42 GLEANINGS FROM NATURE. 



tinguished from the other two by .having its tail 

 devoid of a rattle and ending in a horny point. Sev- 

 eral species of harmless snakes are, 

 however, in many localities known as 

 Fig. s Tail end of " copper-heads" and are, therefore, 

 Copper-head. shunned as venomous. The most 

 common of these is the spreading viper or hog-nose 

 snake, which has a flat, triangular head, but which 

 lacks the "pit" between the eye and the nostril and 

 also the hollow poison fangs. Another 



marked difference is seen on the under 

 Copper=nead. 



. side of the tail where the plates or 

 scutes are, in the copper-head, mostly undivided, 

 whereas in the spreading viper they are divided on 

 the middle line. In color the copper-head is a chest- 



Fig. 9 Under side of tail of Southern Water-moccasin, a poisonous snake/" 

 (After Stejneger.) 



nut or hazel-brown, with numerous darker Y-shaped 

 blotches along the back. Its head is a coppery-red, 

 whence the common name. It seldom, if ever, ex- 

 ceeds three feet in length, and its poison is less virulent 

 than that of either of the rattle-snakes. On the other 

 hand it is more justly feared than they, since it gives 

 no warning of an attack but strikes viciously and 

 repeatedly at whatever disturbs its repose. 



*The Copper-head has similar undivided plates. 



