264^ REPTILES OF THE WORLD 



prompted by pure bluff. Such are the three species of 

 Heterodon — the Hog-Nosed Snakes, Blowing "Ad- 

 ders," or Flat-Headed "Adders," then- striking titles 

 coming from eccentric looks and actions. North Amer- 

 ica is the habitat. 



The Hog-nosed Snakes live in dry, sandy places, 

 where they burrow by means of the sharply-upturned, 

 shovel-like snout. Short, thick, with keeled scales, a 

 flattened, wicked-looking head and stubby tail, their 

 make-up is sinister, immediately suggesting venomous 

 properties. To add to a bodily appearance, causing 

 terror among the misinformed, is a formation of the 

 anterior ribs, which are elongated, lying close to the body 

 when the snake is in a passive mood, but spreading 

 lateralljr when the creature is annoyed; this movement 

 flattens the forward part of the body to a great extent, 

 in a fashion resembling the well-known trait of the 

 cobras. As the body flattens, the head takes on a vil- 

 lainous, triangular outline, the pattern of the neck be- 

 comes much intensified, and the snake hisses loudly, 

 wriggling the tail convulsively in alternation to vicious 

 darts of the head — incidentally with closed j aws. 



The average farmer refuses to be convinced that the 

 Hog-nosed Snake or Puff "Adder," as he may choose 

 to call it, does not combine everything fiendish and 

 deadly among serpents. One uninitiated cannot be 

 blamed, when it is considered a reptile of this kind 

 causes the dreaded copperhead snake, the moccasin and 

 rattlesnake to appear quite angelic in the latters' respec- 

 tive fighting attitudes. An excitable idea points to the 

 "hissing breath" of the "Puff Adder" as frightfuUy 

 poisonous. 



Gross examination of the genus shows Heterodon 

 platyrhinus to have the widest range, occurring from 



