1923] POPE, RATTLESNAKE FACTS AND FALLACIES 141 



and die within a very short time after being struck, generally within 

 fifteen minutes. Gophers, squirrels and rabbits die on the average 

 within thirty minutes. The writer is in possession of data from Mr. 

 E. D. Ochsner of Prairie Du Sac in which he describes the killing of 

 some gophers supplied to his captive snakes. He states that they 

 died within twenty minutes, some in less time, and thirty minutes 

 later they were swallowed head first. For the larger animals such as 

 dogs and man it appears that some hours usually elapse before death. 

 Owing to the remedies immediately taken by man in these cases, the 

 average time occurring between the bite and a death where no treat- 

 ment of any kind was at hand is not easily obtainable. It has already 

 been remarked that the number of fatalities to man is extremely small. 

 Now as to the subject of the supposed power of fascination ascribed 

 to venomous snakes. There appears to be no definite recognition of 

 such a phenomenon by any of the foremost herpetologists. If snakes 

 do possess the power of fascination it is believed by them to be used 

 only when the serpent requires its aid to secure food. It is more gen- 

 erally believed that the movements of small animals toward the snake 

 or the attitude of so-called fascination is in reality the result of sudden 

 fear or the too-near approach while desiring to protect their young. 

 In fact there is no scientific evidence at present available to the writer 

 to support such a theory. There is more evidence to the contrary. 

 In the monograph of Mitchell, already referred to, the author tells 

 of a number of instances in which he introduced birds, guinea-pigs, 

 mice and dogs into his rattlesnake cages. He says that they commonly 

 exhibited no terror after their recovery from alarm, at being handled 

 and dropped into a box; that in a number of cases, after becoming 

 composed, these animals became amusingly familiar with the serpents 

 and that some mice so accustomed themselves to their surroundings 

 that they even sat on the heads of the snakes and moved around on 

 their gliding coils, undisturbed and unconscious of danger. He says 

 also that larger animals were not so safe, especially if they moved 

 abruptly and rapidly about the snakes, and that too much inquisitive- 

 ness on the part of the dogs by attempting to smell the snake with his 

 muzzle was invariably rewarded with a blow. It is to be noted, how- 

 ever, that these experiments were with captive rattlesnakes which are 

 known to become more or less tame under such conditions. 



