218 The Massasauga and its Habits, [March 
young were about a month old they sloughed their skins, and 
after that event they were never observed to enter the mother’s 
mouth, though they may have done so. 
The maternal instinct must be very strong in these reptiles, 
usually regarded as so low in intelligence and so unfeeling, when 
they will for weeks and months endure hunger and thirst and 
still continue to care for their young. One might readily sup- 
pose that if the young ever entered the mother’s stomach, the 
temptation would, under the circumstances, be almost irresistible 
for her to keep them there. When I first saw these specimens, 
about January 1, the old and most of the young were coiled up 
together as if for the purpose of keeping themselves warm. The 
heads of all the young ones were lying out on top of the coils, 
as if they were as desirous of seeing what was going on as are 
other young folks. One little one, however, was away from the 
others on the bottom of the box. One of the mothers appeared 
to take great interest in it, and kept rubbing it with her head 
and pushing it gently about with her snout. Mr. Harvey states 
that the mothers have been accustomed in various ways to show 
their affection for their young. “ The mother would raise her 
head, turn it about and look over the young, place her nose. 
against them, push them about, and pull them to her side.” 
The old ones have not shed their outer skins since their cap- 
tivity began. Since they appear to change their dress twice a 
year, it is quite likely that this was accomplished just before they 
were captured. One young one who was watched got rid of 
his cuticle in about twenty minutes from the time that it was 
seen to be loose on his head. : 
Most of the young are quite dark in color, but all have plain 
indications of the rows of spots usually found in the species, 
and one has the ground color so pale that it closely resembles 
the young of the specimens found on the open prairies. 
