GENERAL CHARACTERS OF SERPENTS 
339 
one of these serpents has been kept in the Zoo- 
logical Park, it has persistently refused to eat 
any of the moccasins or rattlesnakes which have 
been offered to it. 
This fine specimen, which is nearly 11 feet 
long, became, toward the end of its first win- 
ter, so difficult to provide for, when the special 
supply of food-snakes had become well-nigh ex- 
hausted, that Curator Ditmars and Keeper Sny- 
der tried a novel experiment. They killed a six- 
foot snake, stuffed it with frogs to the number 
of half a dozen, then offered it to the cobra. It 
was immediately accepted, and devoured in 
good faith; and since that time the experiment 
has often been repeated. 
A large collection of captive reptiles requires 
many different kinds of food, and plenty of it. 
It is not necessary that food should be given 
alive. Very naturally, a serpent cannot swallow 
a bird or a mammal which is stiff in death, and 
unyielding. Swallowing is not possible unless 
the legs or wings are folded very closely against 
the body. All that a serpent requires is that the 
animal be offered while yet warm, and before 
rigor mortis has set in. The practice is to kill 
the food in the Reptile House, and offer it im- 
mediately afterward, while it is yet warm. 
During the year 1902, the Reptile House con- 
tained 33 Crocodilians, 112 Lizards, 134 Cheloni- 
ans, 381 Serpents, and 112 Amphibians, and the 
animal food they consumed during the year was 
as follows: 
3,550 Rats and Mice, 
1,456 English Sparrows, 
624 Small Chickens, 
208 Large Chickens, 
210 Pigeons, 
1,300 Eggs, 
272 Rabbits, 
512 Guinea-Pigs, 
About 18,000 M e a 1- 
Worms, 
About 25,500 Live Fish, 
About 2,000 Toads, 
About 2,000 Frogs, 
About 2,500 lbs. Vegeta- 
bles and Fruit. 
Classification of Serpents. — Unfortunately, 
it is impossible to offer the general student a 
diagram of the Families of living serpents, based 
on the highest scientific authorities, which would 
be either simple or understandable. The species 
are many, and their teeth, scales, bones and other 
features are diversified. Thus far no scientific 
authority has succeeded in dividing the world’s 
serpents into logical groups without basing the 
divisions upon anatomical features, and describ- 
ing them in technical terms which only the spe- 
cial student of reptiles can understand. 
By way of example, take Professor Gadow’s 
simple statement of the distinguishing characters 
of the Family Colubridae : “ ectopterygoids are 
present: the squamosals are loosely attached to 
the skull, and carry the quadrates, which are not 
reached by the pterygoids: the prefrontals are 
not in contact with the nasals; the maxillaries 
are horizontal, and form the greater portion of 
the upper jaws: the mandibles lack the coronoid 
process or element: both jaws are toothed.” 
Under the circumstances, our wisest course 
will be to select and set forth a series of small 
groups of serpents which will introduce the spe- 
cies most worth knowing, and at the same time 
convey a fair amount of general information re- 
garding serpents as a whole. 
Popular Questions and Misapprehen- 
sions. — Regarding the habits of serpents there 
are many unsettled questions, and many disputes. 
The perennial ‘‘Hoop Snake” delusion, for ex- 
ample, will not down, and probably it never will 
lack exponents and defenders. 
The question” Do snakes swallow their young?” 
is also a perpetual storm-centre; and there is 
plenty of reliable evidence on all sides of it. 
Snake disputes between truthful persons are 
due either to deceptions of the eye (an organ 
easily deceived!), a misinterpretation of things 
seen, or imperfect observations. 
For example, men of the highest truthful- 
ness have been deceived into the fixed belief that 
they have ‘‘seen horse-hairs turn into worms.” 
Without attempting to settle out of hand any 
of the snake disputes that are “rock-ribbed, 
and ancient as the sun,” I will at least state what 
experienced men, who have observed and studied 
reptiles all their lives, and gathered facts regard- 
ing them, believe to be true. 
The “Hoop-Snake,” which is said to travel 
by taking the end of its tail in its mouth, and 
rolling along like a hoop, is believed to be an ab- 
solute myth. 
It is believed that snake mothers do not swal- 
low their young in order to protect them, and 
emit them all as good as new, when the danger 
is over. 
Many snakes do hiss, some of them as loudly 
as a red-hot poker thrust into cold water. 
The tongue of a snake is not capable of in- 
