352 
ORDERS OF REPTILES— SERPENTS 
and Deaf “ Adder.” It is decidedly poisonous, 
and its venom is second in virulence only to that 
of the rattlesnake. 
In captivity, the food of this species consists of 
small mammals, young birds and frogs. It brings 
forth its young alive, and the usual number is 
between seven and nine. 
The Water-Moccasin, or Cotton-Mouth , 1 
is the ugliest snake in North America. Its body 
is about as lithe and graceful as a Bologna sau- 
sage, and its skin resembles the surface of sun- 
cracked mud. It is so ugly that stuffing it with 
tow does not make it look any worse. It has a 
piggish appetite for fish, but if no fish or frogs 
are handy, it eats other snakes. It is quite as 
ready to bite a friend as an enemy, and when 
Mr. Percy Selous was bitten by his “pet” Moc- 
casin, he died in fifty hours, despite medical 
treatment. 
The Moccasin is a southern snake, and it is 
a pity the species is not confined to Tierra del 
Fuego. It lives along the grassy margins of bay- 
COPPERIIEAD. 
ous and swamps, and is most frequently found 
lying at the shore line, with its head and a small 
1 An-cis'tro-don pis-ci-vo ras. 
portion of its body out of the water. It is also 
much in the habit of lying upon logs, on bushes 
overhanging water, or in the vicinity of dried-up 
pools. When disturbed, it starts up, opens its 
mouth very wide, holds it open, moves its tail in 
slow vibrations, and stares wickedly at the in- 
truder. It is the whiteness of the interior of 
the mouth that has given rise to the name of 
“Cotton-Mouth Moccasin.” 
This serpent does not coil itself in a round, 
tight coil, like a rattlesnake. As a rule, it holds 
its ground tenaciously, and does not retreat 
unless deep water is near. The fangs are shorter 
in proportion than in the rattlesnake, and the 
action of the poison is not so quick and violent 
as that of the rattler. But the bite must be 
taken seriously, and treated with the utmost 
vigor, if a fatal result is to be avoided. 
This serpent attains an extreme length of about 
5 feet, and a diameter of 3 inches. Usually, 
WATER-MOCCASIN. 
however, specimens are about 34 feet by 2 inches. 
When adult, it is a snake absolutely devoid of 
bright colors, its scales being the color of dried 
mud, and very rough. The head is flat, the body 
thick and puffed out, and the tail is very blunt. 
The young of the Moccasins are born alive, 
each one being enclosed in a thin, transparent 
sac, which bursts immediately upon reaching the 
outer air. The young are usually from 7 to 8 in 
number, but the last family born in the Reptile 
House contained 14. The young are strongly 
marked by light and dark bands, on account of 
which they are easily mistaken for young cop- 
perheads. They also resemble young hog-nosed 
snakes. 
About the only redeeming feature in this 
serpent is the fact that in captivity it is very 
hardy. In four years, not one has died in our 
