344 IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 
When the troops of children were pushing and elbowing 
“to see’’ they would crowd up within a few feet of the snake, 
and the performance was very hasty and the snakes’ disappear- 
ance rapid — the whole occupying only a few seconds. When, 
however, we went out alone and were careful not to get too 
near at the start, the mother snake would often not go into the 
hole at first but simply raise her head and remain in that po- 
sition for several minutes, or until our curiosity prompted us 
to approach too close, when she would go in rather liesurely. 
At these times the first little snakes to enter the mouth 
would almost instantly turn around and stick their little heads 
put and thrust out their forked tongues as defiantly as you 
please. Often there would be three or four of these heads stick- 
ing out at one time, and considerable signs of a rumpus going 
on inside her body a few inches back from the head. These 
signs we interpreted as the other little snakes fighting for a 
nhance to get their heads out. 
The little ones never seemed to be far away and often would 
be lying alongside the mother. The hiss seemed to be the sign 
for them to scurry for the mouth, and often two or three would 
he entering at the same time, while frequently before the last 
one was in there would be one or more heads sticking out. We 
never saw a little snake come entirely out, for as soon as the 
last one started in the mother snake would raise her head quite 
high, higher than that species ordinarily carries its head. The 
bulge in the mother snake was always in that part above ground, 
and there was always considerable movement in the bulge. 
There: could be nO' possibility of an optical illusion through 
the small snakes’ going under the mother, because as soon as 
they were in, the head was always raised higher than the length 
of the little snakes, and their heads and often an inch of their 
bodies would be showing out of the mouth at this time. More- 
Over the hole the mother ’s body went through was a tight fit 
around the bulge so that no little snakes could have gone in 
outside the mother, even if they could have, reached up to the 
hole^ which they could not. And if they were going into the 
hole at all. why go past it as they often did, to reach the mother’s 
rnouthi This same performance has been witnessed several 
times since under less satisfactory conditions., but at the time 
no question had been raised in the writer’s mind and no par- 
ticular attention was paid the -details. ’ . 
' Utah AGRicuLTukAii GonLEdE, 
Logan; Utah. 
