Snakes At Home Inside A Cow

Nicholas Gradner, a well-known and prosperous farmer of near Portersvllle, Butler county, Pa., was in the city and told the followlng remarkable story, which is vouched for by reliable people. He said that seven days ago a valuable cow belonging to the family was missing, and that yesterday the animal was found dead, lying among the cranberry bushes in the swamp. A veterinary surgeon named Porter happened along by that time and sald he had a curiosity to know the cause of the animal'a death. He proceeded to hold a postmortem on the body. While he was at work a four-foot black snake crawled from the mouth of the dead cow and succeeded in escaping in the underbrush. The doctor was considerably startled, but he proceeded with his work, and when he had reached the stomach he was horrifled to find that it was fairly alive with little black snakes from six to eight inches In length. Thirty-two of the reptiles tvere slaughtered and a few escaped. It ís now supposed that the mother snake in some manner crawled into the nostrils of the cow while she was eating and that the little snakes, which are known to find refuge in the interior oL the old one, followed.