B. NATURAL HISTORY. 



discussion of the question. He speaks of it as still unsettled 

 and, though sympathizing fully with Mr. Cooke, asks for addi- 

 tional proof. 



During the past year an animated discussion has been Carried 

 on in the London " Land and Water." Mr. James Simson and 

 others have argued for the affirmative but Frank Buckland, the 

 editor, classes the belief among the numerous popular delusions 

 and persistently refuses to believe until he or some other natural- 

 ist has personally investigated the subject. 



The feeling of the majority of naturalists at the present time 

 seems to be well expressed in these words: — "The cumulative 

 testimon} 7 of many witnesses would compel us to receive this 

 supposed habit as an established fact, did not experience warn us 

 of the extreme liability of untrained observers to be misled by 

 preconceived opinions. The fact that no competent naturalist 

 has found young vipers in the stomach or oesophagus of the 

 mother raises a strong presumption, on the doctrine of probabili- 

 ties, of its being a mere delusion. The habit moreover would be 

 contrary to the ordinary laws of animal instinct which lead both 

 parent and offspring to adopt the best available means for the 

 preservation of the race.* 



Theorizing upon this question has proved useless, and it is ob- 

 vious that it can only be settled by the statements of persons who 

 have seen the act. Believing that none would be so likely to 

 supply the desired facts as those whose vocation brings them into 

 daily contact with snakes in their native haunts, I wrote a short 

 note to Mr. Orange Jucld, Editor of the "American Agriculturist," 

 which he kindly inserted in the issue of that magazine for Febru- 

 ary, 1873. 



As a result over eighty letters were received, from persons in 

 twenty-four states and provinces, almost every one containing 

 valuable evidence. Many of the writers seem indignant that a fact 

 so well known to them should be questioned. On the depositions 

 of these witnesses, together with those collected by diligent per- 

 sonal inquiry, the case must rest. 



A farmer living in Mechanicsburg, Ohio, writes: — "In 1835 I 

 saw on the bank of Deer Creek a large water-snake. I procured 

 a pole for the purpose of killing her. One stroke slightly wounded 

 her and she immediately made for the water ; after she had swam 



*"D" (Yorktown, Virginia) in "Land and Water," xv, p. 78, Feb. 1, 1873. 



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