The Ancistrodon piscivorus.
1784. Serpents are not numerous, and are such as are to be found in other parts of the continent, except the bull, the horned and the mockason snakes.—John Filson, ‘Kentucke,’ p. 27.
1791. The moccasin snake is a large and horrid serpent to all appearance…. There is another snake in Carolina and Florida called the moccasin, very different from this; which is a very beautiful creature, and I believe not of a destructive or vindictive nature.—W. Bartram, ‘Carolina,’ pp. 272–3. (N.E.D.)
1826. A very frequent adjunct to this horrible scenery is the moccason snake with his huge scaly body lying in folds upon the side of a cypress tree.—T. Flint, ‘Recollections,’ p. 262.
1833. Here the mocasin-snake might be seen gliding over the roots of the melancholy cypress, or exposing his loathsome form on the decaying trunk of a fallen tree.—James Hall, ‘The Harpe’s Head,’ p. 107 (Phila.).
1851. The whappinest, biggest, rustiest yaller moccasin that ever you shuck er stick at.—‘Polly Peablossom’s Wedding,’ &c., p. 69.
1864. The undrained plantation is becoming the swampy pleasure ground of the alligator and moccasin.—S. S. Cox, ‘Eight Years in Congress,’ p. 390 (1865).
