison from 

 " rattlesnake " or " copperhead," and found that the In 

 dians applied the root of a wild blue flower termed " the 

 snake -root," growing all over the plains, in the way of 

 antidote. I believe there are two or three plants, an ap 

 plication of the berry or root from which is deemed bene 

 ficial in the case of snake bites ; but the remedy which is 

 said never to have been known to fail in regard to rattle 

 snakes of from three to four feet long is what is termed a 

 skinful of neat whiskey ; and when the poison of the 

 snake and the spirit are in antagonistic action in the hu 

 man system, it is asserted that a man may drink at a 



