ON  THE  VENOM  OF  SERPENTS. 
243 
ting  a  shoe-string  around  him,  became  excessively  ferocious, 
striking  at  even  the  crack  of  a  small  riding- whip.  Finding  him- 
self a  prisoner,  without  hope  of  escape,  he  turned  his  deadly 
weapons  on  his  own  body,  striking  repeatedly  his  well-charged 
fangs  deeply  into  his  flesh.  Notwithstanding  this,  he  was  put  in 
a  small  basket,  and  carried  forward.  In  one  hour  after,  he  was 
found  dead,  and  no  amount  of  irritation  could  excite  the  least 
indication  of  life.  Four  hours  after,  while  removing  the  skin  for 
preservation,  the  blood  oozed  slowly  from  the  vessels  in  a  dissolved 
state.  No  violence  was  done  to  his  snakeship,  except  what  he 
did  to  himself. 
Another  moccasin,  shot  by  a  pistol  about  two  inches  back  of 
the  head,  and  skinned  immediately,  gave  decided  evidence  of 
vitality  four  hours  after  being  flayed,  by  wreathing  the  body 
whenever  it  was  irritated  by  a  scalpel. 
A  large  rattle-snake  beheaded  instantly,  with  a  hoe,  would,  an 
hour  and  a  half  after,  strike  at  any  thing  that  pinched  its  tail. 
Of  several  persons  who  were  testing  their  firmness  of  nerve,  by 
trying  to  hold  the  hand  steady  while  the  serpent  struck  at  it,  not 
one  could  be  found  whose  hand  would  not  recoil  in  spite  of  his 
resolution,  and  one  man,  a  great  bully,  by-the-by,  was  struck  on 
the  naked  throat  with  considerable  violence  by  the  headless  trunk 
of  the  serpent,  and  staggered  back,  fainted  and  fell,  from  terror. 
Mr.  Stewart,  of  Miss.,  tells  me  he  witnessed  a  similar  scene  once. 
An  old  hunter  shot  a  rattle  snake's  head  off,  and  after  reloading 
his  gun  and  standing  some  time,  he  stooped  to  pull  off  the  rattles, 
and  the  bloody  but  headless  trunk  of  the  snake  struck  him  in  the 
temple  and  he  fainted  and  fell  down  with  terror. 
Seven  venomous  serpents  belonging  to  five  different  species 
were  made  to  fraternize  and  dwell  amicably  in  one  den.  A  beau- 
tiful pair  of  long  bodied  speckled  snakes,  known  as  king-snakes, 
and  found  to  be  fangless,  and  consequently  without  venom,  were 
duly  installed  as  members  of  the  family.  Some  uneasiness  was 
perceivable  among  the  older  members,  but  no  attempt  was  made 
to  destroy  the  intruders,  though  they  might  have  been  killed 
instanter.  The  next  morning  four  of  the  venomous  serpents 
were  found  to  have  been  destroyed  by  the  king-snakes,  and  one 
was  still  within  their  coil,  and  the  two  remaining  ones  would 
make  no  effort  at  self-defence.  A  large  rattle-snake  seemed  stupid 
and  indifferent  to  his  fate.    He  could  not  be  made  to  threaten  or 
