THE MOCCASIN AND FEE-DE-LANCE 
353 
Reptile House. It is a serpent of the Gulf states, 
coming as far north as North Carolina and south- 
ern Illinois, and extending westward to Texas. 
The Harlequin Snake 1 is a small, shiny, del- 
icately formed serpent, of rather quiet habits 
and retiring disposition. It belongs to the same 
Family ( Elapidae ) as the deadly king-cobra of 
India! As far as it can be seen, it is instantly 
recognizable by the alternation of brilliant coral- 
red, yellow and jet-black rings which encircle its 
body from head to tail-tip. Unlike the broad- 
headed pit vipers, 2 the head of this serpent is no 
wider than its neck, and as a special feature, its 
head is quite insignificant in size, but is always 
crossed by a broad yellow band. It is well to 
remember from this species that not all venomous 
serpents have lance-shaped heads. 
The range of this beautiful but rather stupid 
little serpent begins in South Carolina, and in- 
FER-DE-LANCE. 
eludes all the Gulf states southward and west- 
ward to the Pecos River in Texas. It ascends 
the Mississippi states to southern Indiana. It is 
a very persistent ground-dweller, and in captivity 
it spends three-fourths of its time buried in the 
sand of its cage, quite out of sight. It eats gar- 
ter-snakes and black-snakes, voraciously. Al- 
though its bite is undoubtedly poisonous, I have 
never known of any one having been bitten. In 
fact, it is difficult to see how any one can be bit- 
ten by this serpent without having it done by 
special appointment. 
The Sonoran Coral Snake , 3 of southern 
Arizona and northern Mexico, is in appearance 
1 E'laps ful'vi-us. 
2 So called because of the existence of a round 
and deep pit on the side of the head, about half 
way between the eye and the end of the nose. In 
the rattlesnakes this character is very noticeable. 
3 E'laps eu-ryx-an' thus . 
much like the harlequin snake, and it is men- 
tioned only because it is so little known, and to 
remark that it is a good subject for observation. 
The Fer-de-Lance, or Lance-Head Snake , 4 
is the serpent terror of the West Indies. It is a 
small snake, only about 6 feet in length when 
fully grown, and 2 inches in diameter. Its head 
is very wide, and it has very long fangs in pro- 
portion to its size. Its color-pattern strongly 
suggests the light phase of the timber rattle- 
snake — brown, with black markings. On two 
occasions that we know of, travellers returning 
from the West Indies have brought with them 
in pasteboard boxes, as indifferently as if they 
were frogs, living and healthy specimens of this 
venomous creature! One specimen was brought 
to us by a lady and her child, for identification; 
and the keepers of reptiles shudder even yet 
when they think what might easily have occurred. 
Fortunately, this serpent is not particularly 
aggressive, or hostile toward those about it. 
When it seizes its prey, however, it buries its 
fangs, and holds on determinedly. A female 
specimen in our collection gave birth to twenty- 
four young, but they one and all refused to eat, 
and failed to survive. 
SNAKE-POISONS AND THEIR TREAT- 
MENT. 
The Rattlesnake’s defensive equipment of 
fangs and poison has been perfected by Nature 
with as much care as the horns of hoofed animals, 
or the defensive armor of an armadillo. The 
ordinary jaw teeth have nothing to do with the 
poisoning process, and wounds from them would 
prove fatal only under exceptional conditions. 
The venom of a serpent is a rather thick fluid, 
secreted in two glands that are situated on the 
side of the upper jaw, under the skin, behind the 
eye. In the stomach of an animal it is supposed 
to be harmless, and we know that in many cases 
it is so. To produce death, it must be injected 
into the blood, by a method that is practically 
instantaneous, and very effective. First there 
must be a puncture, then the injection of the 
poison. 
To pierce the skin and flesh, the rattlesnake 
has two special teeth, called fangs, which are very 
long, slender, slightly curved, and exceedingly 
4 Bo'throps lan-ce-o-la'tus. 
