Davis: Bitten by a Rattlesnake 17 



the doctor and I were mistaken about the time it ought to take 

 before I would feel ill. The poison seemed to act on me very 

 slowly and it was twenty-one hours before I felt any other ill 

 effects than the pain in my hand. Of course, with a larger snake 

 it would have been different, and a big diamond-back striking me 

 on my unprotected hand, as did the ground rattler, would prob- 

 ably have caused my death, unless some prompt measure of relief 

 had immediately been taken. The reason Miss Stuart made me 

 the finger stall was that my finger had turned partly black and 

 I had made several small punctures in the area, from which 

 watery, decomposed blood was slowly dripping. 



I managed to pack up my belongings and to carry my two 

 rather heavy bags to the station on the morning of April 22, on 

 our way to Wilmington. Here we went collecting again for the 

 day, and in the late afternoon Mr. Barber started for home and 

 I for Hamlet, N. C. While my hand was slightly improved, I 

 noticed upon taking off my undershirt at night in the hotel at 

 Hamlet, that my side was some enlarged, and that a flabby sac- 

 like swelling had formed below my arm. Blood had also settled 

 darkly on the under side of my arm, giving it a black and blue 

 appearance. 



On the morning of April 23 I went on to Southern Pines, N. 

 C. The swelling on my side went down during the night and 

 my hand was also better. The watery blood had almost ceased 

 oozing from my finger. The swollen glands under my arm, sore 

 and painful from shortly after the time I was bitten, were also 

 much better. That night when I removed my shirt, I noticed 

 that. I again had a flabby saclike swelling on my left side about 

 eight or nine inches below my arm, but it was not as large as 

 the one of the previous night. 



On the morning of the 24th the saclike swelling of the previous 

 evening had disappeared, but my arm was still some swollen and 

 my third finger painful and not a pleasant looking object. From 

 Southern Pines I went to Raleigh, N. C, where I met Mr. C. S. 

 Brimley, author of a List of Reptiles and Amphibians of North 



