OUR ANCIENT ENEMY THE OPHIDIAN. 79 



from 'New York to Wisconsin ; abundant in the 

 mountains of Peimsylvania and Ohio. 



The blowing or deaf adder or hognose {Heterodon 

 ■plabyrhinus). Length, thirty inches ; yellow-gray 

 and sepia-brown above, checkered with about thirty 

 dark dorsal blotches ; yellowish beneath ; a dark band 

 across the forehead, and a pug nose; strongly cari- 

 nated scales back of the head ; twenty -five dorsal 

 rows. This beggar has a threatening aspect when we 

 approach him, but he is perfectly harmless ; he is "all 

 bark and no bite," flattening his head and body out 

 until he looks twice as big as he really is, and hissing 

 like a steam engine, with an effect of fearful malig- 

 nancy. He is the creature, too, who, so hard of hear- 

 ing, was the occasion of that familiar and suggestive 



Hognose snake, blowing adder, 30 inches. 



saying, " as deaf as an adder." He is common through 

 the Eastern and Southern States, is rare in JSTew 

 York, and probably is not found at all in New Eng- 

 land. 



The hognose snake {Heterodon svmus). Length, 



