MAY. 109 



noticed or, indeed, thought of sponges, although so many 

 of them are beautiful, while about this same "Eiver 

 Styx," in May ; nor is it strange. It was then the para- 

 dise of the largest water-snakes I ever saw. Bold to a 

 degree, they permitted of a near approach, and I had 

 abundant opportunity to estimate quite accurately their 

 size. One rusty, wrinkled ophidian patriarch was fully 

 six feet in length. Of this, I think, there can be no 

 doubt, although it exceeds any recorded measurements 

 that I have seen. The temper of this creature was posi- 

 tively fearful, and had the species been venomous, I should 

 have shuddered to approach so near. As it was, my com- 

 panion and I were the attacked, and not the attacking 

 party. The snake threatened to leap into our boat, and 

 struck savagely at the blade of the oar with which I 

 partly dislodged him from his snug bed upon a floating 

 log. Every inch of ground was contested. When in the 

 water, the angry, creature swam slowly, and now appeared 

 even larger than before. My companion and I agreed 

 that had we not seen it before, it would have been pru- 

 dent not to have mentioned our impressions. The slight 

 ripple of the lake's surface and the turnings and 

 twistings between the clusters of aquatic plants had 

 much to do with the snake's apparent length, and it 

 was very evident that many of the snake stories that 

 find place in newspapers might be related in perfectly 

 good faith by the original observer. Once our gigan- 

 tic specimen moved into an open space in which were 

 congregated many huge sunfish ; they immediately darted 

 off as in terror, and did not return for several min- 

 utes. 



Wherever we looked, we saw these pretty snakes, or 

 rather saw many that were beautifully marked, and others, 

 the larger ones, that were uniformly brown or blackish 

 brown above. All were in the water or upon the stumps 



