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Fniay, March 29, 1946
A Man’s Point Of View On
Woman’s Mortal Enemy
It will be my primary purpose
in this paper to present to the
reader some of the most interest
ing facts about the snakes of
North America. It is the writers
hope, ere this paper is closed that
a persistently reigning and un
just prejudice will be completely
shattered by the explosion of a
long train of erroneous theories.
Most people have never heard
snakes described as they truly
are, clean, graceful creatures
with wonderful phases of varied
construction.
It is with a thoroughly sympa
thetic interest the writer compil
es this paper. While his interests
have involved reptiles in general,
his favorie creature in Nature
has, from early boyhood days,
been the serpent, or Suborder
“Orphida” of the reptile family.
His home has, until recently,
been the headquarters of an ex
tensive collection of snakes, large
and small, innocous and venom
ous.
As compared to the closely al
lied suborder, the Saurie or liz
ard, the snakes exhibit even
greater variability of form. Take
for instance, a twenty-five foot
python, weighing three hundred
pounds and compare this with a
mature specimen of a burrowing
snake but five or six inches in
length and no thicker than a
goose quill; or place side by side
a squatly, flat headed viper and
an enormously elongated tree
snake, one secreting itself by
shoveling sand over its back, and
the other darting away with the
speed of an arrow.
There are many erroneous be
liefs abroad in the land concern
ing snakes. Most people believe
that if a snake is killed, its tail
will not die until sundown is gen
eral and does have some founda
tion. Its foundation is in the fact
that snakes are lower in their
nerve organization than mammals
and the process of death is slow
er. The most general supersti
tion of all is that a snake’s thrust
ing out its tongue is an act of ani
mosity; the fact is, the tangue is
a sense organ, and is used as an
insect uses its feelers or antennae
and the act is also supposed to
aid him in hearing. When a snake
thrusts out its tongue, it is mere-
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}y trying to find out what is go
ing on.
The snake is the only animal
capable of swallowing anifals
larger than itself. This is made
possible chiefly by the construc
tion of the lower jaw bone. The
prey is first grasped by the snout
usually, and then the muscles of
the neck start a suctorial action.
The very structure of a snake’s
mouth shows that they could not,
as opular superstition has it, suck
a cow.
Another Ophidian character is
the absence of eyelids. Thus the
eyes of a snake are always open,
and a sleeping serpent may be
awakened by seeing a movement.
The eye is covered with a trans
parent cap which is shed at each
casting off of the skin. Under the
cap, the eye is capable of con
siderable movement.
Another difference between
snakes and most lizards is the ab
sence of all of the forner, of any
trace of an external ear. Intern
ally, the serpents ear consists of
a threadlike bone and crude ac
cessories. The ear seems to be in
a state of degeneracy, but an ear
is unnecessary to a snake because
they hear with their tongue. The
delicate, nerve-supplied tips of
this wonderfully specialized or
gan are highly sensitive to viber
ations from even slight sunds. Be
sides, the tongue serves many
purposes; figuratively speaking,
it is a "feeler” and of enormous
value to the reptile.
Looked at from a concise stand
point the snake may be described
as the most highly specialized
among all living reptiles, having
originated from the lizard. Aside
from the great modification of the
jaws into an apparatus to engulf
prey, we find the most elaborate
and remarkable structure pertain
ing to the dentition among all
reptiles —the poison-conducting
teeth or fangs of the venomous
species. Hence, among creatures
that man has seen fit to describe
as lowly and repulsive, has exist
ed for ages a perfect apparatus
that man has discovered but yes
terday, and this in the shape of
an instrument of immense value
to himself-the hypodermic needle.
When the mouth is closed, the
fangs of the viperine snakes fold
back against the roof; as the jaws
are opened, they spring forward,
ready for action. Each fang con
nects at its base with a canal
which extends back of the eye;
there it fuses into an almond
shaped gland secreting a poison
designed by Nature to be used in
killing the creature’s Prey and
which is thoroughly successful in
its appreciation.
Secondarily, the venom appa
ratus is used for purposes of de
fense. From the situation of the
fangs it can be immediately un
derstood that the forked tongue
is not a 'sting”, nor in any way
related to the source of danger
from the most deadly of snakes.
The movements of most ser
pents are singularly quick and
graceful. They depend largely
upon the broad plates of the ab
domen, the sharp, overlapping
posterior edges of which offer a
substantial purchase. In crawling
slowly, a snake really walks upon
these plates by bringing them for
ward in series along the body,
the pulling them backagain. By
working in this fashion, a snake
may proceed in a perfectly
straight line; a moment later it
may be frightened, when it
threads its way through the twigs
and stones in a series of lateral
undulations.
Most snakes are agile swim
mers; the members of one family
—the Hydrophidae—have a ver
tically compresed tail, like a pad
dle; they pas their entire life in
the sea. Some snakes are quite
THE WEST GEORGIA
subterraneous, boring their way
through the ground like worms;
large species burrow at times in
sandy places only. This species
usually has a scoop shaped snout.
The scaly covering snake is
overland with a thin skin that is
regularly shed, not in patches,
but carefully divested entirely.
Sometimes before this event, the
colors of the reptile fade decided
ly and the eyes become white
like bubbles idled with smoke.
This condition may last for a cou
ple of weeks. Then the reptile
suddenly takes on an almost nor
mal appearance. The eyes look
bright and the colors fairly in
tense. This change is caused by
the attack of an oil secretion up
on the under surface of the old
skin, loosening it preparatory to
shedding. The snake soon rubs
the epidermis back from the top
of the head, shedding the eye
plates, then rubs the skin from
the lower jaw, after which pre
paration it crawls out of the old
cuticle, turning it wrong side out
for the entire length of the body
and tail. Healthy and well nour
ished snakes shed their skin at
intervals of two months apart, or
at shorter periods.
The Orphideans either lay eggs
or produce their young alive. The
young of poisonous snakes are
provided at birth with perfectly
formed venom conducting fangs
and glands. They are just as dang
erous at birth as their parents in
accordance to size. All young
snakes at once shift for themselv
es after birth or hatching. The
story of the female snake swal
lowing her young in time of
danger is purely fallacious. It has
originated from observations of
cannibal species.
There are too many different
kinds of snakes in North America
for the writer to try to put them
all in this paper with the proper
description and explanations of
them.
Third Years
Go Visiting
I suppose by now you have
found out why all the third years
showed up at breakfast before
the doors closed Sunday morning.
Leaving immediately after we had
consumed what we thought at the
time would be enough food to
last us until we got back Wednes
day night we were off to a good
start.
With Knoxville, Tenn. as our
destination and all day to get
there we had a nice time waving
at and visiting friends and rela
tives. Going by way of Blue Rid
ge and Copper Hill included some
interesting historical places on
our trip.
Our main purpose for going
was to visit T.V.A. projects but
we by no means confined it to
that. Monday was spent talking
with certain important members
of T.V.A. Tuesday we visited Oak
Ridge which was quite interest
ing even though we didn’t learn
how the atomic bomb was made.
That afternoon we went to Nor
ris dam, and also visited the for
estry division there.
When we arrived at the Al
hambra Tourist Court we immed
iately received the name of Har
vey Girls. I guess that’s one time
when the boys got left out but
they by no means took the back
seat. In fact, Gay took a very de
★ CLUB NEWS ★
Varsity Club Organized
The West Georgia Varsity Club
has been formed with Paul Rog
ers, President; Ray Jones, Vice-
President; Vinson Estes, Secre
tary; Clyde Gordon, Treasurer;
and Clarence Salmon, Reporter*
The organization meeting was
held in the *ym in February with
Dr. Charles B. Clark explaining
the requirements and duties of
the club. 'The club will take the
place of the old "W” Club and
admit all boys to the club who
have won a "W” either in foot
ball or basketball. Not only the
varsity letter winners will be ad
mitted, but also the boys who
have lettered in intramural acti
vity.
A second meeting was held on
Monday, March 11 when the club
decided on the awards to bt made
to basketball players and the in
tramural all-star team. It was de
cided that all the first team will
receive sweaters with a large
"W”, while the rest of the basket
ball team will receive only block
“WV\ A smaller "W” will be
given the intramural team with a
small "I” on it to denote the ac
tivity in which the award was
won.
The following are members of
the Varsity Club: Paul Rogers,
Ray Jones, Vinson Estes, Clyde
finite stand about the relationship
between cliffs and cars.
Having spent two delightful
days we started back by way of
the Smokies but the tudor refus
ed. Our hearts saddened not be
caused of not getting to take that
trip but because of lost faith in
the tudor. We didn’t know what
to do after considering its faith
ulness in the past, consented to
condesend to a lower level and
take the scenic loop back to
Maryville, Tenn., Etowah, Chats
worth, Fairmount, Cartersville,
and finally Carrollton. So it was
that twelve tired, but happy peo
ple returned to get one night’s
sleep before plunging into exams
and spring holidays.
This trip was followed up by
an evaluation in chapel.
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STUDENT’S HEADQUARTERS
Gordon, Clarence Salmon, Bob
Anderson, Paul Counts, Bill Tal
ley, Sherman Lindsay, Mac Grif
fith, Maurice Jackson, Warren
Moses, England Beaslev, Tom
Morgan, Bill Martin, Leonard Mc-
Kibben, Lewis Adams, Billy Reed,
James McCoy, Denson Yates, Wil
lis Swint, and Wayne Gammon.
Democratic Youth
Society
The Democratic Youth Society
met on Tuesday, March 5, 1946,
for its regular monthly meeting.
After the business meeting,
Patricia McCready, chairman of
the stunt committee, disclosed
plans for the skit presentation on
stunt night.
The program was a discussion
on the F. E. P. C. Bill which has
been prominent in the news. Eng
land Beasley, Juanita Estes, Lan
elle Nations, Kathryn Hackney,
and Joyce Conn participated in
this discussion. An open discuss
ion on the subject followed the
meeting adjourned.
Mu Zeta Alpha
The regular meeting of the Mu
Zeta Alpha was held Thursday,
March 7, in RA-1 with the pres
ident, Virginia Brooks, presid
ing.
After the business session Jo
Garner and Virginia Brooks pre
sented an interesting program on
nylon. Several articles made from
nylon were passed around for the
members to examine.
For the future meetings some
new and interesting programs
have been planned on sound,
rope, and knot-tying.
Stationery
Large Selection
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Frank T. Thomasson
Alabama Street
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