Dismemberment apparently causes the joint snake no trouble or inconvenience, and produces no wound or contusion. When released the head of the snake runs away and hides in the grass, its natural habitat, leaving the caboose end to its own devices, and it does not come back later and pick up the dismembered fragment.     As to whether the joint snake dies as a result of the treatment or grows a new tail and lives happily ever after is a matter in controversy which has never been satisfactorily settled. The joint snake is perfectly harmless, being equipped with no weapons either of offense or defense. The writer, who was reared in a joint snake country, has carried them alive and wriggling in his pockets for hours at a time, scaring the women by suddenly releasing one in the house being esteemed a high form of sport and a superlative quip in his neighborhood.—J. E. House, in the Topeka Capital. From— Yorkville Enquirer. (Yorkville, S.C.), 25 May 1909. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.