THE MOCCASIN AND FER-DE-LANCE 



353 



Reptile House. It is a serpent of the Gulf states, 

 coming as far north as North Carolina and south- 

 ern Illinois, and extending westward to Texas. 



The Harlequin Snake 1 is a small, shiny, del- 

 icately formed serpent, of rather quiet habits 

 and retiring disposition. It belongs to the same 

 Family (Elapidae) as the deadly king-cobra of 

 India! As far as it can be seen, it is instantly 

 recognizable by the alternation of brilliant coral- 

 red, yellow and jet-black rings which encircle its 

 body from head to tail-tip. Unlike the broad- 

 headed pit vipers, 2 the head of this serpent is no 

 wider than its neck, and as a special feature, its 

 head is quite insignificant in size, but is always 

 crossed by a broad yellow band. It is well to 

 remember from this species that not all venomous 

 serpents have lance-shaped heads. 



The range of this beautiful but rather stupid 

 little serpent begins in South Carolina, and in- 



FER-DE-LANCE. 



eludes all the Gulf states southward and west- 

 ward to the Pecos River in Texas. It ascends 

 the Mississippi states to southern Indiana. It is 

 a very persistent ground-dweller, and in captivity 

 it spends three-fourths of its time buried in the 

 sand of its cage, quite out of sight. It eats gar- 

 ter-snakes and black-snakes, voraciously. Al- 

 though its bite is undoubtedly poisonous, I have 

 never known of any one having been bitten. In 

 fact, it is difficult to see how any one can be bit- 

 ten by this serpent without having it done by 

 special appointment. 



The Sonoran Coral Snake, 3 of southern 

 Arizona and northern Mexico, is in appearance 



1 E'laps ful'vi-us. 



2 So called because of the existence of a round 

 and deep pit on the side of the head, about half 

 way between the eye and the end of the nose. In 

 the rattlesnakes this character is very noticeable. 



3 E'laps eu-ryx-an'thus. 



much like the harlequin snake, and it is men- 

 tioned only because it is so little known, and to 

 remark that it is a good subject for observation. 

 The Fer-de-Lance, or Lance-Head Snake, 4 



is the serpent terror of the West Indies. It is a 

 small snake, only about 6 feet in length when 

 fully grown, and 2 inches in diameter. Its head 

 is very wide, and it has very long fangs in pro- 

 portion to its size. Its color-pattern strongly 

 suggests the light phase of the timber rattle- 

 snake — brown, with black markings. On two 

 occasions that we know of, travellers returning 

 from the West Indies have brought with them 

 in pasteboard boxes, as indifferently as if they 

 were frogs, living and healthy specimens of this 

 venomous creature! One specimen was brought 

 to us by a lady and her child, for identification; 

 and the keepers of reptiles shudder even yet 

 when they think what might easily have occurred. 

 Fortunately, this serpent is not particularly 

 aggressive, or hostile toward those about it. 

 When it seizes its prey, however, it buries its 

 fangs, and holds on determinedly. A female 

 specimen in our collection gave birth to twenty- 

 four young, but they one and all refused to eat, 

 and failed to survive. 



SNAKE-POISONS AND THEIR TREAT- 

 MENT. 



The Rattlesnake's defensive equipment of 

 fangs and poison has been perfected by Nature 

 with as much care as the horns of hoofed animals, 

 or the defensive armor of an armadillo. The 

 ordinary jaw teeth have nothing to do with the 

 poisoning process, and wounds from them would 

 prove fatal only under exceptional conditions. 



The venom of a serpent is a rather thick fluid, 

 secreted in two glands that are situated on the 

 side of the upper jaw, under the skin, behind the 

 eye. In the stomach of an animal it is supposed 

 to be harmless, and we know that in many cases 

 it is so. To produce death, it must be injected 

 into the blood, by a method that is practically 

 instantaneous, and very effective. First there 

 must be a puncture, then the injection of the 

 poison. 



To pierce the skin and flesh, the rattlesnake 

 has two special teeth, called fangs, which are very 

 long, slender, slightly curved, and exceedingly 

 1 Bo'throps lan-ce-o-la'tus. 



