cigarette was about out, and I was 
reaching for the oars to go to break- 
fast, the plug came to the surface. 
The next morning I went to the 
same spot and the first cast netted a 
4-lb. large mouth, and I often have 
wondered—was it the same one? 
F. K. SINGER, 
Pittsburgh, Pa. 
Another Road Runner Tale 
DEAR FOREST AND STREAM: 
[XN reading FOREST AND STREAM I 
have noted the discussion on the 
road runner, which brings to my mind 
a tale of some twenty years back. 
Jim Brent, of the State of Sonora, 
Mexico, mining man and _ prospector 
for thirty years in the mountains, 
some 150 miles under the Arizona line 
and close up near the Chihuahua line; 
my brother-in-law, my sister and my- 
self, one day went out to his mine. 
While riding along the highway, a 
road runner ran on ahead of us and 
Jim’s' tale came out. 
The road runner is a smart bird; 
he finds a rattlesnake asleep and then 
proceeds to pile cactus all around him. 
When he has the snake surrounded he 
teases him and wakes him up. 
The snake becomes mad and tries to 
break through the cactus, and in his 
rushes to break through, kills himself, 
and the road runner has a feast. 
I saw several of these birds cross 
my trail but never got near enough to 
learn anything of their habits. 
JOHN LATIMORE, 
Witica semen 
Some ’Possum 
DEAR FOREST AND STREAM: 
{pees are only eleven opossums in 
this family, one little fellow being 
too timid to come out and have his 
picture taken. The picture reminds 
one of the “Old Woman Who Lived In 
a Shoe.” 
A Mississippi farmer had some cord 
wood cut and piled in the woods. In 
the early spring, when the negro farm- 
hand was moving a pile of this wood, 
an opossum ran out with her ten 
babies, some in her pocket and some 
clinging to her back. The negro 
caught them and the farmer carried 
them to the town, about three miles 
away. There he put them in a store 
window for the public to see, had their 
picture taken, carried them back home, 
and had the negro turn them loose, 
seemingly none the worse for their 
travels and experiences. 
Can’t you imagine what visions 
“danced about the negro’s head” as 
he turned them loose? In his mind’s 
eye he saw all eleven of those ’possums, 
grown to full size, killed and dressed, 

Beene tn ee ie ee a 
and baked with lots of gravy and sweet 
potatoes, mmmmph! And to make his 
visions come true, he marked the place 
well, spotted the nearest persimmon 
tree (for ’possums love persimmons 
like negroes love ’possum), and when 
persimmons were ripe, about the time 
of the first frost the next. October, on 
a moonlight night he took his dog and 
gun, or a stick, and went straight for 
that woods and that persimmon tree 
to catch him some of that ’possum he 
had been enjoying in imagination all 
summer. 
MARGARET FITCHETT, 
Canton, Miss. 
Treating Snake Bite 
DEAR FOREST AND STREAM: 
I BELIEVE that the following letter 
from Lieutenant Colonel F. Metcalf, 
Medical Corps, Chief of the Surgical 
Service, Station Hospital, Fort Sam 
Houston, Texas, will be of interest and 
value to FOREST AND STREAM readers: 
“During the past few months, we 
have treated, at this hospital some 
eight or ten rattle-snake bites, and as 
there seems to be some question as to 
the proper procedure in cases of snake 
bites, it is thought that possibly a de- 
tailed statement of our methods of 
treatment might be of general informa- 
tion to the Surgeons, especially in the 
Eighth Corps Area or possibly the 
Surgeon Highth Corps Area, might con- 
sider it available to have this notation 
published in the Medical Military fre- 
view, for wider distribution. 
“Every civilian and every soldier 
from the southwest has a pretty good 
idea of the emergency treatment, which 
is the immediate application of a 
tourniquet above the bite, in other 
words, between the heart and _ bite. 
After the tourniquet is applied, which 
should be done before the case comes 
to the doctor, then the treatment we 
follow here is a crucial incision to the 
depth of the bite which is usually from 
one eighth to one fourth of an inch 
deep. Thorough bleeding and the in- 
jection, by hypodermic, of one to three 
or five thousand solution of potassium 
permanaganate down around the bite 
to a depth of about one half inch. Then 
the application of a moist dressing of 
one to five thousand potassium per- 
managanate and putting the man in the 
hospital where he is carefully watched. 
Up to this time, the tourniquet should 
not have been removed. After treat- 
ment has been applied, we release the 
tourniquet every twenty five minutes to 
allow re-establishment of circulation 
and a small discharge of any venom re- 
maining to go into the circulation, then 
the tourniquet is applied again and re- 
leased in another twenty five minutes. 
By carefully watching the heart, if 
there are no depressive symptoms after 
the second release the tourniquet can 
be left off. A common error that is 
made by many surgeons in their treat- 
ment of rattle-snake bite is to put 
in potassium permanganate crystals 
after they make the crucial incision. 
This usually is followed by severe 
sloughing of parts and disabling the 
man for a long period of time, whereas, 
the solution injected directly around 
the bite, seems to serve every purpose 
of combating the venom. I have had 
one case in the hospital with neccosis 
of the bone resulting from the applica- 
tion of the crystallized potassium per- 
manganate. If the crystals have 
been put in the wound by someone else, 
then the first step should be to clean 
it out with a solution of oxalic acid, 
afterwards washing the wound out 
with sterile water. 
“FEF, A. WINTER, 
Surgeon.” 
While the chance of being bitten by 
a rattler is very slight, nevertheless it 
is well to know how to proceed with 
treatment intelligently, should the 
necessity arise. As may be seen by the 
above letter, much harm may be done 
the patient by unwise use of potassium 
permanganate. 
COLONEL M. L. CRIMMINS, 
Fort Bliss, Texas. 
Page 480 
