E., Asst. Engineer.
North Adams, Mass.
* * * * *
Horse-hair Snakes--Wonderful Transformation.
Messrs. Editors:--In No. 21, current volume, you referred H. K., of
Wis., who had described the horse-hair snake, to page 280, No. 18
current volume, for a reply, which you considered "sufficient." With
your kind permission I would like to speak a few words about the
"snakes" in question. When I resided in Pennsylvania, I, in company with
many other lads, used to tie a bundle of horse hairs into a hard knot
and then immerse them in the brook, when the water began to get warm,
and in due time we would have just as many animals, with the power of
locomotion and appearance of snakes, as there were hairs in the bundle.
I have raised them one-eighth of an inch in diameter, with perceptible
eyes and mouth on the butt end or root part of the hair. Take such a
snake and dip it in an alkaline solution, and the flesh or mucus that
formed about the hair will dissolve, and the veritable horse hair is
left. They will not generate in limestone water, only in freestone or
salt water.
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