sides of the cage, chattering and scream'fig liWe tnagpiies; 
When they got to a safe distance they ha.ted fof observa- 
tion, and after some moments, seeing no furthef sigl^ of 
danger, they gradually returned, one by one, to their 
former position— llie large ones in the front i-attk. and the 
srtiiillter ones crowded out by superroi- stteiigth, fornnng 
behind and looking over their shoulders. 
This was con ihued for some hours without the slightest 
change in the disposition of the monkeys — all of their ac- 
tions showing a most intolerable fear of the snake, 
mingled with an attraction or curiosity which would not 
allow them to remain away from it. This was ro uni- 
versal that not one of the monkeys in the cage was entirely 
free from it. 
The snake was finally taken out, and several other ani- 
mals belonging to the same class were put in its place, but 
with very different results. Of a tortoise, for instance, 
and a small dead alligator, they were at first rather shy, 
but they at length began to touch them, and in ten min- 
utes they were playing with them, and passing them from 
one to another with the greatest curiosity. 
The same snake was then shown, in turn, to animals 
Ixl'DPging to a number of other ordirs— camivorcs, 
rodents, ungulates, edentates and marsupials, but n-ne 
of them pa d it any special attention wi.h the except on 
of a peccary (Dicotyles labiatus), which, finding it to be 
dead, seemed disposed to make a meal of it. 
Turning from the monkeys and watch ng instead, the 
visitors to the reptile house, it is evid n. that the in- 
stinctive fear and horror of the snake which is so com- 
mon as to be almost universal with man is closely allied 
to that which has been seen to exist among monkeys. 
Women readily develop this, as the'r emotions are more 
quickly responded to by gestures than is usually the case 
in the other sex, and I was specially fortunate, a short 
time after the occurrence detailed above, in hav ng an 
opportunity of observing the effect produced by the col- 
lection of snakes, upon a lady who was deaf and dumb — • 
by the fact of her disabilities she was shut out. to a very 
great extent, from the inllucnce — repressing, so far a^ the 
expression of the emotions is concerned — of free ass-^c'a- 
tion with others, and the nature of her feelings wa^ therfr^ 
by rendered more evident. I was not at all surpr scd to 
trace in her, actions and gestures which resembled closely 
those which I had observed on the part of the monkeys; 
they evidenced the same fear, the same attraction, and the 
same repulsion, and after watching for a long time, with 
an expression of the most intense disgust, the cage of 
boas, she was at last led away by her friends, protesting 
that she wanted to stay. 
Now if it be asked why this inst'nctive feeling shou'd be 
dc^ eloped in the Primates alone — it is probable iha: as 
the early dawning of intelligence in the common ancestor 
of man and monkeys began to surpass the pow-er of re- 
ceiving impressions which existed in other animals, he 
would be most Table to conceive great dread of that 
enemy which inflicted upon him wounds of a very different 
sort from those which he received from his own kind or 
from animals which approached more or less to his own 
form and which also produced effects .so subtle in their 
character and operation that they wouid be apt to leave 
lasting impressions on those animals wh'ch were fre- 
quently subjected to witnessing them. I't shovtld hz re- 
membered, also, that the home of the monkey and the 
spot where, in all probability the earlier Primites first 
saw the light, is in those regions of the earth which are 
most infested by numerous and venomous serpents. 
These facts will at once suggest to all who put their 
faith in the theory of gradual development, thit the fear 
of the sernent became instinctive in some far distant pro- 
genitor of man, by reason of his long exposure to danger 
and death in a horrible form, from its bite, and that it 
has been handed down through the diverging lines of 
descent which find their expression to-day in iHomo and 
Pithecus. iHow strongly marked it is in the latter, the 
experiment detailed above, correspcnd'ng in each of its 
results with that of Mr. Darwin, bears test'monv; and 
for the evidence of its influence on t^e m'nd of the former, 
turn to the story of the serpent in Paradise ; to t'^e signs 
and symbols of many ancient mythologies, and to the feel- 
ing which few men can deny to themselves when th^y 
are brought into assoc'ation with even the most beautiful 
and harmless member of the order Ophidia. 
Food of Foxes. 
iMiLFORD, Conn., Dec. 2,.— Editor Forest and Stream: 
This morn'ng my fox hound ran a fox to me in a thirk 
brier .swamp. I killed it. It proved to be a '"gray" bitch 
fox (Urocyon) in excellent fur. 
Upon skinning I found her very fat. more so than any 
I have killed this year. Upon opening the abdomen I 
found the stomach and intestines distended w th food. 
The contents of the stomach consisted of rabbit hair, the 
tail and hind leg of a field mouse, sweet corn kernels 
chewed and cracked up b'ts of apple skin and core, a leaf 
or two and woodcock flesh, bones and feathers. 
This fox was shot in one of my best woodcocl<: covers, 
and was the third gray that we have killed this fall in 
the same swamp. The other two, upon dissection of 
stomach, indicated a diet of rabbit, m'ce. apples, etc. 
We have killed five red foxes in addition to the gray 
ones. In every ca=e Reynard of this co^or gave evidence 
of barnyard pilfer'ng, as I found chicken bnnes and 
feathers and flesh, toeether with the hnir of moles, mice, 
etc. I have no^ yet discovered indubitable evidence of his 
harming game birds except in the case ci^c.d. My ex- 
perience teaches that the gray fox is a denizen primarily 
of swamps, and is essentially a rabbit and mouse eater, or 
an eater of what he can find 'n the sv.-amp. It is ypry 
hard to drive him from the swamp and he Avill circ'e for 
hours before crossing an nnening to the next cover. 
Dec. 7.— The last fox killed— to-day— was very old. Its 
incisors and molars were nearly gone, and one of the 
can-nes was lacking. A No. i shot was encysted in the 
tendon of the left hing leg. It weighed a 1 rifle over 12 
pounds. The stomach contained gras^ and dirt, presum- 
ably gathered with food, together with some m^use or 
mole hair. j^.j q 
The Forest and Stream is put to press each week on Tuepday. 
Correspondence intended for publication should reach us at the 
]|te$t by Monday and much earlier as practicable. 
■-r ' ■ 
A Great Snapping Turtle. 
Here is the p'cture of a snapping turtle which 'Svbuld 
not go into a two-bushel basket." The ba.=ket is imme- 
diately behiiKl the turtle and is touching the side of its 
shell, so that no suspicion of kodakery need be aroused. 
The perspective is that afforded by a long focus lens, and 
the basket is 6 feet from the hind wheels of the wagon. 
The old snapper was caught a few days ago by Farmer 
Utter, of Uttertown in the bed of Greenwood Lake, which 
has been drained down so that there is almost as large an 
area of mud as there was of water. Utter just waded in 
with a rail and pried the turtle out of the mud. Then he 
took the savage creature up to John itiazen's Hotel at 
A NEV\r JERSEY TURTLE. 
Lakeside and showed it. It was the biggest turtle ever 
seen there. There was no means at hand of we'ghing 
it, but several "hefters" tackled it and their gursses ran 
from 60 to 80 pounds. Cliclydra serpentina resented the 
familiarities by buckng, jumping clear cf the ground 
and snapping viciously. .A. 2-foot rule was procured and 
his measuremen s proved to be 27 inches length of cara- 
pace and 43 inches from nose to tip of ta 1 when ex- 
tended as much as possible. After he was r)hotographed 
a turtle sharp showed how to take all the fight out of a 
snapper and make him a peaceful travel ng compani n. 
Taking a stick of hard wood 4 'nches long, he notched it 
near each end and securely tied two pieces of stout string 
to it. He dangled the stick in front of the turtle un'.il it 
seized it in its jaws and then tied the loose ends together 
over the plastron and just under ths ta 1. The wicked 
head was thus forced back into the shell and the turtle was 
effectually gagged. Harrimac. 
A Bone of Conlenlion. 
About twenty-five years ago I witnessed in Central 
Park a struggle between two men and a lion that was 
about as amusing as it was sensational. A big lien and 
his mate were in the enjoyment of a cage, scrupuloufly 
clean with the except'on of a large bone, on which there 
.seemed to be not a particle of flesh. But Leo loved that 
bone, and he did not purpose g'ving it up without a fight. 
But the cage inust be rid of the unsightly object, and as 
it demanded actual compulsion (which doubtles-- the lion 
thought criminal aggression), a pronged iron-handled in- 
strument that might have rivaled the tr'dfnt of Neptune 
and an iron-handled hoe, about a; formidab'e in its way, 
were brottght for the encounter. The lion — stretched 
prone on his belly — had the valued bone under his mas- 
sive paw. The man with the spear wouM do the prodding 
to make the beast lift his paw when the "man with the 
hoe" would make for the bone. The spearman wa> no 
chicken hearted individual. He jabbed with a v'm born 
of impatience and determination. The hoer was not less 
active in his operations. When the lion did lift his paw 
from the bone it was instantly to bring 't down again 
with a force that inade the building tremble. The "man 
with the hoe" couldn't hook the bone. At length the lion 
conchided to change the order of things. He took the 
bone in his mouth and began stalking with head erect and 
eyes flashing fire, while his growls were loud and defiant. 
iHe had to step over his reclining mate, who wou'd raise 
her head and protest w'th significant snarls at his in- 
fraction of limine etiquette. At length the old fellow 
lay doxyn again, and the battle was renewed and kept 
up until 'he men desisted through fatigue. 
The third sally was succes'^ful ; a dextrous and tim°ly 
movement hooked the bone, and h's enraged nniesty was 
as serene as an Indian summer skv. He licked his chops 
and seemed to say with the nonchalence of the inveterate 
gambler, "I lose." N. D. Elting. 
^"metj^moim^iopi^iSaOicecixe? 
8 Take inventory pf the gand things in this issue « 
« of Forest and Stream. Recall what a fund 7vas 8 
8 giz'cn last zveck: Cou^it on ivhat is to come iiexl Q 
g iverk. IVas there evi-r hi all the ivorld a more g 
g abundant weekly store of sf'prtsmen's reading? S 
^itg unci §mu 
Notice. 
All communications intended for Forest and Stream should 
always be addressed to iht Forest and Stream Publishing Co., and 
not to any individual connected with the paper. 
Proprietors of shooting resorts will find it profitable to advertise 
them iu Forest and ;5Tkeam. 
New Yoik League. 
Editor Forest (nid Stream: ■' 
The annual convention of the New York State Fish>. 
Game and Forest League was held in the assembly roora' 
of the Yates Hotel in the city of Syracuse on Thursday, 
Dec. 6. and during the four hours it was in sessirn con- 
siderable important business was transacted. Various 
mat.ers of general interest to devotees of the rod and 
gun came up for consideration and were discus ed in- 
telligently and ably, sometimes very spiritedly, it is true, 
but always in a good natured, friendly manner. When- 
ever final act on was taken in regard to a subject wh ch 
had been discussed, it was almost invariably by a unani- 
mous vote a fact which clearly indica.ed that the dele- 
gates were open to conviction and prepared to defer to the 
wishes of the majority. 
It was 10:30 A. M. when the gavel of President R. B. 
Lawrence, of New York, fell on the block and the ctm^ 
venticn was formally opened. The roll call showed that 
the clubs represented by delegates present were as follows: 
Honest Fishermen's Club, of Seneca Falls — Ernest G. Gould. 
Anglers' Association of the Si. Lawrence River — \V. 11. Thomp- 
son, A. C. Cornwall, Alexandria Bay; K. 1'. Urant, Clayton. 
Black Kiver Association lor the Protection of Fish and Clame — 
W. E. Woicott, btica; John W. Hicks, Uriskany. 
League of .-Xmerican Sportsmen — George O. Shields, New YotIc; 
Thos. C. Welch, Hutlalo. 
Niagara County Anglers' Club— James Carter, II. K. Wicker, 
Lock port. 
New \ ork Association for the Protection of Game — Robert B. 
Lawrence, Charles E. Whitehead. New York city. 
Genesee Valley Fish and Bird Protective and I'ropagating As- 
sociation, Rochester — Aaron Mather, Honeoye Falls. 
Spencer Sportsmen's Chib-rW. S. Gavitt, Henry Killick, Henry 
B. Whitney, Lyons. 
Anglers' Association of Onondaga — John IT. Forey, Charles FI, 
Mowry, J. E. Uierhardt, Geo. B. Wood, Louis S. Morgan, Syra- 
cuse. 
Cleveland Anglers' Association, of Cleveland, N. Y. — Dr. W. G. 
Babcock, C. H. Warren. 
Major J. W. Pond. Ch'ef State Game Protector; Pro- 
tectors iM. C. Worts and Spencer Hawn. and James An- 
nin, Jr., of Caledonia. ex-Superintend..nt of State Fisll 
Hatcheries, were among those present. 
Secretary Ernest G. Gould read the minutes of the last 
annual meeting, and they were approved. 
Treasurer A. C. Cornwall reported a balance of $84.67 
on hand from last year. 
Dr. -W. G. Babcock of the Cleveland Anglers' Asso- 
ciation, an organization just admitted to membership in 
the League, promised the hearty co-operation of the club 
he represented. The Cleveland Association has seventy- 
five active members, and is n a flourishing condition. 
William H. Thompson, George B. Wood and Henry 
K Hick were appointed by the chair as a Nominating Com- 
mittee. 
Secretary Gould read the following letter, which he re- 
cently received : 
My Dear Sir — As a member of the North American Fish and 
Game Protective Association, organized last year in Montreal in 
the interests of harmony of law as between the States and 
Provinces, 1 take the liberty of addressing you. If agreeable to 
you, I ask that you will bring to the attention of the New York 
Stale League, whose annual meeting is to be held in Syracuse, the 
subject of harmony of laws as above, with a view to making sug- 
gestions on these lines, that 1 as a member of the committee on 
harmony can express your valuable opinions and wishes at a 
meeting of that committee to be held in Montreal, Dec. 13. Work- 
ing, as we surely are. for a common purpose, 1 feel warranted in 
asking this of you and your Association, i also ask that you 
will allow me to present your name for membership in the Asso- 
ciation as well as your president and others, who will go to 
Montreal at the annual meeting to be held in midwinter. 1 would 
call your attention to the notice in Forest and Stream three 
weeks ago. Y'ours truly, C. II. Wilson, 
Vice-President for New York State. 
Glens Falls, N. Y. 
A letter from Hon. S. T. Bastedo, ^linister of Fisheries 
for Ontario, addressed to W. H. Thompson. Secre;ary of 
the Anglers' Association of the St. Lawrence River, was 
then read. Following is an abstract: 
We have no special laws app'icable to the St. Lawrence Kiver 
as yet. We have but one close season for bass, which is applicable 
to the whole Province. 1 understand, however, that the Commis- 
sion of Fisheries at Ottawa is revising the close season laws, and 
whether he will suggest any modification of the season in respect 
to the St. Lawrence, I am not able to say. I wrote to him several 
days ago for a forecast, but have not yet heard from him. 1 shall 
advise you in case any chatige is to be made. .As 1 mentioned 
to you, the the Federal Government regulates the close seasons 
and stipulates the imp ements ot capture, 't hese are its functions 
chitfiy. 1 may take this opportunity of saying that 1 recently 
visited the Bay of Ouinte fisheries, and received a deputation of 
fishermen. 1 found them very hostile toward American anglers,, 
chiefly on account of this vexatious bass question. '1 hey say that 
while you peop'.e are allowed to come over and fish in our waters 
and take home with them the- fish caught, and many dispose of 
them at their own discretion, they (our people) are denied 
this privilege. I tried to explain to them the reciprocal rela- 
tions which had been in existence for some lime, and urged that 
notwithstanding the statements which they made I had positive 
information, after most carelul inquiry, that no bass were sold. 
They merely laughed at this, and said they had ocular demon- 
stration that a different state of things had actually taken place. 
They also stated most emphatically in reply to my argument that 
the erap oyment of our guides wou'd be discontinued on your side 
of the river, that no Canadian guides were now employed: that a 
number had made application for employment and had been re- 
fused and threatened with the enforcement of the alien labor law 
in case they succeeded in getting employment; that the alien 
labor law was put into force this year in respect ot young men 
who obtained emn'ovment at your boarding houses and hotels as 
waiters. They said that your yachts come into our waters with as 
many as ten or fifteen rowboats in tow, will fish all day and 
pay no regard whatever to our regulations as to the number to 
be caught; that in rase one man is fishing out of a boat in which 
perhaps he has a lady or two and a guide, he will continue fishing 
until he catches twel-'c fish apiece for every occupant of our boat, 
and in this way will catch as maay as forty, fifty or even sixty 
baf^s In a da v. This, as you must know, is a violation of our 
regulations. ITe cannot catch more than twelve a dav. That there 
seems ground fnr their contention is supported bv statements 
contained in a letter which appeared in ihe Forest and Stream 
about the middle of October over the .signature of Mr. Woicott, 
who states in one or two instances about the limit being "twenty- 
four to a boat": and further, that "the guides have found Ihe 
bi-sine.=s verv profitable." as they receive Ihe majority of Ihe 
bass taken, which they rell to Cape N'incent buyers, "one of ihcm 
having made several hundreds oi dollars from this source (bi9 
