394 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. IX., No. 220 



the head is 20 feet wide and 1^ feet high, but grad- 

 ually decreases to a point 97 feet distant, where it is 

 but 14 feet wide and 1 foot high. Thence to the end 

 of the tail it retains the latter width and height. Its 

 total length, following the curves, is 290 feet. 



No. 4 is in the same group, and lies south-west of 

 the tail of No. 3, 35 feet. The head is circular, being 

 36 feet in diameter and 4 feet high. The body at 

 the junction with the head is 16 feet wide and 1^ 

 feet high. From this point it gradually decreases in 

 width to the end of the tail, which is 12 feet wide 

 and 1 foot high. The extreme length of this effigy 

 is 300 feet. The heads of Nos. 3 and 4 are away 

 from the creek. In addition to Nos. 3 and 4, there 

 are nine small round mounds in the group. 



No. 5 is in the same group with No. 2, and its 

 head is 40 feet south-east from the head of the latter, 

 and rests on the edge of the plateau. The head is 



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30 feet in diameter and 4 feet high. The body at 

 the junction with the head is 20 feet wide and 1 foot 

 high, and does not vary until within 20 feet of the 

 end of the tail. From this width it gradually dimin- 

 ishes to 6 feet. Its total length, following the 

 curves, is 105 feet. 



No. 6 is close to No. 5, its head being only 10 feet 

 from the end of the tail of the latter. The head 

 differs from the others in being oblong, and is 40 

 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 3 feet high. About one- 

 third of the way from the head the body forks, 

 forming two tails of unequal length. Near the head 

 the body is 16 feet wide and If feet high, and at the 

 end of each of the tails 8 feet wide and 1 foot high. 

 Its greatest length, from the extremity of the head 

 to the tip of the longest tail, is 105 feet. 



The heads of Nos. 2, 5, and 6 are towards the 

 creek, and, in addition to them, there are sixteen 

 mounds and embankments. Both of these Spring 

 Creek groups are on a plateau some 40 feet above the 

 water, and were covered with brush and young tim- 

 ber when the survey was made (Sept. 5, 1885), but 

 Nos. 3 and 4 are now cultivated. 



No. 7 is near the south end of Lake Koronis, west 

 of the outlet, in Meeker county. Although this 

 mound is serpentine in form, and apjiarently has an 

 open mouth, it is hard to determine exactly what it 

 is intended to represent. The head at its widest 

 point is 36 feet broad and 2f feet high. The body 

 varies from 20 feet in width at its junction with the 

 head, to 34 feet near the middle and 25 feet near the 

 end of the tail, and is 2 feet high. Its greatest 



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length, following the curve, is 167 feet. In addition 

 to this stumpy snake, there are thirty-two other 

 mounds and embankments in the group. Directly 

 opposite, on the east side of the outlet, there is 

 another small group of mounds, the largest of which 

 is nearly circular in form, and is 19 feet high. These 

 groups were surveyed Nov. 8, 1886. 



The reader fond of comparison can, if he pleases 

 contrast these Minnesota serpents with the Great 

 Serpent of Ohio, by making use of the following di- 



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mensions of the latter, as measured Feb. 18, 1886 : 

 total length from tips of jaws (if closed), following 

 the windings of the body, to the end of the convo- 

 luted tail, is 1,020 feet ; length of head, about 120 

 feet; width of head, 80 feet. The body and tail 

 vary in width from about 30 feet at the neck, to 8 

 feet at the tip of the tail, and in present height from 

 3| feet to 1 foot. T. H. Lewis. 



St. Paul, Minn., April 6. 



