THE WATER MOCCASIN. 
97 
beauty. This is the Cubucuctt, more familiarly known by the popular title of Bttshmastee, 
(. Lachesis mutus.) 
Mr. Waterton, who has incidentally mentioned this Snake in his “Wanderings,” has 
kindly sent me the following information about this terrible creature : “ The Bushmaster will 
sometimes reach fourteen feet in length. The Dutch gave it the name of Bushmaster on 
account of its powers of destruction, and being the largest poisonous Snake discovered. It 
still continues to have the same name among the colonists of British Guiana. Its Indian 
name is Couanacottchi. It is a beautiful Serpent, displaying all the prismatic colors when 
alive, but they disappear after death. All these three species (the Bushmaster, Labarri, and 
BUSHMASTER . — Lachesis muta. (One-sixth natural size.) 
Coulacanara) inhabit the trees as well as the ground, but as far as I could perceive, they never 
mount the trees with a full stomach.” 
The Watee Moccasin ( Ancistrodon piscworus). This reptile is restricted to the region 
between the Carolinas and the Gulf, and the valleys of the Mississippi River. This is 
emphatically a Water Snake. This reptile is, perhaps, the most dreaded of any in this 
country. It has the reputation of attacking unprovoked any one that may be in reach — a 
circumstance that is true of very few animals throughout the world. The Southern negroes 
are much exposed to its venom in the wet rice lands, where it abounds. It is very stout, and 
in color and markings very forbidding ; the length being about nineteen inches. 
Another species is recorded as a native in Indianola, Texas, called A. pugnax. The 
Black Moccasin (A. atrofuscus ) is found in the mountains of ISTorth Carolina. 
Voi. m.— 13. 
