450 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



and the Rainbow of the southeastern sections of the coun- 

 try. Tliese are species that reach nearly fifty inches in 

 length, and are burrowing forms with respect to their 

 habits. The writer has captured species of the Red- 

 bellied snake in Louisiana, one of them being nearly 

 iixty inches long. It was a fine purplish black on its 

 upper parts, and blotched with a splendid vermilion red 

 on the belly. Its tail ended in a sharp, needle-like spine, 

 which the negroes about New Orleans called a "sting", 

 and the reptile itself a "horn-snake". They contended 

 that it strikes with its tail, and that a prick from its sting 

 is invariably fatal all of which 

 being utterly false. They live 

 along the wet and swampy bayous, 

 often under old logs or boards 

 which have long laid undisturbed 

 near the water, where it is wet 

 and boggy. 



A long chapter might be writ- 

 ten about our Hog-nosed snakes 

 (Hetcrodon), pretty specimens of 

 the young of which are presented 

 in Figure 9. They pos- 

 sess the habit of feigning 

 death, and do the trick 

 quite as perfectly as th; 

 oldest 'possum that ever 

 tried it. This species is 

 also known as the Pufl 

 or Spreading Adder, as 

 the Sand Viper 

 or Blow Snake, 

 and a s Flat- 

 headed Adder. 

 They are en- 

 tirely harmless, 

 and will not 

 even bite when 

 teased to do so, 

 while at the 

 same time they 

 are the most 

 dangerous 

 looking and 

 venomous ap- 

 pearing snakes 

 we have in our entire snake fauna. Ignorant persons and 

 boys slay them on sight, and brag of the achievement long 

 afterwards. This is a shame, as not only do they feed on 

 toads and frogs, but are most interesting animals to 

 study. When they play "dead", they roll over on their 

 backs; and one may throw them about and handle them 

 in the roughest way they will keep up the hoax. Doctor 

 Ditmars says he carried one about by its tail for half an 

 hour on one occasion, and it remained as limp as a rag; 

 he adds, however, that it may be led to betray itself "if 

 placed upon the ground on its crawling surface. Then, 



YOUXG BLACKSNAKE (UPPER) AND COPPERHEAD (TWO LOWER) 



Fig. II. Note the gentle appearance of the young blacksnake and its feeble attitude when 

 coiled, as compared with the venomous Copperhead, where, in the middle cut, it is shown in 

 the attitude it assumes when preparing to strike. Such traits appear in snakes at a very 



early stage of their existence. 



like a flash, it turns upon its back again, and once more 

 becomes limp and apparently lifeless. It appears ac- 

 cording to this creature's reasoning that a snake to look 

 thoroughly dead should be lying on its back." 



Being thick-bodied and somewhat sluggish in move- 

 ment, it is very diflficult for the Hog-nosed snake to make 

 its escape when overtaken in the open. The writer once 

 confronted one on a wide, dusty road in the country. In 

 an instant it blew itself up, and flattened out its entire 

 body, including its head and neck the latter parts being 

 at least three times their usual width. This causes the 

 colors of the neck to stand out 

 with marked brilliancy, thus giving 

 the reptile a most dangerous ap- 

 pearance, which is in no way di- 

 minished by the savage couite- 

 nance it assumes the wickedness 

 in its eyes, and its habit of vio- 

 lently puffing out its breath, at 

 the same time assuming an atti- 

 tude as if to strike, like a rattler. 

 All this is pure bluff of the bluf- 

 fiest description ; for as 

 soon as it finds that the 

 game fails, it feigns 

 death immediately, and 

 thus gives all the as- 

 sumed ferocity away. 

 These antics often cause 

 its discoverer to dispatch 

 it with a big 

 stone or heavy 

 stick. At the 

 bottom, a Pufif 

 Adder is really 

 a most gentle 

 snake, and one 

 need have no 

 fear of picking 

 it up in . the 

 midst of its 

 antics of play- 

 ing the part of 

 one of the 

 world's most 

 deadly vipers, 

 with fangs an inch long, having on hand ready for in- 

 jection a full fluid ounce of the deadliest venom known 

 to all snakedom ! 



Before passing to the venomous snakes proi)er, it may 

 be pointed out that we have a limbless lizard in the 

 country known as the "Glass snake" (Opliisaunis ven- 

 trdlis) (Fig. 7) ; but as this is in no sense of the word a 

 serpent, space cannot be devoted to its description and 

 history, attractive as both are to any one interested in our 

 animal fauna. 

 The Harlequin or Coral snakes are known as the Ela- 



