DO SNAKES HAVE LEGS? 
The answer is, yes, but they can’t walk on them. This is a 
fact well known to the ancients, and Moses makes mention of 
the fact very briefly in the Book of Genesis. Zoologists tell us 
that they sprang from a lizard-like creature. Given sufficient 
time and an ever-changing environment, they finally discarded 
their legs, or at any rate now have them tucked away beneath 
their skin where they are invisible under ordinary circum¬ 
stances. When one has been run over and crushed by an auto¬ 
mobile or exposed to heat they sometimes appear. 
The joint-snake is a living example of one of these creatures 
which has not yet made the grade. He is no snake at all, but 
a legless lizard. People can be fooled as regards his true iden¬ 
tity very easily, but a tomcat can’t. They regard them as a 
delicacy and never permit one to pass by without hailing him. 
Yes, the joint-snake is indeed a queer creature. When he sud¬ 
denly finds himself face to face with a bloodthirsty enemy 
whom he knows full intends to slit his gullet, he flees for the 
grass or bushes, shaking his long, luscious tail, simply inviting 
a thrust at that particular part of his anatomy. When his 
pursuer, be it a catbird, hawk, or tomcat, lays hold upon that 
long and luscious appearing tail of his it snaps as though it 
were made of glass. Some call them glass snakes for this very 
reason. The broken-off piece of tail commences such a series 
of gymnastics that it requires the best efforts of a real athlete 
to capture and subdue it. While thus engaged the joint-snake 
takes the vital part of himself away to a safe hideout. He can 
grow another tail. True, it may not be quite so long nor as 
handsome as the original, but will serve him quite well in sim¬ 
ilar emergencies which may later arise. 
The question is asked repeatedly: “Do rattlers eat little 
creatures they fang?” Most assuredly. Nature equipped them 
with fangs and venom primarily for the purpose of enabling 
them to acquire food. True, they utilize such weapons for pur¬ 
poses of self-defense, but this is of secondary importance. 
Venom taken internally would injure no one, provided the 
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