Catherine Cooper Hopley

“ Constantly waving, they lightly touch every contiguous object; investigating on all sides, they convey to insect intelligence all it requires to know regarding its environments. Like a herald or a scout, they literally ‘spy out the land,’ and thus become a guide and a guard to the tiny feeble creature which possesses them. Through them the owner learns all that is needful for its well-being.
Much as an insect uses these exquisitely-constructed antennæ, so does a snake its long, slender, pliant, bifurcate, and highly-sensitive tongue. ”

“ Add to the two great death-dealing powers of the serpent race—constriction and venom—those other peculiarities which have here been faithfully recorded, the seeming renewal of life after the annual sleep, a mystery enhanced by the restored brilliancy and beauty of the reptile on its change of cuticle; let us picture to ourselves those wondering savages now watching the limbless creature as it glides into sight and is gone again, or as with fixed and glittering eyes it flickers that mysterious little tongue ”

“ Now it would be interesting to discover whether, as Aristotle affirmed, the bites of all venomous animals are more pernicious if they have devoured each other, or if snakes have devoured scorpions, and whether the toxic powers of the little Echis are aggravated by the venomous food it evidently prefers at home. ‘In India is a certain little serpent for the bite of which alone the natives have no remedy,’ said Aristotle; and one can scarcely err in deciding this to be the Echis, being not only the smallest venomous snake there, but the only viper, except Russell’s viper, a much larger snake. ”

“ We stand before the cage of the interesting Hamadryad (Ophiophagus elaps) . His name at once tells us that he is fond of trees as well as of snakes; but, alas! there is no tree in his cage, not even an old bough on which to exercise his climbing propensities. He is wonderfully restless to-day, crawling ceaselessly about as if in search of something. This, however, cannot be his object; for his head is not raised in observation, but is close to the shingle, as if too heavy to lift. ”

“ Possibly I had ruptured this egg in disturbing the moss. There was another egg quite perfect, and within that could be discerned the little creature curled up, and presenting those convolutions which in the half light had looked so like a small snail shell. On tenderly taking up this perfect egg, the wee reptile within threw itself into such an agitation that it burst its prison house, and emerged prematurely into the cold, rough world. A yolk as big as a hemp seed and much of the glaire remained behind. ”

“ The idea of a snake being sufficiently intelligent, reasoning, and reflective to deliberately ‘run its tongue out at you,’ as if conscious of its own moral power and your moral weakness, is too ludicrous. If the snake could truly inflict injury with those soft, flexible, delicate filaments,—if it could, with one rapid touch, insert poison, as the tall talker at the Zoological Gardens affirmed, the threatening quiver could only be in friendly warning. Let the poor reptile at least be thanked for that. ”

“ Curious and wonderful is the agitation into which this carpet snake throws itself when disturbed, every inch of it, excepting the head, in motion. The head retains its fixed position, the eyes intently keeping guard, while the body moves in every conceivable curve, like wheels within wheels, yet retaining the same outline, or occupying the same place and space, though every muscle must be in activity. ”

“ Probably a captive snake may have learned by experience that, hungry or not, it must wait for its periodical dinner, and that its ‘dinner bell’ avails it nothing. Nevertheless, we do not find that the snake uses its rattle upon food being placed in its cage, unless the rat or the guinea-pig come tumbling unexpectedly or unceremoniously upon the snake, when it would sound its rattle in alarm; but it waits quietly, silently, rather receding than advancing towards the destined prey, and then, after cautious observation, stealthily approaching to give the fatal bite. ”

“ CAN we correctly say that snakes have a ‘taste’ for eggs? What flavour can there be in an egg-shell, and what pleasure or gratification can a snake derive from swallowing a hard, round, tasteless, apparently odourless, and inconvenient mass like a large egg? ”

“ Often in our rambles through the woods in Virginia we saw these snakes, and the swiftness with which they would vanish through the grass like a flash of steel, proved how well they merited their name of ‘Racer.’ These are the ‘black snakes’ par excellence, in distinction to the black water-viper and several other kinds which have more or less black about them. Sometimes they lay basking in our path, probably after a meal, when they become sleepy and inactive. ”

“ PERHAPS in no other branch of natural history has such a degree of interest been awakened during the last decade, and such an advance made as in ophiology. The result of a spirit of inquiry thus set afloat is that information is being continually elicited from travellers and observers. Those who now entertain predilections for this branch of science, will many of them admit that whatever interest they feel in the subject has been of a comparatively recent date; that since they have at all studied snake nature, they have repeatedly had to combat with preconceived notions. ”

“ I would almost as soon believe that the cat curls the end of its tail when preparing to spring in order to warn the doomed mouse. It is a much more probable view that the rattlesnake uses its rattle, the cobra expands its frill, and the puffadder swells whilst hissing so loudly and harshly, in order to alarm the many birds and beasts which are known to attack even the most venomous species. ”

“ The ring snake is not a constrictor, yet he thus tied himself round the tree by the coils of his tail.
One more singular case of tenacity of life must be recorded. A ring snake had been caught in the usual way, and the usual struggle ensued between captor and captive. Coluber, with its head tightly gripped in the jaws of his enemy, had still all the rest of himself at liberty and in full activity, and after wriggling a violent protest, he coiled what was left of himself so closely round the neck of his persecutor that the latter made little or no progress with his dinner for a time. ”

“ It is a curious fact, however, that snakes, as a rule, seize prey whose bulk far exceeds their own, even when a more manageable kind could be easily caught. It is as if they were aware of the accommodating nature of their multifold ribs; as a snake longer than themselves must be doubled up in their stomach, and those broader than themselves must, one would imagine, be a most uncomfortable meal to dispose of. ”

“ Fear has also a paralyzing effect, and we remain motionless, breathless, with eyes as fixed as a serpent’s.
Observation of nature and an inquiry into causes will often present very commonplace reasons for what appears to savour of the marvellous. A snake has just made a meal of some fledgelings. The mother bird has witnessed her offspring vanishing by degrees, and she frantically hovers over the reptile, fluttering to and fro, and probably uttering cries of distress or of enticement, in the hope of her young ones’ return. ”

“ He inadvertently says ‘shoulders,’ when, as my readers know, a snake has anatomically no shoulders, any more than ‘neck.’ But for all that, the raised head, and the absence of any striking movements in the part visible, are the manners of a serpent in the water, when propelled by its tail, which would be out of sight; and the captain simply describing what he saw, but giving no name, those acquainted with herpetology would at once decide that he described a long-necked and slender reptile of some sort, perhaps some enormous saurian, whose feet were under water, if not a serpent. ”

“ We want a man in authority to settle the very vernacular for us—one who can say, “This and no other shall be the Jarraracca, this the Bushmaster,” etc., for it is undoubtedly a great advantage to have a well-defined native or local synonym. The marvel is that the present classification should be so good as it is. Look at the difficulties. When people see a snake they rush at it, smash it with sticks or stones, pick up what is left of it and put it in a bottle of cauha, cachasse, rum, or other coarse spirit, label it with a wrong name, and send it home. ”

“ Several other writers in Science News confirm Holbrooke’s experience, that ‘under no provocation can it be induced to bite.’ Those we have seen at the Gardens verify this; exhibiting an extremely inoffensive nature, though no death-feigning or summersault performances. And I am more inclined to attribute the rigidity to a sort of paralyzed terror than to any pretence of being dead. The same thing is observed in some insects. If you blow on them or alarm them, they will flatten themselves against whatever they may be crawling on, and cling close and stiff as if dead, but presently escape. ”

“ A thorough examination of the position of the trachea of snakes while feeding, and a perfect realization of its functions, could only be obtained were it possible to arrest the process of feeding by the instantaneous death of the feeder, and while every muscle of the snake’s mouth remained in position. Even then, one could not be positive, as snakes are endowed with the astonishing power of carrying out their intentions, or, in common language, ‘going on with their business,’ even after death. ”

“ They thoroughly understand the movements of the sluggish and timid serpents with which they are toying; and while keeping up a perpetual gabble to divert the attention of the spectators, aggravated by the tum-tumming and so-called ‘music’ to which the snakes are supposed to ‘dance,’ they themselves keep just beyond striking reach, and provoke the snake to follow the waving motion of their hands. ”

“ Sometimes, if faint and languid, and huddled together in a corner, it is because they—the victims—are oppressed with the closeness of the cage and the vitiated air, but quite apart from any ‘spell’ or magnetic influence. They may stare at the serpent that is staring at them, and as they stare in alarm at the people, but they have never seen a python, a puff adder, or a rattlesnake before in their lives, and have not the slightest idea that they are going to be eaten by one. ”

“ He is both an expert and to a certain extent venom-proof at the same time; but for all that the snake was, as he affirmed, tame enough to be handled with impunity by those who might have sufficient courage to venture. That interesting and accommodating rattlesnake is no more, but was even more honoured in death than in life. A true martyr to science, it was sacrificed that its friend and teacher might prosecute his experiments, and also swallow some of the contents of its poison gland, in [522] order to convince two or three challenging sceptics that he could do this with impunity. ”

“ A slow-worm’s progression is truly marvellous. In this little creature one can detect no action of the ribs; they are too fine and too close. Its scaly armour, moreover, is smooth and firm; and as for ventral scutæ to ‘afford hold,’ it has none. Yet with ease it draws itself over that polished rim, as it draws itself up and over your finger, when suspended by the mere tip of its tail. ”