CLASS III. REPTILIA: ORDER 4. OPHIDIA. 
401 
a stand, and with gleaming eyes brandish its tongue, seeming, like a forked flame, to threaten 
the intruder. If a person, under such circumstances, takes to flight, the serpent will often give 
chase, and sometimes, it is said, has coiled itself around the legs of the fugitive, and brought 
him to the ground. It is said, also, to kill its prey by coiling around it and crushing it to death, 
as is done by the boa-constrictor ; this does not appear to be correct, but as the snake has been 
found coiled around the feet and bodies of children, many fearful stories of its attempts to strangle 
them have been told. There is a popular idea that there is a variety of great swiftness, which fre- 
quently gives chase to man, to which the name Racer has been given. This is no doubt a mistake. 
The power of fascinating birds has been attributed to the black snake, but without foundation. The 
following Advid account of a deadly battle between two serpents, one of this kind and the other 
a common water-snake, is furnished by an English emigrant, who had settled in the West : 
" As I was one day sitting, solitary and pensive, in this primitive arbor, my attention was en- 
gaged by a strange sort of rustling noise at some paces distant. I looked all around without dis- 
tinguishing any thing, until I climbed up one of my great hemp-stalks, when, to my astonishment, 
I beheld tAvo snakes of a considerable length, the one pursuing the other with great celerity 
through a hemp-stubble field. The aggressor was of the black kind, six feet long ; the fugitive 
was a water-snake, nearly of equal dimensions. They soon met, and, in the fury of their first 
encounter, appeared in an instant firmly twisted together ; and Avhile their united tails beat the 
ground, they mutually tried, with open jaws, to lacerate each other. What a fell aspect did 
they present ! Their heads were compressed to a very small size ; their eyes flashed fire ; but, 
after this conflict had lasted about five minutes, the second found means to disengage itself from 
the first, and hurried toward the ditch. Its antagonist instantly assumed a new posture, and, 
half creeping, half erect, with a majestic mien, overtook and attacked the other again, which 
placed itself in a similar attitude, and prepared to resist. The scene was uncommon and beauti- 
ful; for, thus opposed, they fought with their jaws, biting each other with the utmost rage; but 
notwithstanding this appearance of mutual courage and fury, the water-snake still seemed desirous 
of retreating toward the ditch, its natural element. This was no sooner perceived by the keen- 
eyed black one, than, tAvisting its tail tAvice round a stalk of hemp, and seizing its adversary by 
the throat, not by means of its jaws, but by tAvisting its own neck twice round that of the water- 
snake, he pulled it back from the ditch. To prevent a defeat, the latter took hold likewise of a 
stalk on the bank, and, by the acquisition of that point of resistance, became a match for his 
fierce antagonist. Strange Avas this to behold : two great snakes strongly adhering to the ground, 
mutually fastened together by means of the writhings Avhich lashed" them to each other, and 
stretched at their full length ; they pulled, but pulled in vain ; and in the moments of greatest 
exertion, that part of their bodies which was entAvined seemed extremely small, while the rest 
appeared inflated, and noAV and then convulsed with strong undulations, rapidly folloAving each 
other. Their eyes appeared on fire, and ready to start out of their heads. At one time the con- 
flict seemed decided : the Avater-snake bent itself into great folds, and by that operation rendered 
the other more than commonly outstretched ; the next minute the new struggles of the black 
one gained an unexpected superiority ; it acquired two great folds likewise, which necessarily 
extended the body of its adversary, in proportion as it had contracted its oavu. These efforts 
were ahernate ; victory seemed doubtful, inclining sometimes to one side, sometimes to the other, 
until at last the stalk to Avhich the black snake was fastened suddenly gave Avay, and, in conse- 
quence of this accident, they both plunged into the ditch. The Avater'did not extinguish their 
vindictive rage, for by their agitations I could still trace, though I could not distinguish their 
attacks. They soon reappeared on the surface, tAvisted together as in their first onset ; but the 
black snake seemed to retain its Avonted superiority ; for its head was exactly fixed above that 
of the other, which it incessantly pressed doAvn under the water, until its opponent was stifled 
and sank. The victor no sooner perceived its enemy incapable of further resistance, than, aban- 
doning it to the current, it returned to the shore and disappeared." 
The Coluber ohsoletus is five feet long ; the anterior half of the body black above, with a line 
of red spots ; the posterior part lead-color ; beneath white, tinged with yelloAvish-red. Common 
in the vicinity of Council Bluff". 
Vol. IL— 61. 
