Northern water snake The belly also varies in color. It can be white, yellow, or gray. Usually it also has reddish or black crescents. The northern water snake is nonvenomous and harmless to humans, but superficially resembles the venomous cottonmouth and is often killed unnecessarily as a result of this mistaken identity. The two can be easily distinguished by morphological traits: the water snake has a longer, more slender body and a flattened head the same width as the neck, round pupils, and no heat-sensing pits. The cottonmouth has a fatter body, a wedge-shaped head with prominent venom glands that are wider than
S. C. Homersham S. C. Homersham Samuel Collett Homersham (ca.1816–1886) born in Kent, England, was an English hydraulic engineer and hydrologist. He studied rainfall patterns and subterranean water in various parts of England. He also studied impurities in water and effects of softening water supplies. He experimented with various designs of valves for use with water pumps. Homersham studied the feasibility of atmospheric railways in England. He joined the British Meteorological Society in 1850, having previously been a member of the Meteorological Society of London which was founded in 1848. Homersham married Mary Susannah Collen and had ten children. His eldest son, Samuel