Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 March 1883 — The very Worst of American snakes. [ARTICLE]

The very Worst of American snakes.

Ordinarily the jingle of a handful rings is not an unpleasant sound, but when it happens that these rings are fastened to six or seven feet of serpent as thick aa a man’s wrist, and that serpent is armed with the whitest and sharpest of fangs, nearly an inch in length, with cisterns of liquid poison at their base, the music doesn’t seem cheerful or inspiring. The snake family are known to have but little regard for the doctrine of moral suasion, are apt to be rash in their conclusions and hasty in their actions, ae well as profoundly indifferent to argument or apology, reason and politeness being entirely wasted on them. Only distance or brute force suffices to restrain their insane propensity to probe every living thing within reach of those delicate needles of worry. As the “big Indian” among his lesser braves, so » the diamond rattlesnake of the Southern States among other American serpents, Dressed in a brownish-colored coat plaided with lighted lines in diamondshaped blocks, and with dignity and independence stamped on every curve and motion, the sleek, oily-looking rascal glides slowly through “hamok” and “scrub,” a terror to man and beast, turning aside for none, nor going out of his way to attack any unless pressed by hunger, which seldom happens in this climate where animal life abounds. As he moves quietly along, his wicked little eyes seem to emit a greenish light and shine with as much brilliancy as the jewels of a finished coquette. Nothing seems to escape his observation, and on the slightest movement near him he swings into his fighting attitude, raising his upper jaw and erecting his fangs, which, in a state of repose, lie closely packed in the soft muscles of his mouth. This snake is not as active as his copperhead cousin of the North, nor so quick to strike, but one blow is almost always fatal. His fangs are so long that they penetrate deep into the muscles and veins of his victim, who has little time for more than a single good-by before closing his eyes forever. The writer has measured these fangs; in one instance fofind them seven-eighths of an inch in length, and, though not thicker than a common sewing needle, yet perforated with a hole through which a greenish-yellow liquid could be forced in considerable quantities, and in the case above mentioned each of the sacs contained about half a teaspoonful. The fangs are only pierced about twothirds their entire length, and are always double, a smaller pair lying immediately under the others and ready for use in case of accident to the principal ones. — Toledo Blade.