452 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



of our most competent com- 

 parative anatomists. 

 ' Our representatives of the 

 Viperine group are the Moc- 

 casins and the Rattlesnakes, 

 jhe former having two species, 

 namely, the Copperhead and 

 the Water IMoccasin, while in 

 the latter we find about a 

 dozen species of rattlers. 



In many books devoted to 

 our snakes will be found ex- 

 cellent descriptions of the poi- 

 son fangs, the nature of the 

 venom, the anatomy of the en- 

 tire apparatus, and the treat- 

 ment of snake-bite, each one of 

 which subjects would require 

 an article to itself for ade- 

 quate description. Such de- 



A SIX-FOOT BULL SNAKE 

 FROM TEXAS 



Fig. i6. Many names have been 

 given this big, harmless snake, the 

 one of Bull Snake being widely 

 bestowed upon it. Through a 

 modification of one of the struc 

 tures of its throat, it can, in force- 

 ful expiration, make a sound like 

 the bellowing of a bull, or distant 

 thunder. This specimen is shed- 

 ding; its new skin of black and 

 yellow will shine like porcelain, 

 and the reptile be one of great 

 beauty. 



A LARGE BLACK SNAKE IN 



THE FIRST STAGES OF 



SHEDDING 



Fig. 14. It is a most interesting 

 phenomenon that snakes periodi- 

 cally shed their skins. This is the 

 way a blacksnake looks when the 

 necessity for doing so has ar- 

 rived. Note the white skin that 

 covers its entire eye, rendering 

 the snake completely blind until 

 the skin is shed. 



scriptions generally prove to 

 be quite vague and unsatisfac- 

 tory, unless thoroughly illus- 

 trated by drawings and dia- 

 grams. The anatomy and 

 physiology of a rattlesnake's 

 head, for example, would 

 make quite a little book. 



Many articles and works 

 have been devoted to the moc- 

 casins and rattlers of this coun- 

 try, describing their geograph- 

 ical distribution, the number of 

 species and their names, their 

 habits and characters, their 

 ecology and variations, and a 

 great deal more ; but so extensive is this literature, and so important withal, that it 

 is quite impracticable to select any part of it for a short article like the present one, 

 without neglecting some other part of equal value and importance, thus laying the 

 writer open to the charge of being ignorant of the parts not referred to in the de- 





