THE LIVING WORLD. 
178 
furnished to my own eyes of the statement as to the young of certain snakes 
seeking protection within the parent’s mouth and stomach is absolutely incon¬ 
testable. 
PROCESS OF A SNAKE SWALLOWING A FISH. 
I also had the pleasure once of beholding, and thus determining, the extra¬ 
ordinary amount of distention a snake is capable of, confirming my assertion 
that they can swallow a creature whose diameter is many times greater than 
their own. I was one time fishing in a slough, some five miles below Warsaw, 
Ill., in company with my father-in-law, when, having met with poor success, at 
the noon hour we retired to the shelter of a corn-crib, in which we had our 
lunch. The day was extremely sultry, on which account we did not resume 
fishing for probably two hours. I had left my pole thrust into the muddy 
bank, with the line cast and baited with angle-worm, hoping that during my 
temporary absence some wandering fish might find the morsel I had thus set 
out and become fast, a hope which was not disappointed. Returning to the spot 
at length I was much delighted at seeing my pole bending under a considerable 
strain, and eagerly I rushed down to complete the capture. What was my 
surprise, upon jerking up my line, to see dangling to my hook a water-snake 
(of the moccasin species), less than two feet in length. Great as was my sur¬ 
prise at this discovery, my astonishment was very much increased upon exam¬ 
ination to find that the snake was not hooked, but that it had seized upon and 
swallowed a cat-fish some six inches in length that had first become fast on 
the hook. The fish’s body had entirely disappeared down the snake’s gullet, 
leaving on either side of it, a few inches below the mouth, a remarkable dis¬ 
tention of the skin, through which it seemed the sharp, pectoral fins of the 
fish must surely cut their way. All who have done any fishing in our Western 
waters are familiar with the cat-fish, and most of my readers can testify to its 
ability to give a severe wound with the sharp and very hard fins that set so 
rigidly just behind the gills. These fins may be moved very slightly backwards, 
but the muscles will not permit of their movement forward, hence, as the fish 
was swallowed tail first and the spurs (fins) from point to point were certainly 
four inches, the distention of the snake’s mouth was most extraordinary to 
take in such an unyielding body; ten-fold more difficult than it would be to 
swallow a body twice the size, whose increase from the tail upward was gradual, 
thus giving the snake a chance to distend its jaws slowly, instead of by a 
spasmodic exertion expand them to the required extent, as must have been done. 
Since witnessing this remarkable feat I have been credulous enough to 
believe that a snake can swallow anything if only sufficient time be given him. 
Having thus briefly noticed some of the general characteristics of serpents, 
I will now proceed to a particular description of the more important species, 
such as the venomous and formidable, with casual notice of the common and 
harmless species, in order to enable the reader to distinguish those which are 
capable of inflicting deadly bites. 
The general rule, but to which there are not a few exceptions, is that all 
venomous snakes have thick bodies and the head short, the skull rising abruptly 
from the neck and being angular, with slight compression below the eyes. 
Their movements, too, are usually, though not always, slow. The non-venomous 
are slimmer, very long for the diameter, with tails terminating in a sharp 
point, colors brighter, and head long and shapely with pointed nozzle. 
