i 2 8 THE HOG-NOSE SNAKE. 



length was not readily found. The motions of the Snake while in the water are pecul- 

 iarly graceful, and the rapid progress is achieved by a beautifully serpentine movement 

 of the body and tail. 



This Snake is susceptible of kindness, and if properly treated, soon learns to know 

 its owner, and to suffer him to handle it without displaying any mark of irritation. 

 Though harmless and incapable of doing any hurt by its bite, the Snake is not without 

 other means of defence, its surest weapon being a most abominable and penetrating 

 odor, which it is capable of discharging when irritated, and which, like that of the 

 skunk, adheres so closely to the skin or the clothes, that it can hardly be removed 

 even by repeated washings. Moreover, it is of so penetrating a nature, that it cannot 

 be hidden under artificial essences, being obtrusively perceptible through the most 

 powerful perfumes, and rather increasing than diminishing in offensiveness by the 

 mixture. The reptile will, however, soon learn to distinguish those who be- 

 have kindly to it, and will suffer itself to be handled without ejecting this horrible 

 odor. 



The young of the Ringed Snake, are hatched from eggs, which are laid in strings in 

 some warm spot and left to be hatched by the heat of the weather or other natural means. 

 Dunghills are favorite localities for these eggs, as the heat evolved from the decaying 

 vegetable matter is most useful in aiding their development, and it often happens that 

 a female Snake obtains access into a hothouse and there deposits her eggs. Some 

 persons say that the mother is sometimes known to remain near the eggs, and to coil 

 herself round them as has already been related of the boa. The eggs are soft, as if 

 made of parchment, and whitish. They are found in chains containing fifteen or 

 twenty, and are cemented together by a kind of glutinous substance. 



During the winter the Snake retires to some sheltered spot, where it remains until 

 the warm days of spring call it again to action. The localities which it chooses for its 

 winter quarters are always in some well sheltered spot, generally under the gnarled 

 roots of ancient trees, under heaps of dry brushwood, or deep crevices. In these 

 places the Snakes will congregate in great numbers, more than a hundred having been 

 taken from one hollow. A few years ago I saw a hole from which a great number of 

 Ringed Snakes had been taken ; it was situated in a bank, at some depth. The color 

 of the Ringed Snake is grayish green above and blue-black below, often mottled with 

 deep black. Behind the head is a collar of golden yellow, often broken in the 

 middle so as to look like two patches of yellow. Behind the yellow collar is an- 

 other of black, sometimes broken in the middle also. Along the back run two rows of 

 small dark spots, and a row of large, oblong spots is arranged down each side. Both 

 the color and the shape of the spots are very variable. 



The length of this reptile is generally about a yard, but it sometimes attains a 

 length of four feet. The female is always larger than the male. The generic title 

 Tropidonotus is formed from two Greek words signifying keel-backed, and is given to 

 these Serpents because the scales of the back are keeled. 



THE two Snakes represented in the accompanying illustration are well-known inhab- 

 itants of Northern America, and are dreaded from their fierce aspect, but without the 

 least reason. 



THE HOG-NOSE SNAKE is so called from the odd formation of the muzzle, which is 

 rather blunt, and slightly turned up at the tip, something like the snout of a hog. It 

 generally frequents moist and marshy localities, as the edges of rivers and ponds, 

 where it finds a plentiful subsistence among the toads, frogs, lizards, and insects which 

 swarm in such spots. 



Although as harmless as our ringed Snake, and of similar dimensions, so that it need 

 not be feared on account of its bodily strength, the Hog-nose Snake is rather feared by 

 those who are not acquainted with its structure and habits. If it be irritated in any 

 way, it assumes a most threatening attitude, coils itself like a rattlesnake, flattening its 

 head after the fashion of venomous Serpents, utters a furious hiss, and strikes at the foe 

 with the rapidity of lightning. Yet all this flourish of defiance is without the least found- 

 ation, and although it might serve to intimidate the ignorant, only raises the mirth of 



