THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, November 26, 1994 TAG: 9411240063
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E01 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Maddry
LENGTH: Medium: 96 lines
WITH A MINER'S LAMP and snake hook stored in his four-wheel drive vehicle, Joe Mitchell prowls country roads on hot summer nights, looking for the crawling creatures that give many of us the creeps.
Snakes, turtles, lizards.
Yet the short, bearded, jeans-wearing Mitchell, who is so unimposing in appearance that he looks like the last man in line at a backwoods barbecue, is a special citizen of our commonwealth.
He is likely to be one of a handful of 20th century Virginians whose work will be remembered a hundred years or more from now.
A teacher at the University of Richmond, he is the author of The Reptiles of Virginia, recently published by Smithsonian Institution Press. It is the most thorough and statistically comprehensive look at a state's reptilian fauna ever.
In cataloging the commonwealth's reptiles, Mitchell found 30 snakes, nine lizards and 23 species of turtles.
So what is the likelihood of someone encountering all 62 species of Virginia's reptiles during a lifetime?
``Pretty slim,'' Mitchell said. ``Even those who have outside jobs are going to see very few of them.'' That's partly because not all species can be seen across the commonwealth. And many species are very secretive.
``One that is particularly secretive is found where you live in the southeast corner of the state,'' Mitchell said. ``It's the rainbow snake, an extremely iridescent snake with a multitude of colors that feeds on eels. Very few people have ever seen one. I caught one once in Back Bay.''
Mitchell's interest in reptiles began when he was a boy who visited his uncle's wooded, 100-acre place in Bedford County during the summers.
``My uncle was a scout leader,'' he recalled. ``He and his sons kept snakes for educational programs. I learned why they were important and developed a philosophy about nature.''
The philosophy is, simply, a belief in human responsibility for the preservation of existing species, even rattlesnakes. ``If we eliminate one species, we don't know what effect it will have on the ecology,'' Mitchell said. ``I believe that rather than dominate, we should be stewards.''
The earliest attempt at listing the the state's reptilian fauna was undertaken by Capt. John Smith in 1607 when he penned his observations of our region.
``Smith was the first person to describe the rattlesnake rattle and the custom of Native American men to wear live green snakes in their earlobes,'' Mitchell noted.
But it took another 300 years before Emmett Reid Dunn of Alexandria published the first scientific study of Virginia reptiles - based on an examination of all species collected in the state since the 1850s.
Mitchell made field trips to every county in Virginia doing research for his work and has made maps of drainage areas where the listed reptiles can be found both within the state and elsewhere in the country. And he examined every museum specimen found in Virginia since the Civil War.
Hampton Roads, he said, is unique. ``It's unique in that a number of species reach the northern end of their distribution in the southeastern corner of the state.''
For instance?
``The cottonmouth water moccasin,'' he replied. ``It's found no further north. They have adapted to a colder winter than the ones in the deep South.''
Another example, he said, is the yellow-bellied slider, a large freshwater turtle with a carapace that is 11 inches long. Another reptile that finds its northern limit in Hampton Roads is the eastern glass lizard, a threatened species.
Hampton Roads is also unique in the relatively high number of species to be found here and in the bright colors and patterns they exhibit when contrasted with identical specimens found in the mountains. The milk snake is a good example. Here, the snake is brightly colored with rings of red, black and white.
Mitchell - who has been bitten dozens of times by nonpoisonous snakes but never by a poisonous one - believes most Virginians have scant knowledge of snakes. ``Northern water snakes are killed all over the state by people who claim or think they are water moccasins,'' he said.
``There is a feeling that snakes are evil and should be killed,'' he said. ``It's a function of fear. People tend to kill what they don't understand.''
Mitchell's book was 20 years in the making. It is dedicated to Virginia taxpayers - who made his research possible by donating a portion of their income tax refund to the state's endangered species program. The program is administered by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
He hopes the book - which contains 63 full color illustrations - will make us more aware of how reptile species are inter-related with other fauna.
``We humans have been part of the natural world from the beginning and depend on it for spiritual and emotional solace,'' he said. ``We need reptiles. They are part of us.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color bookjacket]
Joe Mitchell's book is thorough and statistically comprehensive look
at the state's retilian fauna.
by CNB