FINDING NATURE'S TREASURES 
79 
spreads apart and the skin of the cheeks stretches like 
rubber. If Buddy had a mouth like a snake, he could 
swallow a whole apple pie at one time.” 
“How can a snake run so fast?” asked Buddy. 
“The snake walks on the ends of its ribs,” said Uncle 
Jack. “Each rib is a leg fastened to one of these scales 
underneath. When it runs, it moves its ribs back and 
forth. That moves the scales. Don’t you think that you 
could run fast, too, if you had a hundred pairs of legs?” 
“Yes,” laughed Buddy, “if I could make them all work 
together. Sometimes the two that I have get mixed up 
and I fall down. But, does the snake really have a hun¬ 
dred ribs that it uses for legs?” 
“Some of them have that many ribs. If you don't think 
that a snake can work them together, just watch this 
one run,” and Uncle Jack put it down on the ground. 
The little snake glided away in the grass, happy to be 
free once more. 
“Before we hunt for other treasures, there is some¬ 
thing more I want to say about snakes,” said Uncle 
Jack. “This is one of the rules for you to remember 
always: Never pick up any kind of snake unless some 
older person is with you who knows that the snake will 
not harm you. You do not know enough to tell good 
snakes from bad snakes, and you might pick up one that 
will bite you and make you very, very ill.” 
