Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 June 1877 — THE SERPENTS OF FLORIDA. [ARTICLE]

THE SERPENTS OF FLORIDA.

Or Um 4Cerent spbcTwtff »a»kes only the Mie. ft L **M that a man In Alachua Oounr£ d)od w'thiii fire minifies. after tx taig mtHa. Thoreptile’* fang* struck hlua to Urn neck white he wa» sleeping, and ejected poison into the Jugular-vein. Mocassins are ' divided into four classes - thrMgaUtMMliotith, theatump ufi|. a waterznoquyln (simitar tomtit water-pilot), and an u plana - moccasin (resembling a copperhead in shape, and fully as deadly.) 1 gather this information from the natives and from five winters oi personal expertThn rattlesnake is divided into lwo families. The most virulent is tlie groundraulor. It Is between twelve and twenty inches long, and not ninch larger than a cdufnionr lead pencil. It arils, springs its tiny faAle, and jump*, the name as its in color; but the diamond murks are not no clearly defined as in the big rattler. During the hot summer days it lies under saipf-sWeopiug palmetto fans, or creeps info gardens and bleeps in the shade of the cabbages and bananas. In clearing up Utter,.a man might easily pick up one unawains. Lieulf Ytrfyht, of the Lnited Slates Coast Survey, tells me that hefotind them V«y (tmmenni* in the salt-water mifshes between D|mmPfls Grove and Banana Creek. In one day he crushed tVo beneath his boot-heel. Last summer, Dr. Fox and Capt. Sams, of New Smyrna, Were waning a wild-cat on a small palmetto island, between the Bast Channel and Devil’s Elbow, at the entrance of Mosquito Lagoon. They had fired the hammock, and, as the) stood in the marshcrass. awaiting the frightened game, the Doctor said: “I hear a big rattlesnake; but he’s a long distance on.” TheCsp’ain listened. “That’saground rattler,” he said. “ I know the sound too well. Don’t stir, for he may be mighty close to us.” The warning was heeded. Aftercareful search they found the deadly little reptile colled at fbolr feet on a mat of dead gftss. Its tail was flying like the wings of a humming-bird, and it was ready to strike on the least motion. The breech of agqp quickly crushed its head. It was fiftoan inches'long, about the size and color of a st'ek of iicnrioe, and had nine rattles, so small that they would go Into a needlecash. ' ~7~ ■" ‘ '

The genuine rattlesnakes grow to a monstrous size, and their colors are more brilliant than those of the Northern species. They have been killed twelve feet long, and as large around as a stove-pipe. Capt. Derail, of Palatka, avers that he saw one, twenty odd years old, with fortyseven rattles. * Incredible as this may seem, Coi- Pratt, ot the Palatka Herald, declares that he has seen one with fiftvtwo. These serpents frequent high, sandy ridges, au4 occasionally lurk iq gardens andifi pmwedfidfcs. Tliev havaeveu been known to mase their way into bams and -hofseft Tie-beach scrub, \ybere Seldom b«fpafl',.is'alive with them. -Some mon*t*r» havf killed qn Anabasis Island, opposite St. Augustine. IA ‘(lie spring I have counted, in .one day, on the l>each between Canaveral and Indian JWier one rattlesnake is killed, another ia/ounri near it. If the body of the dead reptile is dragged through the hdusC or across a cattle pen, its mate is pretty sure to take up the trail and follow it. Through the wiuler these snakes are dormant. They live in lKj)ea made by the gopher i#iijd ti e land turtle, and are conceals in iui|nj of seoM coquina ruins dotting the Eastern eoa-t. As the suqsmer approaches, ilitv pair off ami, liQnt in couples. The jumper less trails in the 'scrub and savannas snade In,’ de.r, ciyios. wildcats and otters, are their favorite lurking-places. Here they lie in ambush, and many an unfortunate rabbit and opossum falls under their fangs.

N«r are the lew- savannas and salt-water marshes free from these proof snakes. Last summer, ad judge Connor, of idve Oak Hill, was crossing the wide open prairie at the head of Indian River, he saw a phimp griy squirrel cutting queer antics on a spot of j hare sited. As the sand was folly a mile from any tree, and covered with bah water six months in the year, the Judge’s Curiosity was excited. To use his own words, “the squirrel was jump ing around right smart, and appeared as if he didn’t know what todo with hlSself.” Its attention was hot distracted by the Jndge’k approach, for it continued prancing over the sand in a concentric course, as though crazed. The Judge walked up with the intention of capturing it. Sud- ; tleply he was confronted by an enormous rat desnake. It was stretched out in the ‘ Wirt grass surrounding the sand, with its head toward the squirrel. On seeing the Judge, it threw itself into a coil and made a noise like that of a buzz-saw. Its tail rattled with terrible earnestness. The squirrel ceased his antics, and sat up on the sand as motionless as. a statue. Finding neither stick nor stone on the prairie, the Judge tried to scare the snake by threatening gestures. These incensed the reptile. It reared both crest and tail, darted out its forked tongue, and jumped, fully eight feet toward the Judge. His Honor then got angry, and threw clods of earth and grass. At"this the serpent flew into an ungovernable rage. Its eyes fairly Sashed fire. Apparently aware that there was no dangerous weapon within reach, it ran straight for the Judge, as though it meant to close with him. It finally became so active that Connor was glad to leave it. As he walked away it resumed Its position, and the squirrel began his dance of death, charmed by its buzzing music. The Judge says that the snake was certainly nine feet long. The mystery is, bow came the squirrel and its on a satt-water prairie a from any tree. More singular still, these large r&Ulers have been seen swimming in the salt water. Dr. Wallace, of Daytona, informs me that he has seen them apDarently croasing from the beach to the main land at Castle Windy. Three years ago, Capt. Neil, of New Bedford, one of Swift’s live-oak superiutendents, met a monster near .Mosquito Inlet, going out with the tide. The snake espied Neil's boat, anil niade a desperate effort to board her. The Captain heat it bff with the oars, but the tight lasted two. or three minutes. The serpent, at last disabled, drifted away ' with the current, and was finally swaliowed by a shark. The larger rattlers are said to follow lierai of cattle. Cow say that they sntoii thetqttfc dropping Xrorajthe udders of the coot, and tase up the 'trail, with a vie* to milking them. This is done Iwgbjtia ttacows are lying on the ground * chewing their ends. When the serpent takes the teat in its month, the cow stops chewing, and becomes as Mill as death. Tim* she remains until the scaly thief is satisfied. She seems to know that the

lout motion would be fatal. One snake lias been known to milk two cows successively. In tlie fall, wlien palmetto berries are ripe, ike rattler crawls to the top of the full-booted tree, and bides beneath its dark green fans. The berries attract the cardinal grosbeaks, bullfinches, mockingbirds and parroqusgs, and they fall Under tlie infernfi magnetism of the snake. The rattlesnake when Hidden on toes not invariably bite a peripn. Bethunc, an old Indian River mail carrier, while deer hunting lasi sumfjer, stepped square on a raider. He felt ft yield and move under hia feet, and then heard Ita ominous humming. He jumped nearly ten feet, and turned as white as a sheet, but he says dial tlie snake made no effort to bite him. A more remarkable story is that told concerning the wife of Judge Connor. She is deaf; and this intensifies a natural dread of rattlesnakes, as she cannot bear dieir notes of warning. Sometime ago her husband and a neighbor were doctoring a sick colt. She was standing in the path, holding some camphor and a bottle of liniment. She felt something cold and scaly cpilipg around her leg. Drawing aside.ber dress and looking down, she saw a rattlesnake gazing steadily into her face, slipping out its red tongue, and waving ita h« an to and fro as high as her hand. The blood rolled away from her heart. She screamed, and jumped aside so spasmodically that the snake last its hold and was left on the ground. It is possible that the serpent was trying tofascinate her; but her deafness barred out its low musical sound. As the Judge and his neighbor ran up the path, she stood trembling with terror, on the point of a faint. “ She’s bit!” said the neighbor in alow tone. “He didn’t bite me,” she retorted, without, however, hearing what he had said.

“She> bit!” the neighbor repeated, “ but she was so skeert she didn’t feel it.” " Are Vou sure be didn’t bite you, Mary?” asked the Judge. “ No, he didn’t bite me,” she replied, “ I know he didn’t.” And shg was right. She plead for the life of the snake because it had spared her; but the Judge killed it. The enemies of the rattlesnake include the hog, the deer and the eagle. The hog thrusts his fat chopb into the snake’s face, meekly receives its bite, seizes the reptile by the neck, places its hoofs on its body, and tea's it asunder. No blood is drawn, the poison is harmless in the fat, and the porker gets a fair meal. A drove of hogs will clear the wildest country of rattlesnakes. When a buck sees a rattler, he springs upon it like lightning, bringing his leet together upon its head and body, thus cutting it U) pieces j for the hoofs of a Fldridian deer are as hard and sharp as a razor. Ac eagle kills the snake while it is sunning itself. The bird descends with the velocity of an arrow, striking the reptile with such force as to sever the vertebrse. But the deadliest foe of the rattler is the common black snake. He is a public lienefactor, and ought to be protected by the Btate Legislature, even if he does pick, up a chicken or two occasionally. He grows very long, and, unlike his Northern compeer, never assails a human being. The rattler fears and shuns him; and well he may, for the black snake is as agile and quick as the mainspring of a watch, and as full of fight as a bull dog. Meeting his antagonist, he attacks without delay. After coiling and sounding an alarm, the rattler keenly watches its assailant. At first the black snake slowly glides around its spiral enemy, as though studying its weak points. He frequently hisses and increases his speed with each cvcle, ever keeping an eye on the rattler. The ’.atter twists its head with every revolution of its assailant Swifter sweeps the black snake around the circle. At the full bent of bis speed the rattler grows dizzy. In a twinkling it is caught by the throat, and the coils of the iwo snakes are intermingled. The contest is decided by main strength. As they writhe in the grass the superior prowess of the black snake is manifest. The rattler is slowly strangled. Sometimes its body is swallowed, but this does not always follow. The coach-whip, a long, clean-cut snake, frequently assists the black snake, and instances are given in which a dozen coachwhips and black snakes joined forces and killed a small regiment of rattlers. Vultures and buzzards, with all their appetite for carrion, will never touch anything bitten by a rattlesnake; but when his snakesbip himself is killed, they devour him with the greatest relish.— Car. N. Y. Sun.