SNAKES. 41 



something akin to blood poisoning. The best anti- 

 dote, as well known, is alcohol taken inwardly in the 

 form of whisky or brandy. This acts as a stimulant, 

 bracing up the system and enabling it to withstand 

 the depressing effects of the poison. When properly 

 attended to not more than twenty per cent, of the 

 bites of our poisonous snakes result fatally. 



Fig. 7 Head of Rattle-snake, showing Venom Gland and Muscles. 



a, venom gland; a', venom duct; /, sheath of fang; I, c, d, g and h, muscles; 



i andy, salivary glands. 



Hogs are seldom poisoned when bitten by a rattle- 

 snake or copper-head, as their fatty tissue absorbs the 

 poison and prevents it from entering the circulation. 

 Other animals usually die from the effects of the bite, 

 even the snake itself succumbing to its own venom 

 when it accidentally wounds itself. In other words, 

 the poison is a liquid secreted from the blood, which 

 becomes fatal on being introduced back into the very 

 same source. 



Of the three "pit-vipers" occurring in Indiana, the 

 copper-head, Agkistrodon contortrix (L.), is readily dis- 



