THOSE HORSE-HAIR SNAKES 



71 



source of the snake was discovered. I had pro- 

 cured a box of grasshoppers and crickets for bait, 

 numbering some hundreds, and once, upon open- 

 ing it, observed two of the thread-like creatures 

 entangled like a snell among the insects. Further 

 experience while baiting the hooks with the grass- 

 hoppers revealed others in the bodies of both 

 crickets and grasshoppers, which seemed in no 

 way disturbed by their presence. 



So the " horse-hair snake " may be written down 

 a myth. Its existence prior to the time we dis- 

 cover it in the brook or puddle has been spent 

 under the hospitable roof of the insects men- 

 tioned, upon escaping from which it seeks the 

 water to lay its eggs. The young in turn seek 

 the grasshoppers and crickets which frequent 

 their haunt, and thus the routine is continued, to 

 the possible annoyance of the grasshopper and the 

 complete mystification of the rural scientist. 



