106 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:3— Mar., 1917 



lower jaws is moved forward, while the backward pointing teeth 

 of the upper jaw, and of the inactive half of the lower, retain all 

 that is gained. The snake literally draws itself over its food. 

 To our surprise, since we had always supposed that snakes ate 

 only at considerable intervals, and had no experience as to the 

 amount of a single square meal, our Pine Snake cheerfully accepted 

 a second mouse on the next day. We never did succeed in finding 

 its limit, for it ate every mouse we offered it, twenty-one in all, 

 from August i6th to September 7th, an average of nearly one a day. 

 A number of these were young field mice brought in from the hay 

 field, and they were taken directly from the fingers, with no 

 striking or constriction, and swallowed head or tail or back fore- 

 most as was convenient. A half grown field mouse seemed to leave 

 some doubt in the snake's mind as to the proper procedure. It 

 struck and grasped the mouse with the jaws as usual, but instead 

 of constricting, simply coiled on top of it, somewhat as the black 

 snakes and racers are said to do. Finding that the prospective 

 dinner made no serious struggle, swallowing was at once begun, 

 without relaxing the hold, so that the mouse went down back 

 first, its head and tail doubled together. 



The largest number of mice taken at one time was seven, a 

 full grown short tailed field mouse and six young. The swallowing 

 process occupied from three to four minutes for an adult mouse. 



By the last of August the snake's eyes had become very opaque, 

 and the color dull, so that we knew it was preparing to shed its 

 skin. Young field mice were still accepted, but larger ones placed 

 in the box were either left undisturbed, or killed and left uneaten. 

 The fast continued until September 15th, when with a little 

 assistance the old skin was shed, and the eyes were again bright 

 and the new skin brilliant with its yellow and black pattern. 

 Not long after this we gave all our snakes their freedom, 



This was by far our most successful experience with a Pine 

 Snake. We may surely hope, and indeed we know, that some at 

 least of our neighbors who saw the feeding, and heard our glowing 

 accounts of a Pine Snake's insatiable appetite for mice, 

 were convinced of the usefulness of at least one species of snake. 

 We had contributed our mite, as an old Scotch relative said, 

 toward "keeling a supersteeshun." 



