Forest and Stream 
Six Months, $1.50. 
$3 a Year, 10 Cts. a Copy. 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JULY 12, 1913. 
VOL. LXXXI.—No. 2. 
127 Franklin St., New York. 
How to Distinguish Our Venomous Snakes 
I PROPOSE to give a rule for distinguishing 
our venomous snakes from the non-venom- 
ous, which is also a good thing to have in 
mind in the woods. Like the revolver in Texas, 
it may not be wanted often, but when wanted 
at all, it is wanted badly. For there are several 
harmless snakes which are commonly mistaken 
for venomous, and persons bitten by them gen¬ 
erally receive a treatment very nearly as pain¬ 
ful and dangerous as being bitten by a really 
venomous snake. I have myself seen illustra¬ 
tions, but they would make a story by them¬ 
selves and must be left out. My rule, of course, 
requires that the snake must be killed for ex¬ 
amination, but all rules must require that. Of 
course, too, everyone knows that the possession 
of fangs is a characteristic of all venomous 
snakes, but the fangs are always difficult for a 
non-expert to find, especially if the snake’s head 
has been mashed, and a rule is needed so plain 
and simple that no expert work is necessary. 
I am sorry that strict accuracy requires two 
exceptions, and one explanation to go along with 
the rule, but I am not responsible for that. I 
could not fit the snakes to the rule and had to 
fit the rule to the snakes. Nature seems opposed 
anyhow to our getting all her ways and tricks 
precisely expressed in brief sentences, and we 
are really lucky to be able to locate her in the 
United States as well as this rule will do. Out¬ 
side of this country the rule is useless, and there 
is no way to be sure of the harmless snake, but 
to be sure that there are no fangs. 
I got this rule in an imperfect form when 
I was a very small boy from Dr. Bachman, of 
South Carolina, a distinguished naturalist of 
those distant days. But having seen, in later 
years, an innocent bite given by a snake which 
the rule would have made venomous (though 
the treatment applied, by cording the limb and 
drenching with whiskey, came near being fatal), 
and also venomous bites by snakes which the 
By JACK HILDIGO 
rule would have made harmless, I was led to 
fuller investigation, and the result of what would 
be a long story may be now stated briefly as 
follows: In the United States, if any of the 
scales on the underside of any snake’s tail 
(called “sub-caudal” scales) run clear across 
like the belly scales (called “entire”), the snake 
is venomous with one exception; but if all the 
sub-caudal scales lap in the middle (called 
“divided” and giving the appearance of a plaited 
whip lash), the snake is harmless, with one ex¬ 
ception. 
The harmless exception with tail of the 
venomous snakes is known “botanically” as 
Rhinochilus Iccontci, a sort of ringed and colored 
snake only found in California and west of the 
one hundredth meridian of longitude. 
The venomous exception, with tail of the 
harmless, is the elaps or coral or beach snake; 
and he is such an exceptional snake altogether 
that he deserves a few lines all to himself. In 
the first place he is a near relative of the famed 
Indian cobra, and there is reason to believe that 
his venom is peculiarly potent. Of nine persons 
bitten, of whom I have heard or found record, 
seven died, and one very nearly died. Some of 
the snakes, too, were reported as only medium 
size or small; secondly, he is of exceedingly 
inoffensive disposition. He often submits to be 
handled and carried about in some idiot’s pocket. 
Two of the seven victims above mentioned got 
their bites by forcibly opening the snakes’ 
mouths and sticking their fingers inside. In four 
other cases of bites the snakes were being 
handled, and in three the circumstances are not 
given; thirdly, this snake alone, among our 
venomous snakes, has his fangs, which are pro¬ 
portionately small, permanently erect. In the 
others the fang shuts down like a knife blade 
until erected ready to strike. The elaps fang 
also is not hollow, as are the fangs of the 
others, but only deeply grooved. The venom 
causes less local discoloration and swelling, but 
is a deadlier nerve and heart poison. Fortu¬ 
nately the common variety of him ( Elaps 
fulvius ) is easy to describe. Several harmless 
snakes have similar bright colors and some gen¬ 
eral resemblance, but the following formula for 
the coloration of all his middle parts fits him 
like a glove, and fits nothing else. Alternate 
broad bands of black and of speckled crimson, 
separated by narrow gold rings. On head and 
tail crimson is missing, and it is alternate black 
and gold. 
We may now recapitulate our rule for the 
memory in its briefest terms thus: Entire sub- 
caudals are venomous, except Rhinochilus; 
divided sub-caudals are harmless, except Elaps; 
or we may express it by two little sketches in 
our little note books, as shown in the illustra¬ 
tions herewith. 
Note that the venomous have some divided 
scales. Not often, I think, as many as I have 
drawn, but almost always a few. But the harm¬ 
less have no entire scales. 
In this connection there should be noted 
one other mark of our venomous snakes (all 
except Elaps again), which is a safe rule where 
the head can be examined. That is the pit, or 
deep sort of dimple, between the eye and the 
nostril. No harmless snakes have it. Dissection 
and the microscope show it furnished with a 
branching nerve like that of the eye or ear, but 
its purpose is unguessed. 
And here we could end the matter, but for 
the little explanation before referred to, forced 
on us by nature’s exuberance. She has rather 
recently turned out, or rather it has only been 
proven on her, that she makes quite a lot of a 
new sort of venomous snakes. They are scien¬ 
tifically called Opistoglyphs, and they have 
grooved fangs and venom bags, but at the inner 
ends of their jaw bones a sort of poisonous wis¬ 
dom teeth. Of course they can only bring this 
fang to bear upon small things well seized upon 
with their ordinary teeth, and they can scarcely 
be called dangerous to man. Still it is interest¬ 
ing to know about them. There are four 
families of them: One, Taniilla, has four sub- 
varieties and is found distributed from the Caro- 
linas to California; two others, Comophanes and 
Lcptodura, are found in Southern Texas; and 
one, Trimorphodon, in Arizona. And I have re¬ 
cently found one in Central America where this 
paper is written, a spotted snake, called by the 
natives Toboba, and considered venemous. But 
his only fangs were his wisdom teeth. His 
“botanical” name I have not yet learned. 
In all of these the sub-caudals are divided. 
Upper illustration is that of venomous, except Rhinochilus. Lower drawing shows harmless, except Elaps. 
