SHORT STUDIES OF SNAKES. 289 



rattlesnake were intimately associated ? I can find none, 

 and certainly at present the two species are not found 

 together, not being frequenters of the same kind of locali- 

 ties. The hog-nose snake prefers open, sandy fields ; 

 the rattlesnake, rocks, and at all times a forest-growth, 

 or, at least, a dense undergrowth. I have endeavored 

 in vain to detect something in their habits, haunts, and 

 anatomy that could throw light upon these questions, but, 

 as yet, all in vain ; I can only say that the snake is in 

 appearance a rattler, but that it has neither the rattles 

 nor the fangs. A veritable impostor is he, sailing under 

 false colors throughout his whole life. 



Of all our serpents, the hog-nose is, by far, the most 

 sluggish in its movements. So slow is it, that it can be 

 easily overtaken, if it should attempt to escape, which it 

 rarely does. I have found them partial to loose, sandy 

 soils, as in cultivated fields, in which they burrow with 

 all the facility of a mole. They burrow, I am led to be- 

 lieve, only to a shallow depth, and think it is in search of 

 earth worms and insect larvae, and not merely for the sake 

 of shelter. In several instances, where I have detected 

 them coming out of the ground, I have found in their 

 stomachs masses of semi-digested animal matter which 

 were believed to be the remains of earth-worms and in- 

 sect larvae. This fact should give the snake a claim to 

 protection from the farmer, and this is now set up for 

 them, though with little or no hope that my interposi- 

 tion in their behalf will result in any permanent benefit. 



In the month of May I have frequently found their 

 eggs, in considerable numbers, a few inches below the 

 surface; and early in July I once found a family of 

 seventeen very small and apparently just hatched young. 

 In this instance no old snakes were seen. Young as these 

 little ones were, and apparently with quite defective 



