v SNAKES. 47 



of darker blotches, 34 in each row, between the head 

 and tail. Those specimens living in swamps and 

 marshy places are often a uniform black in color. 



In the wet prairies and marshes of northern Indiana 

 the massasauga is yet found in small numbers, but is 

 nowhere so abundant as it was 

 a score, of years ago. No 

 record of specimens taken in 

 the State south of the National 

 Road has come to the writer's 

 notice. 



Aside from its poisonous 

 qualities, its habits are bene- 

 ficial, as it feeds upon field 

 mice and insects, and thus aids Fig . 14 _ 



keeping in check those pestS. snake, shown from top and 

 T, i , . -. n T T side. (After Stejneger.) 



Its bite is considered much less 



venomous than that of the timber rattle-snake, one 

 observer having asserted that it is scarcely more to 

 be dreaded than the sting of a hornet. This might 

 be true if the person bitten were so situated that im- 

 mediate medical assistance could be obtained, but for 

 persons living on a farm at some distance from a 

 physician, the bite is always to be regarded as 

 serious. 'The degree of danger from the bite of 

 any of the poisonous snakes depends chiefly upon 

 the size of the reptile, the amount of venom injected 

 and the location of the wounded part, The larger 

 the snake, the more venom it exudes and the deeper 

 the fangs are driven into the body of the victim. 

 If the wound is in such a part of the body that the 

 poison is injected directly into the circulation the 



