18G7.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
211 
The Black Snake— ■tciinion conutncior.) 
The Black Snake ie the largest of our com- 
mv)n snake.', though there are stories of other 
species occasionally ccpialliug its largest size, 
and from its active 
habits and fondness 
for cultivated laud, 
it is well known to 
farmers and far¬ 
mers’ boys. It is 
peiiectly harmles.s, 
yet has siuii a 
threatening w.ny of 
resenting an attack, 
and BO often turns 
and gives chase to 
u fleeing enemy, 
that it is regarded 
not only as an ene¬ 
my, but often witli 
a sort of terror. It 
will never stand to 
fight, but gets away 
marvelously quick 
after the first blow 
is dealt, unless it be 
effectually detained. 
This snake is 4 to 
6 feet long, the tail 
being about one- 
fifth. The head is 
■mail, the teeth nu¬ 
merous, and all 
about of a size. It 
has no fangs and 
out tlie northern and middle States, e.xtending 
into Oldo and probably furtlier westward. The 
back is thick; head and tail short, and eyes 
small. It is of a greyish ash color, “with a 
dorsal scries c.f upwards of fifty transverse. 
IIL.VCK SSAKE 
no venom. 
The scales 
of the back are diamond shaped. Its color is 
bluish black above, light slate color beneath; 
chin and throat white. The young are speckled, 
black and white above. The snake lives upon 
toads, frogs, lizards, small birds, and eggs of 
birds,—for which it climbs trees of considerable 
bight,—mice and their young, as also the young 
of larger quadrupeds when it can get them. It 
does little liarm in 
the hay and grain 
fields, for if cut open, 
its belly will be 
often found to con¬ 
tain several mice. 
Still it probably 
does not discrimi¬ 
nate well between 
shrews and mice, 
and the former are 
voracious insect cat¬ 
ers. It destroys also 
many toads which 
are among our best 
fricnd3,and it would 
be hard to tell how 
many birds, includ¬ 
ing young and eggs, 
a single black snake 
annually destroys. 
Un the whole, then, 
it is an enemy, and 
though innocent of 
ability to harm man, 
It is hardly worth 
while to attempt to 
conquer our re¬ 
pugnance to “ the 
form of the ser¬ 
pent,” and save the lives of these animals when 
we can, on account of any good they may do us. 
The Milk Snake ou Chicken Snake.— 
This beautiful serpent (Ophibolus eximius) is 
the familiar representative of its genus through¬ 
(^littscaniun const ridor.) 
I elliptical, chocolate blotches, and with two other 
, alternating series ou each side.” The length is 
1 from two feet to three and a half. It is very fam¬ 
iliar in its habits, being frequently found about 
j the foundations of barns and cow stables, spring 
! houses, etc. Iis food is such small birds and 
' animals as it can overpower, and it is said 
, to be very fond of milk. The idea that it will 
milk a cow is as absurd as the one, so universal 
Mii.K on ciiiCKE^^ s^■AKE. —{Opliiholus eximins.) 
GUEEN THEE FROG. 
sqirkee tree-toad. 
in Europe, that a bird much resembling our 
Whip-poor-will sucks goats. The Milk-Snako 
is entirely harmless, but shares with its kindred 
the aversion with which these graceful and beau¬ 
tiful creatures are almost universally regarded. 
The Garden Toad—and Tree Frogs. 
The Batrachians are cold-blooded reptiles, 
destitute of scales; their young are usually 
liatched iu an immature condition from eggs laid 
in the water, and 
undergo several 
changes before be¬ 
coming perfected 
animals. To this 
class belong Toads, 
Frogs, Ti'ce-toads, 
etc., wliicli fall un¬ 
der the subdivision 
of tailless batrachi¬ 
ans. We present a 
representation of 
the commonGarden 
Toad, {Bvfo Ameri- 
cam(s), of the Green 
Tree-ftog of the 
South, {Ilyla viri- 
dis,) and of the 
Squirrel Tree-toad, 
{Uyla squirrella,) 
also of the South, 
but found occa¬ 
sionally in the Mid¬ 
dle States. There 
is something about 
toads, even tree- 
toads, which excites 
disgust, and they 
have been almost 
universally despised 
and persecuted. The fact is, they are among 
the most faithful friends of the gardener and 
orcliardist. Living upon insects, they do much 
towards reducing the number of those that at¬ 
tack cultivated plants, and should be carefully 
preserved in gardens, and shielded from harm. 
The common toad is covered with warts from 
which, and especially from two large glands be¬ 
hind the head on each side, an acrid fluid exudes, 
which, while it 
causes smarting to 
tender skin, and 
makes a dog drop 
the toad and often 
froth at the mouth, 
and appear in great 
distress, is really 
harmless, neither 
producing warts 
nor other evil. If 
the toad has a jep'el 
in its head, as it 
was once believed 
to have, that jewel 
i.s its tongue, for by 
it, darting it out to 
a considerable dis¬ 
tance, it draws the 
unsuspecting flies 
and beetles into its 
mouth. This mo¬ 
tion of the tongue 
is so rapid that it 
can scarcely be fol¬ 
lowed by the eye. 
Toads lay their eggs 
in the spring, in 
shallow pools, and 
while thus engaged, 
their note-a prolonged trill-may be heard both 
day and night. The eggs are enclosed m jelly, 
which holds them iu clusters, and protects 
them from fish, and the young, when hatched, 
are the little dark-colored tadpoles or poiii- 
GARDEN TOAD. 
