frog, becomes too small, and hence is cast off. As the shedding-time
approaches, the white, green and brown colors become dull, and a
peculiar dryness appears. A new skin is now forming under the outgrown
one, and presently the latter splits half down the middle of the back
and along the under part of the body. By a series of violent twitchings
of the toad the old skin is made to wrinkle and fold along the sides. A
hind-leg is now tucked under a fore-arm, and by a good pull the animal
is soon out of that leg of his trousers. The other leg is removed in
similar fashion. Putting one hand in his mouth and giving a jerk, off
comes the covering of that hand and arm, like a discarded glove. He has
now but to take off the other, and he is free. Relieved of his dress he
neither sells nor gives it away, but rolls it up into a neat solid ball
and swallows it. The frog strips off and disposes of his outgrown skin
in a similar way.
Strange to say, toads and frogs can change to some extent the color
of their skin to suit their homes. Kept in the dark with dark
surroundings, toads become darker in color, while those that are kept
in light with white accessories become lighter. The color of the toad
changes more slowly than that of the frog. It is not the arrangement of
the color that alters, but merely a change from light to dark.
What has been said applies to our Common American Toad, the _Bufo
Americana_ of the books. Let us now look at some curious specimens
of the Bufonidæ. The Pipa, or Surinam Toad, does not lay her eggs
in water, but places them on her back. A fold of skin rises up and
encloses each egg in a separate cell, until the young have not only
been hatched, but have also passed through all their metamorphoses, and
come out fully formed. Another toad, abundant in Europe and Asia, is
largely colored with bright crimson, and the father-toad carries the
little ones in separate cells fastened to his hind-legs like chains.
The young change to their perfect shape in these cells, and with the
withering away of the cells the young toads hop out, able to take care
of themselves.
Somewhere I have said that toads are generally silent. A little toad
about three inches long, called a Natter-jack, is common in England,
and is a noted singer. His “gluck-gluck, gluck-k-k,” can be heard any
night. The Green Toad, well known on the Continent, is not so noisy as
the Natter-jack, but has a low, moaning cry.
All the Tree-toads, or Hylidæ, have clear, shrill voices, and are
fond of singing serenades. In the spring the Common Toad takes to the
water and there sings very loudly. The loud continuous trill that we
hear in swamps in spring-time is made by toads, and not by frogs, as
is generally believed. Another toad with a voice is the Spade-foot.
This Toad is rare, though widely distributed. It is remarkable for its
feet, formed for digging, its subterranean habits, and its queer way
of appearing and disappearing very suddenly. After a rainy season the
Spade-foot will emerge from its hiding-place, attract attention by its
loud cries, swarm by hundreds about the ponds, lay innumerable eggs,
and vanish. But while thousands of eggs are laid, scarcely any hatch,
for most of them perish from being laid so near to the water’s edge as
to become dried up on the subsidence of the water.
Thus we find that toads have three different methods of life. Some live
on trees, but seldom appear upon the ground. Others are underground
dwellers, and hardly ever come to the surface. But the Common Toad, and
his numerous kin, are dwellers in the ground, hiding among grass and
other herbage when asleep, or when the sun is too intense for their
comfort. But all toads, excepting the two varieties mentioned above,
which carry their young on their bodies, repair to the water to drop
their eggs, and the young live in the water until they have attained
the adult state.
OUR NATURAL ENEMIES.
No animal, perhaps, is so little known and understood as the snake.
This is not because its study has been neglected or overlooked, as
our scientific institutions are replete with fine collections of most
of the reptiles, and exhaustive works upon their habits and customs.
Yet, notwithstanding this, the snake continues to be the subject of
ever-recurring stories, fabulous in the extreme, that seem handed down
from generation to generation. Strange to say, many of these stories
are current among those who, from the nature of their lives, would
be expected to be well and accurately informed on the habits of the
animals. Farmers and horticulturists are plentiful who religiously
believe that the Milk Snake, the beautiful _Ophibolus clericus_,
deprives milk-giving animals of their supply of milk. A statement often
seen, and that has many believers, is that the Whip-snake of the South
seizes its tail--which is supposed to have a sting--in its mouth, and
rolls away in the form of a wheel, stopping suddenly and striking the
enemy with the sting. Such fables are current by the score, and denial
only strengthens belief.
More than a hundred species of snakes, nearly all having a wide
geographical range, are found in America, north of Mexico. They
constitute the first order, Ophidia, of reptiles, and have long,
cylindrical bodies, are footless, without a shoulder-girdle, and
invested with a coat of scales, which is shed in the summer months.
Snakes have no eyelids in the strict sense of the term. Their eyes are
permanently covered by a delicate membrane that takes the place of the
lid, and this explains the stony stare, so disagreeable to many, that
all snakes have.
The skeleton of snakes is so arranged as to allow the greatest freedom
and flexibility. Numerous pieces of bone, hollow in front and convex
behind, make up the long tapering backbone, which literally works on
a ball-and-socket plan. Articular facets, that lock into each other,
are found upon the processes of the vertebræ, and these strengthen and
give to the backbone a greater degree of flexibility. A more remarkable
arrangement, however, is found in the head, which enables the snake
to prey upon animals that are larger than itself. The jaws seem a
combination of elastic springs, having no gauge to their tension, the
quadrate bones connecting the lower jaw with the skull being movable,
thus allowing that enormous gape with which all are familiar who have
seen a snake swallow its prey. Besides this, the bones of the jaw
itself and palate are more or less movable, also tending to the larger
distention of the throat.
As snakes do not tear or mutilate their prey, their teeth are not
set in sockets, but serve merely to poison and stupefy the prey, or
to prevent its escape, acting as hooks by which the body is hauled
over the victim. The bones of the lower jaw, as we have seen, are not
fastened closely to each other; so in swallowing prey the teeth on one
side are advanced, and then those on the other side, and so on until
the victim is hauled, hand over hand, as it were, into the snake’s
throat.
Poisonous snakes, such as the rattlers, have two long, sharp fangs,
each compressed and bent up, and forming a hollow tube, open at both
ends. The upper portion of the hollow fang is fastened to a bone in the
cheek, which moves with ease, so that, when not in use, the fangs can
be packed away until needed.
All animals, man included, have doubtless in their saliva a deadly
poison, though in the latter it is extremely diluted, and essential
only to the digestion of food. In poisonous snakes, however, it is
stored up in sacs, modifications of the salivary glands, and placed in
each side of the upper jaw. From the poison-gland under the eye forward
to the edge of the jaw, a delicate canal, which opens into the fang
above the tube of the tooth, extends. Alongside of the latter may be
seen rudimentary fangs, all ready to grow out should the large one be
lost. To use the poison, the snake has merely to strike its prey, when
the muscles of the jaw, which are admirably fitted for the part they
have to play in the tragedy, press upon the glands, squeeze the poison
through the little canal down through the hollow fang, and the work is
accomplished.
In their actions, snakes are most graceful. The gliding motion, so
characteristic, is effected by the movements of the large central
scales, that are successively pushed forward, the hinder edges resting
on the ground and constituting a support. These scales, or pushers, are
fastened to the ribs by muscles, and by holding a snake by the hand the
swelling movement can readily be felt.
Snakes vary much in color. They are generally adapted to their
surroundings. Green Snakes are found in green grass and vegetation,
while grey snakes affect rocky districts, where they are alike
protected. Their skin is shed in one piece at various seasons of the
year, being forced off by the snake forming a ring with its tail and
squeezing the rest of the body through it, or by wriggling through
entangled bushes. Poisonous snakes may be always recognized by their
broad, flattened heads, generally short and thick bodies, and the
almost invariable possession of a vertical keel along the centre of
each scale. Long bodies, small heads devoid of distinct necks, and
scales not keeled, characterize non-poisonous species.
Probably the best-known of our common kinds of poisonous snakes are the
rattlesnakes. They belong to the dangerous family Crotalidæ, to which
the copperheads and moccasins also belong, and are distinguished by
the large, ugly head, absence of teeth in the upper jaw excepting the
fangs, and the pit in the head.
[Illustration: NORTHERN RATTLESNAKE.
Prepared to Attack a Song Sparrow.]
_Crotalus horridus_, our Northern Rattlesnake, has doubtless the widest
geographical distribution, being found in nearly every State in the
Union, from the Gulf of Mexico to Northern New England, and thence
west to the Rocky Mountains. It has a most forbidding appearance, and
when once seen with its enormous head, triangular in shape, and large
brilliant eyes, with fiery irides, it can never be mistaken. Between
the eye and the nostril is a deep pit, a character that is peculiar to
the family.
All rattlers, as the name indicates, have a horny appendage to the
tail, formed of separate button-like objects, that rattle together when
the tail is vibrated. This rattle not only serves to warn human beings
of danger, but also to arouse in animals a curiosity that often proves
fatal. The popular belief that a rattle is added every year, and that
it is possible to determine the age of the animals by this means, is
not borne out by facts. Sometimes two rattles are known to appear
within a year, and other instances are recorded where four have been
attained in that period, and others still when several have been lost,
new ones taking their places. The number of rattles is also uncertain.
The greatest number, as observed by Dr. Holbrook, is twenty-one, but a
specimen is mentioned in the books that had forty-four.
Mild and peaceful in disposition, the Rattlesnake has never been known,
unless provoked, to attack a human being, nor to follow him with
hostile intention. He preys upon small animals, as rats, squirrels,
rabbits and birds, and can always be approached when he is stretched
out, only striking when he is coiled. He is not a climber, seldom,
if ever, being found in trees. His alleged powers of fascination are
purely mythical. The horror his presence inspires often paralyzes
with fear his victim, who, incapable of flight, stupidly awaits his
fate. Men, women and children have been known, when attacked by
these animals, to become rooted to the spot, as it were, by fear and
surprise. All the so-called cases of fascination can be explained by
the fear which the snake’s unlooked-for presence inspires.
Wonderful curative powers are imputed to the oil of the Rattlesnake.
Many snakes are killed during the summer months for this oil, but the
grand gathering of the crop is in the fall, when they have repaired to
their dens and wintering places. Sunny days in October and November
are chosen by snake-hunters for raiding them. The snakes, dull and
sluggish at that time of the year, crawl out of their dens upon the
rocks, huddling together by the score for the purpose of basking in the
sun. Armed with old-fashioned flails the hunters, when they come upon
a group of snakes, proceed at once to thresh them, but few making good
their escape. The Rattlesnakes, assorted from other species that are
frequently massed together with them, are carried home, when the oil is
simply tried out, bottled up and is then ready for the market and the
credulous patient.
No subject connected with snakes, it would seem, has attracted so
much attention as the vexed one as to the care which they take of
their young. Snakes would hardly be expected to show any great amount
of maternal affection, but that they do, and in a most remarkable
manner, by taking their young into their mouths, if alarmed, is a
well-established fact. The mother, when danger is imminent, sounds her
rattle as a signal, opens her very large mouth, and receives in it her
little family.
The bite of nearly all rattlesnakes is extremely dangerous, though not
necessarily fatal in the smaller kinds. Almost all animals succumb to
their bite, and even man himself, if the proper remedy is not at hand.
There is a general belief that the hog is exempt, and acting upon this
belief farmers have been known, where these reptiles are very abundant,
to turn in a few hogs upon them for their destruction. This animal,
though it has a fondness for the reptile, and exercises a great deal
of caution in its attack, has not infrequently been killed by the
reptile’s poisonous fangs. Large doses of whiskey have been successful
in neutralizing the effects of the poison, but it has been practically
and experimentally proved that permanganate of potash is the best
antidote.
But of all the poisonous snakes of this country, the Copperhead,
_Ancistrodon contortrix_, is the most dreaded. In the South, he is
known as the Cotton-mouth, Moccasin and Red-eye, and is just as common
in the Gulf States as in the Atlantic and Middle States. He attains a
length of two feet, is of a hazel hue, the head having a bright coppery
lustre, and loves to conceal himself in shady spots in meadows of high
grass, where he feeds upon small animals, rarely, if ever, attacking
large ones unless trodden on. The mother Copperhead has also been
observed to shelter her young in her mouth when threatened by danger.
_Ancistrodon piscivorus_, the Water Moccasin, that commands so much
respect from the negroes of the South, is, from the pugnacity of
his nature, equally to be feared. While the Rattlesnake will slink
away from danger, the Moccasin will attack man or brute with savage
ferocity. He is essentially a water-snake, chasing fishes and small
reptiles in the streams of his native haunts, and may be recognized
by the dark-brown colors on the upper portion of the head and the
yellowish line that passes from the snout to or over the nostril. His
length rarely exceeds twenty inches, and he is stout in proportion.
The Moccasins show the same curious care for their young already
mentioned. A low, blowing noise apprises them of danger, and into the
slightly-opened mouth of the mother, which is held close to the ground,
they hurriedly disappear.
[Illustration: MOTHER BLACK SNAKE.
Her Affection for Newly-Hatched Young.]
One of the commonest of the non-poisonous snakes is the Striped Garter
Snake, ten species of which being known in the United States. Upon
the earliest appearance of spring they are almost the first to roll
out of their holes, where they have lain dormant in balls or clusters
during the cold winter months. Though easily excited, and striking
quickly, yet their bite is little more than a scratch. Their appetites
are now quite vigorous, and they have been seen to chase a toad for
more than fifty feet over a gravelly road, effecting its capture. They
are remarkably prolific, and their numbers about pools are sometimes
astonishing. It would seem that they are viviparous as well as
oviparous, from the fact that some young ones have been free and others
in sacs in the abdomen of the mother. With a brood of forty or fifty
young, which a single female has been known to produce, it would seem
that the Striped Snake would have a difficult time in protecting her
offspring by taking them into her mouth. They have this habit, however,
as abundance of evidence could be adduced to show. One witness observed
a Striped Snake upon a hillside, and noticed something moving about her
head, which proved to be young snakes. He counted twenty little ones
from one and a half to two inches long. Led by curiosity, he made a
move towards the spot, when the old one opened her mouth, and they went
in out of sight. He then stepped back and waited, and in a few minutes
they began to come out. Another witness came across a female with some
young ones near her, who, perceiving him, uttered a loud hiss, and the
young ones jumped down her throat, when she instantly glided away to a
place of concealment beneath a huge heap of stones.
The Black Snake, _Bascanion constrictor_, the mortal enemy of the
Rattlesnake, is a familiar species, and one that is widely distributed.
As winter approaches, these snakes come from far and near to some
apparently appointed place of rendezvous, where, rolling themselves
up into a matted ball, they sleep the days and nights of winter away,
and come out in the spring-time, when the common mother of us all has
conditioned things to their habits and ways of life. In appearance,
from a decorative point of view, they are very attractive, being of
a uniform steel-blue color, with a rich tessellated arrangement of
scales. They are of wild and untamable natures, powerful and active as
foes, often engaging in encounters with other snakes, especially the
Rattlesnakes, whom they kill or force to disgorge their prey. In their
movements they are so rapid that they are often called the Racer. It
is in the breeding season that they manifest their greatest boldness,
and have often been known to go out of their way to attack a passer-by.
They will chase an intruder for a long distance, and will even descend
a tree to attack the one who is teasing them.
It is the Black Snake that appears the most frequently in the guise
of a charmer. But, as has been remarked before, this power, so often
imputed, is merely imaginary. The reptile preys upon birds in their
nests, penetrating the thickets in quest of them, and often the
cat-bird and the red-winged blackbird, which are so prone to attack,
are seen acting strangely, crying and fluttering before the reptile in
fear and rage, while thus _charmed_, and frequently falling a victim
in their endeavors to protect their young. At such times the cries of
distress of the old birds bring birds of different genera together,
who join their forces against the common enemy, finally compelling him
to retreat. Like other snakes mentioned, the Black Snake has the same
remarkable habit of taking her young into her mouth for protection.
Among the most attractive forms are the Green Snakes. _Leptophis
æstivus_, so common in the South, and occasionally to be met with in
Southern New Jersey, is of a brilliant green color, and so perfectly
mimicking a vine that it would rarely be taken for a living creature
when lying around the branches of a tree. They have a habit of coiling
in the nests of birds, often surprising the egg-hunter by bounding
swiftly away. Allied species, further to the South, have been observed,
when approached, to leap twenty feet in the air, falling to the ground
and making their escape. They are perfectly harmless creatures, and,
like the Green Snake of the North, can be handled with not the
slightest risk of danger. We once knew a gentleman who had one in
confinement, whom he had trained to eat from a dish and to come to his
hand at the sound of his voice. The beautiful creature, which was a
female, showed the most marked affection, and would often twine her
little form about his neck or glide her smooth head, lazily as it
seemed, along his face and forehead.
[Illustration: SUMMER GREEN SNAKE.
Manner of Mimicking a Vine.]
An extremely common snake in the Eastern United States is the
Water Snake. _Nerodia sipedon_ is the name by which it is known to
the naturalist. There is in Michigan an allied form, known as the
Red-bellied Water Snake, which is quite as common, while several other
species abound in other localities. They are all inoffensive creatures
and prey upon small animals. The female shows the same regard for her
young as other kinds, suffering them, even when three or four inches
long, to take shelter in her throat, when she will clumsily turn in
search of some place of concealment.
[Illustration: WATER SNAKE.
Swallowing Her Young.]
Water-snakes generally affect water-courses, often hanging from the
branches of trees over streams, into which they drop when disturbed.
Dr. Bell, an English naturalist of distinction, once tamed a European
species of this genus. This pet could distinguish him among a crowd,
and would crawl to him, passing into his sleeve, where it would curl up
for a nap. Every morning found it at the doctor’s table for its share
of milk. For strangers it had an aversion, flying and hissing at them
when any familiarities were attempted.
Were these grovelling creatures better known, there would be found
much in them to admire and commend. They are not the hideous beings
they are represented to be. The feeling of hatred against them, an
instinctive and unappeasable enmity, is perfectly natural, and has
grown out of religious superstitions. Fear, disgust and aversion are
man’s experiences at the sight of a snake, and there is at once a
disposition to seize a stick or stone, or to make use of his heel, if
well protected, to deal a fatal stroke. War to the death seems to be
the cry between the highest of the mammals and the serpent tribe. It is
not at all surprising, therefore, that the snake, seeing a human enemy,
should either glide hastily off into the bushes, or, being thwarted,
should coil itself up and hiss or throw itself forward in attack. Man
would do well to protect the snakes about his domains, and treat them
as friends, for they do him invaluable service in the destruction of
vermin that make havoc with his crops.
Ants, bees, spiders, and many fishes, animals that are lower down
in the scale than the snake, it is claimed, show far more forecast,
ingenuity and architectural ability than it, but asserters of such
an opinion forget that the snake is never studied under favorable
conditions. Long ages of persecution have made him fearful of man,
from whose presence he flees as from a pestilence or scourge, and
there is consequently no chance to learn his better nature. Even man,
until recently, has shown no inclination to make his acquaintance,
being controlled by a dread which it appears well nigh impossible
to overcome. Where the animal has been made to partake of the milk
of human kindness, and has learned to regard man as a friend and
not an enemy, he has shown remarkable susceptibility to culture and
enlightenment. Let it be hoped that a modicum of the wisdom which has
been attributed to him from the earliest of times, when he was made the
object of homage and the insignia of the physician, shall at least be
found to remain to the credit of science and truth.
HOUSE-BEARING REPTILES.
Turtles are four-legged reptiles, with short, stout, oval-shaped
bodies encased in bony boxes, from which they are able to protrude
their heads, legs and tails, and into which they can withdraw them, at
pleasure. Considerable diversity exists in the size and shape of the
box-like covering in the different species. The Box Tortoise can retire
into his shell or house, closing the under part or plastron into a
groove of the upper edge of the carapace, as the upper part is called,
thus constituting for his security an impregnable retreat. There are
species only partly enclosed by the shell, which cannot bring their
heads and feet under cover.
With his house upon his back the turtle wanders about as the snail
does, and against his enemies can close its doors and be emphatically
not at home. He has acute sight and hearing, but is devoid of teeth,
the jaws being, like those of birds, simply cased in horn. Turtles
are not altogether silent creatures, for many of them are capable of
producing very loud sounds.
Their eggs, which have a parchment-like covering, are buried in earth
or sand, and left to themselves to hatch. The sea-turtle, our largest
variety, is sometimes found to lay as many as two hundred eggs in a
heap, and in tropical regions has been known to attain a weight of
a thousand pounds. Even on the Atlantic Coast of the United States
individuals, weighing upwards of eight hundred pounds, have not
infrequently been captured.