Valuable Snake Gobbled by Fellow Captive

1911

THE SNAKE DISAPPEARED

Wehrle's Valuable Find Gobbled by a Fellow Captive.

On Thursday morning a little boy brought to R. W. Wehrle, the Indiana naturalist, a king snake about 11 inches long, the first of its kind which ever came into Wehrle's possession. The latter, of course, was pleased to receive the snake.

He placed his new acquaintance in a case with a milk snake about three feet in length and was away from the vicinity of the case for about an hour. When he returned he found that the king snake was not there. Acting upon an inspiration he killed the milk snake and found the king snake dead in the stomach of the larger snake. He extracted it and preserved it in formaline. Neither of these snakes is dangerous. It was not known that the milk snake was a cannibal.

The king snake is a very pretty one being of a gray brown color on its back and sides while the under parts are beautifully striped with yellow.

—Indiana Evening Gazette, Indiana, Pennsylvania, May 19, 1911, page 1.