72 GLEANINGS FROM NATURE. 



or snap more fiercely ; and none other, as commonly 



met with, is as much feared as this. And yet, in 



spite of all these threatening actions, 



ie prea g .^ ^.^ . g p er f ec t]y harmless, as the 



writer knows by experience. It has 

 no sign of a poison fang and no duct connecting with 

 a poison gland. Aside from its actions the spreading 

 viper may be known from other Indiana snakes by 

 having the snout brought to an edge along the sidi-s 

 and to a point in front, and then turned up so as to 

 resemble a pointed dirt shovel. In 

 color this snake is either uniform 

 black, or a yellowish brown with 

 about 28 darker blotches on the 



-back and 

 sides. The 

 spotted 



^==C2-ii-x>--vo form is the 

 \ / - : ^XJ_ one most 



Fig. 19 Head of Spreading Viper, shown from top and side. U S U a 1 1 V 



seen but the other in this vicinity is not rare. The 

 scales are keeled and disposed in 23 or 25 rows. It 

 sometimes reaches a length of three and a half feet 

 and is then possessed of a thick and heavy body. 



A closely allied form, both in structure and habits, is 

 the "sand viper," Heterodon simus (L.), which inhabits 

 the southern States and has been taken in Indiana at 

 New Harmony and Brookville. It is distinguished 

 from the spreading viper by having the central plate 

 of the head surrounded by five to ten small plates. It 

 seldom exceeds two feet in length and the scales are 

 sometimes in 27 rows. 



