BRIEF NOTES 
What Length Does the Diamond-Back Attainf This is a 
question on which there is a great divergence of opinion on the 
part of laymen. Professional students of reptiles agree that 
the maximum length attained is not more than eight and one- 
half feet. Many truthful laymen have affirmed that they have 
slain them measuring fully ten feet. While there appears to 
the reader to be a very great discrepancy as regards the opin¬ 
ions of the laymen and experts yet the same can be readily 
reconciled. It all depends on the rule employed in determining 
their length. The rattler shares at least one characteristic in 
common with the eel-worm, that of contracing his form, or 
stretching out to great length. When one is poised for combat it 
appears that he gathers himself together in such manner that 
his length would not be more than one-half normal. This gives 
him a strategic advantage over his adversary—he has a much 
shorter line to defend. Such physical feat is accomplished by 
forming his body into several large crooks, while his spine, 
within each of such segments, is formed into innumerable small 
crooks. In such a posture the length of the largest specimen 
does not appear to be more than four feet. Leave him to him¬ 
self until he relaxes and commences crawling away and he in¬ 
stantly lengthens to six feet. Hang him by the neck overnight 
and the same reptile will be found to measure eight feet or 
more in the morning. So, what is the answer? 
The Gopher, Landowner’s Best Friend. There is not a more 
harmless creature to be found anywhere, yet he has developed 
many enemies of the human kind which he never deserved. He 
subsists wholly upon wild herbs, refraining from invading the 
farmer’s fields and foraging upon his crops, yet they are sought 
for food, used for fishbait, while some wantonly and mali¬ 
ciously destroy their eggs, seemingly for the pleasure derived 
from destroying the wild life of the land. 
Left to themselves to lead their natural lives they build such 
inviting burrows within the dry areas that the rattler is enticed 
to them by reason of the added comfort he enjoys there. Other¬ 
wise he would find a place of hibernation inside the swamps 
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