SOME OF THE WILD THINGS 



he did not eat or drink. I noticed that his 

 skin was loose in patches. It was a month 

 before the regular time for the black snake 

 to shed its skin, but it was evident that this 

 interesting event was about to take place. I 

 put some rough rocks in the cage, and the 

 snake pulled himself between them in such 

 a way as to pull off the old skin. Before this, 

 the snake was totally blind. He shed the skin 

 over his eyes, and his sight was restored. 

 Shortly after he had shed his skin he glided 

 to the front of the cage and opened his mouth. 

 I took this to mean food, and gave him a 

 frog, which he swallowed. After this, when- 

 ever he was hungry, he would look at me with 

 his mouth open. This snake was six feet and 

 two inches in length, and large accordingly. 

 His muscular power I had tested, and had 

 found it to correspond to his size. 



It is singular how many persons there are 

 that think a snake's tongue is a stinger. My 

 snake would run his tongue through the wire 

 mesh, and sometimes I would touch it with 

 a finger. At such times, the most of the 

 203 



