ANIMAL, LIFE IN OKLAHOMA. 21 



fishermau has secured a pearl from that community which he had sold 

 for $525. The mad excitement which this created did not fully spend 

 itself until the last mussel from that region had been hauled from the 

 water and examined. The clam industry probably never can be de- 

 veloped to large proportions in this State, but it can be made an addi- 

 tional source of revenue for those who have land located along suitable 

 streams. 



REPTILES. 



SNAKES. 



A fear once deeply grounded in the human mind can not easily be 

 destroyed. This explains why we draw back with uncontrolled fright every 

 time a tiny snake crosses our path. There are, of course, poisonous 

 snakes, but we have only four of these "in Oklahoma — the rattler, the 

 copperhead, the cotton-mouth moccasin, and the coral snake. All 

 our other snakes are no more poisonous than la rat or dog, and there is not 

 nearly as much reason to fear them. The little spreading viper is 

 totally devoid of any poison glands, and its peculiar habit of spreading 

 its head is only a ruse to fool people, a ruse which to this day works 

 well. The monster bull snake is as harmless as a pelican and worth 

 a hundred times as much. It spends all its active life in search of 

 gophers, rats, and mice, and is one of the most effective forces in holding 

 these destroyers in check. This snake is the only foe ;bf the pocket 

 gopher, except the weasel, that can enter its burrow and pursue the 

 occupant to certain death. It is not uncommon to find that a gopher 

 caught in a trap has been half swallowed by one of these snakes, which 

 found an impassable obstacle in the trap and gave up its victim. Two 

 large bull snakes permitted to remain about a store-house will do more 

 to keep down destructive rodents than five times as many cats. We 

 have about 40 kinds of snakes in Oklahoma, but only the four named 

 above are harmful. Poisonous snakes have distinctive characteristics 

 than can be recognized at a glance. They usually have a head that is 

 distinctly marked off from the body and does not taper gradually 

 into the trunk region, as is the case with all harmless snakes. In addi- 

 tion, the rattlesnake, copperhead, and cotton-mouth moccas^in hava 

 heavy depressions or pits between the eyes and the nostrils, and the tail 

 is abruptly blunt. The rattler is a true sportsman. His bite is always 

 deadly but he never strikes without first giving warning, and will eat 

 no creature until its life is completely extinct. These snakes were at 

 one time numerous over the prairies but they are now nearly extinct 

 except in the rougher, unsettled regions. No one, of course, regrets the 

 passing of this most deadly animal, but it is a pitiful condition' that 

 man insists on making an indiscriminate warfare on even the creeping 

 things on the earth that do us no harm, and which must ever be sacri- 

 ficed on account of a superstition and false fear that are centuries old. 



