Till: >r.(/;/.AT A/V ; KK. 



parts are silver}' white, Ixtlilly checkered with black. The length of the 

 from five to six feet. 



til 



raft i 



Tin- M'.M it is another nan..- f<>r the Corn-Snak- ..f the South, its northern limit 



l>-ing the Carolina*. 



AifdTHKK exanipl" of tins genus IN the THUNDER SITAKK, so calM fn)rn tin- threat-mtu: 

 black and white of it body, which seems to have a lowering aspect, ami to m.-na.-- \>\->n an 

 th- thundercloud augnr> lightning. Sometimes it is known by tin- name of KIN. or 



I : . - Vkl . th- latl.-r till- U-I1IJ -_'U. II '.., ;,,! UN UNI .'III. I Ullil.' |]...lUill_> ..I' III.- IH|\ 



are arranged alternately in a chain-like fashion. 



The Thunder Snake is moatly found in moi.st and Hhiuly placed, where it feeds ujHrn Htnall 

 quadru)wds, reptiles, and birds if it can catch them. The port. -moim aspect of this Snake 

 is fully carried out by its character, which is fierce, quarrelsome, and aggressive to a degree 







NAKK 



seldom found even in poisonous Serpents, and in a fanglem Snake not nt nil to be expected. If 

 put in a box with other Serpents, it always quarrels and fights with th-tn : and in one instance, 

 when a Thunder Snake had been introduced into a cage where a miliary rattlesnake was resid- 

 ing, it attacked the venomous reptile in spite of its poisonous weapons, overpowered, killed, 

 and ate it. Some persons think that a deadly feud always rage* U-tween the Thunder Snake 

 and rattlesnake, but the. truth of this supposition is somewhat dubious. In the instance Just 

 mentioned, the creature would probably have treated a Serpent of any species in precisely the 

 same manner. 



The Thunder Snake is colored after a very ]*>cu]iar fashion. All along the body run 

 alternate bands of jetty -black and pure white, th- Mack l>eing very broad and the white very 

 narrow, and not reaching completely across the body. The head is also mottled and scribbled 

 with Hack upon white after a curious and most complicated fashion. The full length of this 

 Serpent is about four feet. 



THE SCARLET Kno SNAKE (Optiihnlux doliatti*) inhabits Florida, and extends northward 

 only as far as North Carolina. Its length H three feet six inches. Five other varieties of this 

 genus are recorded as North American, found in the Southwestern States. 



