AMERICAN SCIENCE CONVENTION ON SNAKES. 



find that the yellow boa, like many 

 other serpents, is a " swallower ;" 

 but they should bear in mind that 

 a naturalist cannot be too full and 



circumstantial, exact and logical, in 

 his information, to make it of any 

 use in settling a question like the 

 one under consideration. 



AMERICAN SNAKES.* 



PROFESSOR G. BROWN 

 GOODE, of the University of 

 Middletown, Connecticut, caused a 

 notice to appear in an Agricultural 

 Paper, having a wide circulation in 

 the United States, asking for infor- 

 mation on the subject of snakes 

 swallowing their young, f I have a 

 letter from him, dated " Head- 

 quarters U. S. Fish Commission, 

 Peak's Island, Portland, Maine, 

 July 2ist, 1873," in which he says: 

 " I have in my possession over 

 fifty letters from all parts of the 

 United States giving the testimony 

 of persons who have not only found 

 the young in the throat of the 

 parent, but have seen them run into 

 her mouth. I am not getting up a 

 formal discussion of the subject, 

 but am thinking of reading a short 

 paper at the meeting of the Ameri- 

 can Association, next month. I 

 find that many of our naturalists 

 seem determined not to believe in 

 it, yet I cannot but think that the 

 evidence sustains our side. May I 

 use your name, if necessary, in 

 connection with this question ? 

 Professor Sydney J. Smith, of the 



Sheffield Scientific School, Yale 

 College, assures me that he has 

 seen the act, and believes with us. 

 I will return your papers at an 

 early date." 



It has often occurred to me that 

 the female snake must have two 

 throats one for ordinary purposes 

 and the other to give a passage to 

 her young, or one throat for a cer- 

 tain length, leading by a valve, as 

 it were, to another that enters the 

 chamber that contained the eggs, 

 and which doubtless becomes the 

 receptacle of the young when 

 hatched. It will be difficult to 

 find this passage unless when it is 

 in use, for it will become so con- 

 tracted at other times as to escape 

 any observation that is not very 

 minutely made. Mr. Goode speaks 

 of the young being found in the 

 throat of the parent, which is evi- 

 dently a slip in a hasty note, for it 

 is in the body they take refuge 

 apparently in the chamber that 

 contained the eggs, which, as I 

 said on a former occasion, appears 

 to be distinct from the stomach 

 proper. 



AMERICAN SCIENCE CONVENTION ON SNAKES.\ 



ON the 23d July I informed you 

 that Mr. G. Brown Goode, of 

 Middletown University, Connecti- 

 cut, had received many letters from 

 different parts of the United States, 

 testifying to the fact that snakes 



swallow their young. The follow- 

 ing is an abstract of a paper read 



* Dated July zsd, 1873. 

 f This notice appeared on February 

 ist, 1873. 

 % Dated September zoth, 1873. 



