. Western field. ariablytlie case. Thus we understand how to recognizeall of the North American poisonous ser-I>cnts except the Moccasins—two must be treated with more detail. It is a mistake to imagine that a poison-ous snake may at once be told by a thickbody and a fiat, triangular head that is(|uite distinct from the neck. Many whollyinnocuous species have just these outlines;many of them are, in fact, proportionatelystouter of body and uglier in appearancethan the dangerous Copperhead snake orHighland Moccasin. The two North American Moccasins—the Water Moccasin and the Cop
. Western field. ariablytlie case. Thus we understand how to recognizeall of the North American poisonous ser-I>cnts except the Moccasins—two must be treated with more detail. It is a mistake to imagine that a poison-ous snake may at once be told by a thickbody and a fiat, triangular head that is(|uite distinct from the neck. Many whollyinnocuous species have just these outlines;many of them are, in fact, proportionatelystouter of body and uglier in appearancethan the dangerous Copperhead snake orHighland Moccasin. The two North American Moccasins—the Water Moccasin and the Copperheadsnake (Highland Moccasin), belong, as dothe rattlesnakes, to the subfamily of PitVipers — Crotalinae. On each side of thehead, hetxvccn the eye and the nostril, is adeefy pit. Here we have a character bywhich to immediately distinguish theMoccasins. But there are other points:—While our harmless snakes have two rowsof plates on the under surface of the tail,these two poisonous species have a single. FAD iAncistrodon cantorRiver; in Southern PoRio Grande River o( Us Range Kx THE PACIFIC COAST MAGAZINE row of plates for the greater length of thetail. Our harmless snakes have the pupilof the eye round; the Water Moccasin andthe Copperhead Snake have an elliptical—cat-like pupil. The Water Moccasin aboundsin the swamps and sluggish waterways ofthe Southeast. The Copperhead rangesfrom Massachusetts to Florida and west-ward to the Mississippi Valley, though in poisonous snake of the extreme westernstates—in the Pacific Region north of south-ern^ California. This is the Pacific Rattle-snake, attaining a length of S/i to S ranges from southern British Colum-bia to southern California, occurring alsoin Iclaho, Nevada and Utah. It prefersthe mountain regions, even up to an eleva-tion of feet. formations of
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectsports, bookyear1902
