AMERICAN SCIENCE CONVENTION ON SNAKES. 



37 



by him before the Science Conven- 

 tion at Portland, in the State of 

 Maine, as taken from the New 

 York Tribune, of the 27th of 

 August : 



"ON THE QUESTION 'DO SNAKES 

 SWALLOW THEIR YOUNG?' BY G. 

 BROWN GOODE, OF MIDDLETOWN 

 UNIVERSITY, CONN. 



" This paper discussed the habit ob- 

 served in certain snakes of allowing 

 their young a temporary refuge in their 

 throats, whence they emerge when 

 danger is past. He stated that the 

 question had been a mooted one since 

 the habit was first discussed by Gilbert 

 White in his ' Natural History of Sel- 

 borne/ published in 1789. Reference 

 was made to the views of Sir William 

 Jarcline, M. C. Cooke, and Prof. F. W. 

 Putnam, as well as to the recent discus- 

 sion of the subject in The London 

 Land and Water. 



" The question can only be decided 

 by the testimonies of eye-witnesses. 

 Through the courtesy of the editors of 

 The American Agriculturist, a note 

 was inserted asking for observations. 

 By this means and by personal inquiry 

 the testimony of 96 persons has been 

 secured. Of these, 56 saw the young 

 enter the parent's mouth, in 19 cases the 

 parent warning them by a loud whistle. 

 Two were considerate enough to wait 

 and see the young appear when danger 

 seemed to be past, one repairing to the 

 same spot and witnessing the same act 

 on several successive days. Four saw 

 the young rush out when the parent 

 was struck ; 18 saw the young shaken 

 out by dogs, or running from the mouth 

 of their dead parent ; 29 who saw the 

 young enter, killed the mother and 

 found them living within, while only 13 

 allowed the poor parent to escape ; 27 

 saw the young living within the parent, 

 but as they did not see them enter, the 

 testimony is at least dubious. 



" It may be objected that these are the 

 testimonies of laymen, untrained and 

 unaccustomed to observation. The let- 

 ters are, however, from a very intelli- 

 gent class of farmers, planters, and 

 business men intelligent readers of an 

 agricultural magazine. In addition, we 

 have the testimony of several gentle- 

 men whose word would not be doubted 

 on other questions in zoology. There 

 were given the statements of Prof. S. 

 J. Smith, of Yale College, Dr. Edward 



Palmer, of the Smithsonian Institution, 

 the Rev. C. L. Loomis, M.D., of Mid- 

 dletown, Conn., and others ; and the 

 statement of the editor of The Zoolo- 

 gist regarding the Scaly Lizard of Eu- 

 rope (Zootoca vivipara), which has a 

 similar habit. 



" In the opinion of Profs. Wyman and 

 Gill and other physiologists, there is no 

 physical reason why the young snakes 

 may not remain a considerable time in 

 the dilatable throat and stomach of the 

 mother. The gastric juice acts very 

 feebly upon living tissues, and it is al- 

 most impossible to smother reptiles. 

 Toads and frogs often escape unharmed 

 from the stomachs of snakes. If the 

 habit is not protective, if the young 

 cannot escape from their hiding-place, 

 this habit is without parallel ; if it is 

 protective, a similar habit is seen in 

 South American fishes of the genera 

 Arius Bagrus and Geophagus, where 

 the males carry the eggs for safety in 

 their mouths and gill-openings. 



" Since many important facts in biol- 

 ogy are accepted on the statements of 

 a single observer, it is claimed that 

 these testimonies are sufficient to set 

 this matter forever at rest. The well 

 attested cases relate to the garter snake 

 and ribbon snake (Eutosnia sirtalis and 

 saurtta), the water- snake ( Tropidono- 

 tus sipedon), the rattlesnake (Caudisona 

 horrida), the copperhead and moccasin 

 (Ancistrodon contortrix and piscivo- 

 rus), the massasauga (Crotalustergemi- 

 nus), the English viper (Pelias berus), 

 and the mountain black-snake (Coluber 

 Alleghaniensis). It is probable that 

 the habit extends through all the species 

 of the genera represented, as well as 

 throughout the family of Crotalidtz. It 

 is noteworthy that all these snakes are 

 known to be ovoviviparous,while no well 

 attested case occurs among the truly 

 oviparous, milk snakes (Ophebolus), 

 grass snakes (Liopeltis and Cyclophis)^ 

 ground snakes ( ' Storeria), or the 

 smooth black-snakes (Bascanion con- 

 strictor). It yet remains to be shown 

 that the habit is shared by egg-laying 

 snakes. Further observations are much 

 needed, as the breeding habits of more 

 than 25 North American genera are 

 entirely unknown. 



" Prof. Gill corroborated the state- 

 ment that there was no physical reason 

 why the habit could not exist, and said 

 that he considered the evidence suffi- 

 cient to finally decide the matter. He 

 repudiated the popular idea that snakes 



