202 
FOREST AND STREAM 
May, 192.1 
log he saw a large snake moving its 
head and shaking its tail. Realizing 
what it was he became panic stricken 
and rushed for the boat, imagining that 
the snake was at his heels. 
After considerable persuasion he con- 
sented to return with me, and taking a 
pistol we reached the beach with great 
difficulty. He pointed out the log on 
which he had been sitting, but kept at a 
safe distance. I soon discovered the 
snake and shot it through the head. 
Then, searching about I found its mate 
under the lee of another log, and a 
bullet was sent through its head also. 
Cutting off their heads, which I threw 
into the swamp, I proceeded to skin 
them, having nothing else to do. I 
tried to interest Dave by admiring the 
really beautiful creatures, with their 
velvet-like skins, ornamented with dia- 
mond-shaped lozenges of black, brown 
and yellow, but he would have none of 
it, and refused to help carry the skins 
back to the boat. With a skin over 
each shoulder, and, with great difficulty, 
I reached the boat, anointed the skins 
with arsenical soap to preserve them, 
and felt rewarded, for they were worth 
the trouble, as each was more than 
seven feet in length. 
When the gale finally subsided there 
was a torrential rain for two days, 
whereby everything was pretty well 
soaked. At Pavilion Key we made a 
house of the sails, built a large fire 
inside and dried every article thorough- 
ly. Under the bark of one of the logs 
brought in for firewood I happened to 
see two large stick-bugs hibernating. 
As I was carefully picking them out 
with my knife and peering closely, one 
of them emitted a fine stream of liquid 
directly into my eye. The pain was 
intense, much like the proverbial melted 
lead to one’s eye. I rushed into the 
water up to my knees and bathed my 
eye for fifteen minutes before the pain 
was assuaged, and I had an inflamed 
eye for a week. This experience is re- 
corded for the benefit of other collectors 
of insects, inasmuch as Professor Riley, 
then of the Smithsonian Institution, as- 
sured me, afterward, that my experi- 
ence was a novel one, as this defensive 
function of the stick-bug was unknown, 
and wanted to congratulate me for the 
discovery! At Pavilion Key I shot a jet 
black rabbit, doubtless an aberant va- 
riety of the common species. 
W HILE we were seining in Gor- 
don’s Pass one day a mule cart 
with several negroes came down 
the beach. As the seine was being 
hauled ashore filled with all manner of 
fishes, the negroes, consumed with cu- 
riosity, came running to see the strange 
sight. 
“Lan’ o’ Goshen,” exclaimed a fat 
black and comely woman, “nebber seen 
sich a mess o’ squirmin’ crossities in all 
mah bohn days ; wats dat big black ting 
ober dar, Mistah?” 
“That”, I explained, “is a devil-fish, 
aunty, better look out for him.” “It 
shuah do luk lak ol’ Sat’n wid his hohns 
and tail.” 
“Say, aunty,” I asked, “when did you 
leave Kentucky?” 
“How cum yo' know Ise fum Ken- 
tucky, Mistah?” 
“Oh, I knew it as soon as you opened 
your mouth; I’m from Kentucky my- 
self.” 
“Lawse, honey, is yo’ suah ’nuff?” she 
said. “I don’ ax yo’ is yo,’ I ax yo’ if yo’ 
is; case dars a hull passel o’ folks fum 
Kemtucky up to Naples. Dars Kurnel 
Hal’man, Gen’l Sarah Gordon (Cerro 
Gordo) Will’ims, Miss Rose Clev’lan, 
sistah to Pres’dent Clev’lan, an’ Ise cook 
at de hotel.” 
I gave them all the fish they wanted, 
and gave aunty my card to present to 
Colonel Haldeman. They drove away in 
great glee, old aunt Judy saying: 
“See yo’ latah, Doctah; am gwine gib 
yo’ a good dinnah at de hotel. Tank 
you-all fo’ de fish; we gwine tell ’em 
we ketch’d ’em wid we-all’s fish lines!” 
Naples, several miles up the coast, 
was a Kentucky colony, or winter resort 
founded by Colonel W. N. Haldeman, of 
the Louisville Courier Journal. Late 
in the afternoon I saw a surrey drawn 
by a slick pair of mules coming down 
the beach at low tide, containing a lady 
and gentleman who proved to be Colonel 
and Mrs. Haldeman. After I greeted 
them the Colonel said: 
“Doctor, this carriage only got to 
Naples this morning after being on the 
road six weeks from Louisville, and Mrs. 
Haldeman is taking her first drive to 
invite you to dinner this evening, and a 
real Kentucky dinner, at that.” 
Of course I could not do other than 
accept the kind invitation, though I had 
no dinner clothes with me, and it was 
evidently a formal affair. So I put on 
a suit of blue flannel and a white shirt 
and drove away with them. I found a 
large and genial company, and the din- 
ner was all that could be desired, con- 
sisting of oysters, fish, venison, ducks, 
quail, all of home production, and the 
Kentucky feature a roasted ’possum 
with a lemon in its mouth, and gar- 
nished with roasted sweet potatoes. I 
enjoyed everything, for as Father Izaak 
says: “ ’Tis the company and not the 
viands that make the feast.” At mid- 
night I rode a mule down the beach, at 
high tide, which reached his knees, but 
I got to the boat without mishap. 
A few days after this delightful epi- 
sode we entered Little Hickory Pass 
about noon, and leaving Dave to prepare 
dinner the x - est of us took the dory and 
seines and crossed the inlet to seine 
some tide pools. After collecting some 
desirable specimens we were about to 
return when I observed a rattlesnake 
just emerging from the water. Doubt- 
edless, Dave in starting a fire had un- 
wittingly caused the snake to seek safer 
quarters. I despatched the snake with 
an oar, cut off its head, and took it 
along; it was nearly eight feet long. 
Toward evening we erected the canvas 
cabin as usual and weighted it down 
with the setting poles, there being quite 
a breeze. After taking off the rattler’s 
skin I laid it on the setting poles for 
the night. 
It seems that by some occult intuition 
or natural instinct the mate of the dead 
snake located the whereabouts of his 
fellow and got aboard, probably by way 
of the anchor cable, and settled himself 
beside the beautiful dermal dress of his 
departed companion. At sunrise the 
next morning Dave proceeded to throw 
off the lashings of the tent from the 
gunwales, and as ill luck would have it 
he placed his hand on the cold form of 
the live snake and as it glided from 
under his fingers he gave vent to a yell 
of terror and dismay and fell backward 
into the boat, piteously crying out that 
he was snake-bit and done for at last. 
As I went toward him I heard some- 
thing drop into the water, and then saw 
a snake swimming rapidly toward the 
shore. Seizing the rifle I quickly in- 
serted a couple of cartridges and suc- 
ceeded in putting the second shot 
through his head as he was clambering 
up the bank. It proved to be six feet 
in length, and its velvety skin, mounted 
on a plaque of wood, now hangs on the 
wall of the museum of the high school at 
Tupelo, Miss. 
A T the end of April we reached 
Charlotte Harbor, where, by pre- 
vious arrangement, we met the 
Grampus just as she was entering Boca 
Grande. After seining about the islands 
and tributaries of the beautiful bay for 
another week, the seine-boat and dory 
were hoisted aboard the schooner, and 
the cans containing my collection of 
more than two hundred species of fishes 
and many crustaceans were stowed. 
Early one morning the water casks of 
the schooner were being filled at the 
lighthouse well at Boca Grande. As 
Dave and Berry were rolling a full cask 
down the slope, it dropped nearly a foot 
from the grassy shore to the sand beach 
beneath and, unfortunately, it dropped 
on a rattlesnake that happened to he 
lying under the offset. The chine or rim 
of the cask crushed the head of the 
snake, which in its agony threw its body 
upward and over the end of the cask, its 
tail striking a severe blow on Dave’s 
hand. Needless to say he fell backward 
to the ground, and as the others ran to 
his assistance he said in broken sent- 
ences: “Its too late, boys; I’m done for; 
three times and out; I knew it would 
come at last; good bye, boys!” 
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 218) 
