24 



YEARBOOK, PUBLIC MUSEUM, MILWAUKEE 



[Vol. III. 



supported by a light wooden framework. The cover was also of 

 screen. The transfer of the rattlesnakes from the snake-box was 

 easily accomplished by means of the tongs. During this operation a 

 number of excellent photographs were made. In the pen was placed a 

 tray of water into which the snakes would frequently crawl and lie for 

 hours. An old piece of canvas thrown over part of the pen afforded 

 them shade during the hotter parts of the day, as well as shelter from 

 the rain. In this pen they remained until the last specimen was killed 

 about August first. 



Fig. 11. — Chloroforming; a rattlesnake. 



The greater number of the specimens shed their old skins while in 

 captivity. No food was given them during the two months of their 

 confinement and it is extremely doubtful if they would have eaten 

 even if it had been offered them. Dr. Mitchell states that this species 

 subsists in captivity for long periods of time without food and refuses 

 to accept it until after a fast of about a year, when they will kill and 

 eat animals. He had often resorted to forcible feeding methods where- 

 by his snakes were fed through a long funnel pushed down their throats. 



Mr. Tyrrell returned from Prairie Du Sac on June first, and im- 

 mediately commenced to secure color notes of these sixteen specimens 



