Our Natural Enemies. 191 



are frequently massed together with them, are carried home, 

 when the oil is simply tried out, bottled up and is then 

 ready for the market and the credulous patient. 



No subject connected with snakes, it would seem, has 

 attracted so much attention as the vexed one as to the care 

 which they take of their young. Snakes would hardly be 

 expected to show any great amount of maternal affection, 

 but that they do, and in a most remarkable manner, by 

 taking their young into their mouths, if alarmed, is a well- 

 established fact. The mother, when danger is imminent, 

 sounds her rattle as a signal, opens her very large mouth, 

 and receives in it her little family. 



The bite of nearly all rattlesnakes is extremely dangerous, 

 though not necessarily fatal in the smaller kinds. Almost 

 all animals succumb to their bite, and even man himself, if 

 the proper remedy is not at hand. There is a general belief 

 that the hog is exempt, and acting upon this belief farmers 

 have been known, where these reptiles are very abundant, 

 to turn in a few hogs upon them for their destruction. This 

 animal, though it has a fondness for the reptile, and exercises 

 a great deal of caution in its attack, has not infrequently 

 been killed by the reptile's poisonous fangs. Large doses 

 of whiskey have been successful in neutralizing the effects of 

 the poison, but it has been practically and experimentally 

 proved that permanganate of potash is the best antidote. 



But of all the poisonous snakes of this country, the Cop- 

 perhead, Ancistrodon contortrix, is the most dreaded. In the 

 South, he is known as the Cotton-mouth, Moccasin and 

 Red-eye, and is just as common in the Gulf States as in 

 the Atlantic and Middle States. He attains a length of 

 two feet, is of a hazel hue, the head having a bright cop- 

 pery lustre, and loves to conceal himself in shady spots in 

 meadows of high grass, where he feeds upon small animals, 

 rarely, if ever, attacking large ones unless trodden on. The 

 mother Copperhead has also been observed to shelter her 

 young in her mouth when threatened by danger. 



