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ing; for the eggs of the American | matter in America), and examined

snake appear to be laid immediately after being formed, as they are 'sometimes found in the ground containing only the slightest tinge of fœtus, but otherwise exactly as I took them out of the animal, when I discovered no appearance of that in the eggs, which I examined (but not carefully) with the naked eye.

Mr. Frank Buckland has agreed to test the phenomenon of swallowing in a very unphilosophical way, by procuring a viper with young already born or hatched-he probably does not know which-and asks for proof of the swallowing while the creature is in the hands of the Philistines, when she has no call to do it, to carry the young anywhere, or protect them from the weather, or preserve them from approaching danger that is avoidable. In short, her captivity prevents that which Mr. Buckland insinuates it should lead to a very ingenious and frank way to choke off proswallowers. Cats generally will not even look at rats when interfered with in their own way and place of tackling them. There is nothing to prevent Mr. Buckland making the experiments I have suggested. He has already "taken proceedings" in the matter, but in a very unreasonable manner; and it is to be hoped he will do something further, and gratify the curiosity of naturalists everywhere, whatever the result might be.

I need not suggest the experiment of trying to hatch the eggs of the viper in a temperature like that of the place from which they were taken, in the same way that the American brought forth his snakes on the mantelpiece; for if she lays eggs, that would settle the question as to her being a swallower." I may, however, say something more about the American experiment. The gentleman who conducted it I had hunted up, after a lapse of thirteen years (sometimes a rather difficult

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fully. There was no fire burning, as it was in July. He killed the mother, which was hovering about, apparently in the expectation of her services being required, as the eggs proved very near the hatching point. He took one of them to his place of business in New York, to satisfy incredulous people, and fortunately the birth took place on a table, in the presence of several people. The young snake, which measured six inches in length, made its appearance by the head, gradually uncoiling itself out of its prison, which was an inch long, but not nearly so broad, and did not break in pieces like a brittle fowl's egg on being hatched, but opened in two, as the outside covering of some kinds of nuts come apart. It provedof the ordinary brown striped species (a harmless kind), the same as the old one killed, which was about three feet long-an exact description of the one from which I took the young ones. Immediately after it disengaged itself, it began to move about in a pretty lively way like snakes, but did not prove in any way belligerent when touched. It was then put into spirits and preserved. The substance covering it resembled ordinary paper in thickness, and dry, but considerably attenuated from its original condition.* The eggs found by this gentleman were in a pretty bunch or cluster, all sticking together, but how formed he did not know till I told him that before being laid they were in a string, lying along the back of the snake, loosely connect

* If fifteen or twenty eggs, lying along in the way described, we would have, on the back of a snake, were hatched inside a small scale, something worse than an earthquake. Or, imagine the eggs, hatched at birth like the bursting of a shell at the mouth of a gun, or some time after leaving it, and returning to the gun, without being taken into it, and we would have the doctrine of anti-swallowers well illustrated.

ed by a soft glutinous substance, | in length, and, although helpless to and apparently ready to be laid; protect themselves, are exceedingly when he concluded with me that nimble-" sharp as needles," as they had all been deposited at illustrated by their passing like a once, with a spiral or circular turn "continuous glistening string" down of the animal, which would give the mother's throat, when by her them the shape in which they were peculiar "hiss" she calls them to found. The New Jersey and Illi- her on the approach of danger, alnois gentlemen assert that the eggs though they are always near her; found by them (about three inches and that very young snakes are below the surface in loose soil in never seen by themselves, and selIllinois) were not so connected to- dom even with the mother, for the gether but then they ploughed reason that she has already providthem up. Those from Long Island ed for their disappearance on the and Illinois assert that different approach of danger. The Long kinds of snakes are found on the Islander never saw snakes so dissame ground, although my experi- appear, but one day he heard the ence, which was much less than peculiar hiss, the meaning of which theirs, found it otherwise.f The he knew well from description, alyoung of a snake from two to three though the snake was hidden from feet long, when born, they say, are view, and he made a rush to where from four-and-a-half to six inches it seemed to be, to see the phenom

*

*The eggs found on Long Island had evidently been deposited in a confined space, which would make them bunch or cluster, in place of being connected by the ends, by the glutinous substance, as when laid.

Some kinds of snakes are found on the same ground, although they live separately, except when they hybernate, when several kinds are found together. Some species not only make war upon but devour others. Here is what Hun ter, to whom I will again refer, says on the subject:

"Both the rattle and black snakes prey on them [the prairie dog]:.... but their destruction would be still more considerable were it not for the perpetual belligerency of these reptiles" (p. 177). "The common black, copperhead, and spotted swamp snakes never fail, I believe, to engage with and destroy them [the rattlesnakes] whenever they meet, which, together with the hostility that exists between the two species [of rattle snakes, the black and parti coloured], prevents an increase that would otherwise render the country almost uninhabitable" (p. 179). 'When the two species [of rattlesnakes] fight, it is by coiling and striking at each other; they frequently miss in their aim, or rather avoid each other's fangs by darting simultaneously in a direction different from the approaching blow. When one is bitten, it amounts to a defeat, and it instantly retreats for a watering place, at which, should it arrive in time, it

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slakes its thirst, swells, and dies. I have
witnessed the effects of the poison on
their own bodies, or on those of the an-
tagonist species, in several instances,
and have never known one that was
bitten to recover, notwithstanding the
generally prevailing opinion to the con-
trary, that such instinctively resort to
efficient antidotes" (p. 179).
In one
instance, I vexed a rattlesnake till it bit
itself, and subsequently saw it die from
the poison of its own fangs. I also saw
one strangled in the wreathed folds of
its inveterate enemy, the black-snake"
(p. 118). "The other hostile snakes
grasp their necks between their teeth,
wreathe round, and strangle them" (p.
179).

'Rattlesnakes. . . . would infest the country to a much greater extent, were it not for the hostility that exists between them and the deer. This animal, on discovering a snake, as I have repeatedly witnessed, retreats some distance from it, then running with great rapidity alights with its collected feet upon it, and repeats this manoeuvre till it has destroyed its enemy" (p. 116).

Others state that the deer runs round and round the snake, narrowing the circle each time, till it lights upon it with its feet, as described, and destroys it. It is not mentioned that the deer destroys any other species of snakes; and, if that is true, the curious question would arise, how is the deer enabled to make the distinction in the case of the rattlesnake only?

of the serpent tribe is not describ-
ed, or hardly recorded, in the pages
of natural history. There are a
great variety of snakes in America.
Sometimes in the West, on a small-
sized farm containing prairie and
timber and a little swampy land,
there will be found at least seven
different kinds. All over the coun-
try they are found in the gardens,
and at times in the barns, corn-
cribs and milk-houses, and occa-`
sionally even in the houses.

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I will conclude by saying that,
for the many reasons given, the
British viper is doubtless a swal-
lower," and oviparous or semi-ovi-
parous. It would be strange in-
deed if the alleged fact of her swal-

by trustworthy ocular testimony.
If it can be demonstrated that she
is even semi-oviparous in the proper
sense of the word, then it necessa-
rily follows that she is a "swal-
lower," since she is found with
young inside of her.

enon, but he was too late, for the
young ones had already been swal-
lowed. He, however, killed the
snake, when the young ones ran out
of her mouth. They proved of the
same species as those hatched by
him, and those taken by me out of
a snake. He said that the mother
became comparatively helpless after
the operation, and showed a won-
derful disregard for her own safety
in her desire to protect her family.
The Illinois gentleman positively
asserted that he had seen a young
black-snake, fully a foot and a half
long, enter the mouth of its mother,
which was fully six feet in length.
As a general thing, a knowledge of
the habits of snakes, more than per-
haps any other animal, can be ac-lowing her young cannot be proved
quired only by a person collecting
the experience of others, and com-
paring it with his own; one having
observed one thing, and another
another. None I have spoken to
know how new-born snakes are fed.
They suppose that being born so
active they gather their food as
newly-hatched chickens do-pick-
ing it up themselves, perhaps with
the assistance of the mother, but,
of course, seizing much smaller
prey than would suit her. They
do not consider it impossible that
they might at first be nourished by
the mother by the same means she
uses for their protection when she
takes them down her throat. All
over America young people are
often killing snakes, some of them
pregnant with young and some with
eggs, and sometimes the same spe-
cies pregnant with both, but not, of
course, at the same time, which, as
As mammals are pro-
well as swallowing of the young, vided with means for giving birth
cause them no small astonishment, to their large-sized young, it is
and there the matter rests. But not unreasonable to suppose that
older and more intelligent people serpents, at the proper season, are
understand the phenomenon of the enabled to receive theirs down their
animal laying her eggs to be hatch- throats for protection. The anat-
ed in the soil, and then taking the omy of their mouths, throats, and
young inside of her for their pro- stomachs will doubtless substantiate
tection; and they often express this opinion. Such a phenomenon
their surprise that this peculiarity is not contrary to the laws of nature,

naturalist,

The

The philosophical
of all men, should be guided in
these matters by his reason, by
analogy and the nature of things,
along with his eyes, and not by his
eyes alone, and should remember
that facts in natural history take
precedence of everything.
snake has neither feet, wings, nor
fins, and is easily disabled, a sharp
stroke with a switch being sufficient
to break the back of one of con-
siderable size; and many of them
have little or no means of defence
to protect themselves, to say noth-
ing of sometimes twenty of a
progeny.

2

In

but rather illustrative of them. For, | The serpent, however much she is as St. Paul says, "All flesh is not hated, has been an object of interthe same flesh; for there is one est, wonder, est, wonder, or worship at all kind of flesh of men, another flesh times and among all nations. of beasts, another of fishes, and Genesis she is described as “more another of birds," and we might subtile than any beast of the field," • add another of serpents, each having and the highest of all authority natural laws peculiar to itself, and commands us to imitate her for her illustrating the wonderfully diversi- wisdom, provided it is allied with fied works of the Creator of all. | the harmlessness of the dove.

W1

WHITE OF SELBORNE ON SNAKES.*

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A state of ignorance in regard to the serpent tribe cannot be said to exist in America, although the knowledge possessed by people is of a casual and partial nature, more or less recent and rusty, and disconnected from any theory or system, which makes it all the more reliable to a person who will gather it up, like pieces of a puzzle lying loosely around, and arrange it into a whole. In the event of the present papers finding their way back to America, and being so brought before the notice of the public as to really interest it, I am satisfied that more could be collected from intelligent people in or from country places, than one would perhaps care to be troubled with; for to them a story about snakes is always interesting. I am really astonish

HITE, in his Natural History | field of nature, which is boundless, of Selborne, page 126, edi- yet investigation (where a man ention 1833, says :Monographers, deavours to be sure of his facts) can come from whence they may, have, make but slow progress; and all I think, fair pretence to challenge that one could collect in many some regard and approbation from years would go into a very narrow the lovers of natural history; for, compass" (p. 118). as no man can alone investigate all the works of nature, these partial writers may, each in his department, be more accurate in their discoveries, and freer from errors, than more general writers, and so by degrees may pave the way to a universal correct natural history." Men that undertake only one district are much more likely to advance natural knowledge than those that grasp at more than they can possibly be acquainted with. Every kingdom, every province, should have its own monographer" (p. 128). "It has been my misfortune never to have had any neighbours whose studies have led them toward the pursuit of natural knowledge; so that, for want of a companion to quicken my industry and sharpen my attention, I have made but slender progress in a kind of information to which I have been attached from my childhood" (p. 39). "It is no small undertaking for a man, unsupported and alone, to begin a natural history from his own autopsia. Though there is endless room for observation in the

* Dated January 11th, 1873; printed July 19th and August 23d.

Under the article "American Science Convention on Snakes" it will be seen that a newspaper notice on the subject of snakes called forth, from different

parts of the United States, no less than ninety-six answers.

ed at how much I meet with inci- | presence of mind for the moment, dentally, sometimes where I could as happens with every one on such hardly have expected it. Thus I occasions, especially for the first was introduced to a gentleman who time. Indeed, the plunging of the had seen an adder on Staten Island, snake, into the water with all her with many young ones, which al- family aboard of her took away the most instantly disappeared, he man's breath, as for an instant it did not know how; but he killed did mine, till I saw and was told it her, and as she seemed very was a water-snake. I immediately "heavy and bloated," he cut her remembered that an acquaintance, open, and found upwards of twenty worthy of every confidence, told young ones inside of her. The me that he had several times seen dog of an old acquaintance of mine water-snakes in North Carolina killed another adder, and shook the swallow their young. Water is, pereggs out of her, when they appear- haps for the most part, their natural ed ready to be laid; and he him- element, to which they flee in time self happened to kick a piece of of danger, and they are always loose turf near his house, and found near it, somewhat like water-rats. a nest of brown striped snake's In approaching people for informaeggs under it, very near the hatch- tion, so far from putting leading ing point. On a trip to Baltimore, questions, I almost invariably begin at the new year, I dropped into as one utterly ignorant of the subconversation on the subject of ject, and dropping on it by accisnakes with three people only, who dent, and let them tell their stories ⚫ happened to sit next me, with the complete, and if time and circumfollowing result. First, with a Vir- stances permit, then question and ginia Negro, who found, when hoe- cross-question them to the most ing a field of Indian corn, a nest of minute detail, in the most approved black-snake's eggs, twenty-eight in legal way, giving them at the close number, and very near the time of of the investigation" my reasons hatching. The next was an engin- for doing so. I almost invariably eer or machinist, returning from find them "interested witnesses doing a job on the railroad, who in the proper sense of the word, saw a snake, close to water, in easy to manage, and excited, as most the State of Delaware, with fully people who have been brought in twenty young ones, which in- contact with snakes are apt to be, stantly entered her mouth, when on the subject being mentioned to she plunged into the stream. The them. In America those that noother was a very respectable- tice animated nature are always inlooking and intelligent farmer, from telligent, whatever might be their the same State, who saw the ordi- education, and generally men of nary brown striped snake swallow humanity in proportion to the inher young, when he killed her, and terest they take in the subject. But, found them more than half way as Gilbert White says, the bane of down her body. He also found a our science is the comparing of nest of eggs of the same species, one animal to the other by memnearly ready to be hatched, under a ory" (p. 135), which applies to shallow stone that little more than some extent to the composition of rested on the ground, when clearing these papers, and gives them a up a field. Both these men said that rather rambling character, but perthey were so completely fascinated haps adds to what interest they by the phenomenon, and the " quick may possess 'for that very reason. as winkie" way in which the young Thus, to return to the American disappeared, that they lost their snakes swallowing their young.

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