148 TEXAS NATURE OBSERVATIONS AND REKHNISOENCES. 



Eye and Head of Rattler Magnified 



The Genuine Water Moccasin 



With the rapid settlement of its 

 vast domain and the advance- 

 ments in all lines jof industry, Tex- 

 as, with its immense area of land, 

 its forests and rivulets and semi- 

 tropical climate, has now lost a 

 great deal of its quota of danger- 

 ous reptiles and insects of late 

 years; and they are being more, an 

 more exterminated, as the years 

 pass by, and especially so in the 

 near environments of Texas cities. 

 However,, such reptiles as the cro- 

 talids and the moccasin — the gen- 

 uine type — are still there, but only 

 sparingly, in their secluded haunts 

 along the rivulets and some pas- 

 ture tanks. 



The purpose of these reminis- 

 cences, however, is not to write 

 about Texas serpents in general, 

 but to call again attention to the 

 erroneous statements often heard 

 that "some of our Texas rivulets 

 are teeming with 'moccasins.' " 

 The latter is not quite true as far 

 as the genuine, so-called cotton- 

 mouthed water moccasin is con- 

 cerned and of Avhieh I herewith 



present my readers two rare photo- 

 illustrations, taken by the writer 

 directly from nature and shortly 

 after being "captured" — ^with a 

 full load of lead, of course. 



As a rule, nearly all the water- 

 snakes as such encountered close 

 to rivulets, and called "water 

 moccasins" are of a harmless; na- 

 ture as far as venom inoculation 

 is concerned, as they, are void -of 

 extra poison fangs and the cor- 

 responding venom bladders. 



The illustration herein of a 

 Texas moccasin snake head and 

 neck parts was prepared from a 

 specimen killed lately along our 

 romantic river bottom during an 

 outing, and it shows the charac- 

 teristic broad and heartshaped 

 head, the "cotton-white" outlines 

 of the mouth parts, and four 

 needle-like venom fangs. This 

 bold and dangerous reptile -was 

 encountered in a shady place and 

 fully stretched out on a thick 

 limb, a few feet above the river 

 and close to a pile of accumulated 

 rubbish from late floods. It was 



