THE SNAKE* 
203 
ON SNAKES, THEIR FANGS, AND THEIR 
MODE OF PROCURING FOOD. 
Mr. Taylor, in his paper which appeared in The 
Magazine of Natural History^ vol. viii. p.S29 — 541., 
says, — "I have repeatedly endeavoured to verify 
Mr. Audubon's account of the rattlesnake ascending 
trees, which has been confirmed." Now, a great 
part of that account by Audubon consists of the 
description of a rattlesnake chasing a squirrel up 
and down a tree. Does Mr. Taylor wish us to un- 
derstand that this part of the account has been 
confirmed by him ? I ask this necessary question, 
because I cannot suppose that Mr. Taylor would 
spend his time in repeatedly endeavouring to verify 
the simple fact that rattlesnakes ascend trees. The 
fact is already as well established as is the existence 
of the rattlesnake itself. The merest novice in 
zoology must know that the muscular power in the 
bodies of snakes enables them to ascend trees. I 
anxiously wait for Mr. Taylor's reply. If he has 
actually seen a rattlesnake chasing its prey up and 
down a tree, then I will own that I have hitherto 
I been completely in the dark with regard to snakes ; 
j and that all the time which I have spent in studying 
their habits, while I was in the forests of Guiana, 
has been unprofitable and of no avail. If, on the 
' contrary, Mr. Taylor informs us that his experience 
goes no farther than to verify the fact that snakes 
