116 SERPENTS 



about 6 feet in length when fully grown, and 2 inches in diam- 

 eter. Its head is very wide, and it has very long fangs in 

 proportion to its size. Its color pattern strongly suggests 

 the light phase of the timber rattlesnake brown, with black 

 markings. On two occasions that we know of, travellers re- 

 turning from the West Indies have brought with them in 

 pasteboard boxes, as indifferently as if they were frogs, living 

 and healthy specimens of this venomous creature ! One speci- 

 men was brought to us by a lady and her child, for identi- 

 fication; and the keepers of reptiles shudder even yet when 

 they think what might easily have occurred. 



Fortunately, this serpent is not particularly aggressive, or 

 hostile toward those about it. When it seizes its prey, how- 

 ever, it buries its fangs, and holds on determinedly. A female 

 specimen in our collection gave birth to twenty-four young, 

 but they one and all refused to eat, and failed to survive. 



SNAKE POISONS AND THEIR TREATMENT 



The Rattlesnake's defensive equipment of fangs and 

 poison has been perfected by Nature with as much care as 

 the horns of hoofed animals, or the defensive armor of an ar- 

 madillo. The ordinary jaw teeth have nothing to do with 

 the poisoning process, and wounds from them would prove 

 fatal only under exceptional conditions. 



The venom of a serpent is a rather thick fluid, secreted 

 in two glands that are situated on the side of the upper jaw, 

 under the skin, behind the eye. In the stomach of an animal 

 it is supposed to be harmless, and we know that in many 

 cases it is so. To produce death, it must be injected into 



