330 



PRACTICAL ZOOLOGY 



wide and the fangs are thrust into the victim. Then certain 

 muscles force the poison from the poison glands through the 

 hollow fangs into the wound. Extracting the fangs from one of 

 these snakes does not render it harmless for long, since there 

 are a number of pairs of small teeth held in reserve, which soon 

 grow into functional fangs. 



The common treatment for snake bite is the administering of 

 alcohol and sucking the wound. Neither of these is of much 



FIG. 209. Copperhead snake. (Photo, of living animal furnished by 

 American Museum of Natural History.) 



benefit. The first thing that should be done is to stop the flow 

 of blood toward the heart by applying a ligature above the 

 wound. Then incisions should be made through the wound to 

 get rid of as much poison as possible, and a solution of potassium 

 permanganate should be injected about the wound to destroy 

 the venom. An antivenin has been produced which when in- 

 jected into the body destroys the venom in the blood, but unfor- 

 tunately the poison from every kind of snake requires a different 

 sort of antivenin. 



The water moccasin (Fig. 208) is a very poisonous snake. It 

 lives in the swampy lands of the Southeast, and reaches an 



