GENERAL CHARACTERS OF SERPENTS 



339 



one of these serpents has been kept in the Zoo- 

 logical Park, it has persistently refused to eat 

 any of the moccasins or rattlesnakes which have 

 been offered to it. 



This fine specimen, which is nearly 11 feet 

 long, became, toward the end of its first win- 

 ter, so difficult to provide for, when the special 

 supply of food-snakes had become well-nigh ex- 

 hausted, that Curator Ditmars and Keeper Sny- 

 der tried a novel experiment. They killed a six- 

 foot snake, stuffed it with frogs to the number 

 of half a dozen, then offered it to the cobra. It 

 was immediately accepted, and devoured in 

 good faith; and since that time the experiment 

 has often been repeated. 



A large collection of captive reptiles requires 

 many different kinds of food, and plenty of it. 

 It is not necessary that food should be given 

 alive. Very naturally, a serpent cannot swallow 

 a bird or a mammal which is stiff in death, and 

 unyielding. Swallowing is not possible unless 

 the legs or wings are folded very closely against 

 the body. All that a serpent requires is that the 

 animal be offered while yet warm, and before 

 rigor mortis has set in. The practice is to kill 

 the food in the Reptile House, and offer it im- 

 mediately afterward, while it is yet warm. 



During the year 1902, the Reptile House con- 

 tained 33 Crocodilians, 112 Lizards, 134 Cheloni- 

 ans, 381 Serpents, and 112 Amphibians, and the 

 animal food they consumed during the year was 

 as follows: 



3,550 Rats and Mice, 512 Guinea-Pigs, 

 1,456 EngUsh Sparrows, About 18,000 M e a 1- 



624 Small Chickens, Worms, 



208 Large Chickens, About 25,500 Live Fish, 



210 Pigeons, About 2,000 Toads, 



1,300 Eggs, About 2,000 Frogs, 



272'Rabbits, About 2,500 lbs. Vegeta- 



bles and Fruit. 



Classification of Serpents. — Unfortunately, 

 it is impossible to offer the general student a 

 diagram of the FamiUes of living serpents, based 

 on the highest scientific authorities, which would 

 be either- simple or understandable. The species 

 are many, and their teeth, scales, bones and other 

 features are diversified. Thus far no scientific 

 authority has succeeded in dividing the world's 

 serpents into logical groups without basing the 

 divisions upon anatomical features, and describ- 



ing them in technical terms which only the spe- 

 cial student of reptiles can understand. 



By way of example, take Professor Gadow's 

 simple statement of the distinguishing characters 

 of the Family Colubridae : " ectopterygoids are 

 present : the squamosals are loosely attached to 

 the skull, and carry the quadrates, which are not 

 reached by the pterygoids: the prefrontals are 

 not in contact with the nasals; the maxillaries 

 are horizontal, and form the greater portion of 

 the upper jaws : the mandibles lack the coronoid 

 process or element: both jaws are toothed." 



Under the circumstances, our wisest course 

 will be to select and set forth a series of small 

 groups of serpents which will introduce the spe- 

 cies most worth knowing, and at the same time 

 convey a fair amount of general information re- 

 garding serpents as a whole. 



Popular Questions and Misapprehen- 

 sions. — Regarding the habits of serpents there 

 are many unsettled questions, and many disputes. 

 The perennial "Hoop Snake" delusion, for ex- 

 ample, will not down, and probably it never will 

 lack exponents and defenders. 



The question" Do snakes swallow their young?" 

 is also a perpetual storm-centre; and there is 

 plenty of reliable evidence on all sides of it. 



Snake disputes between truthful persons are 

 due either to deceptions of the eye (an organ 

 easily deceived!), a misinterpretation of things 

 seen, or imperfect observations. 



For example, men of the highest truthful- 

 ness have been deceived into the fixed belief that 

 they have "seen horse-hairs turn into worms." 



Without attempting to settle out of hand any 

 of the snake disputes that are "rock-ribbed, 

 and ancient as the sun," I will at least state what 

 experienced men, who have observed and studied 

 reptiles all their lives, and gathered facts regard- 

 ing them, believe to be true. 



The "Hoop-Snake," which is said to travel 

 by taking the end of its tail in its mouth, and 

 rolling along like a hoop, is believed to be an ab- 

 solute myth. 



It is believed that snake mothers do not swal- 

 low their young in order to protect them, and 

 emit them all' as good as new, when the danger 

 is over. 



Many snakes do hiss, some of them as loudly 

 as a red-hot poker thrust into cold water. 



The tongue of a snake is not capable of in- 



