THE COBRA AND OTHER SERPENTS. 69 



the neck very thin ; its body increases in diameter toward the 

 middle and gradually tapers oil to the tail. In the cobra the 

 head, neck, and body are of the same thickness until the tail 

 commences. In the rattlesnake the eyes have a vertical pupil, 

 like a cat's ; in the cobra the pupil is round. In the rattlesnake 

 the fangs are long, well curved, very movable, thin, and with the 

 end of the poison duct coming out almost in the same line with 

 the point of the fang ; in the cobra the fang is very short, slightly 

 curved, scarcely movable, strong, and with the end of the poison 

 duct coming out at a large angle with the point. In disposition 

 the rattler is much more sluggish and not nearly so timorous as 

 the cobra. To meet an assailant, the rattlesnake will arrange 

 himself coiled carefully, like a spring, in a horizontal position ; 

 while the cobra prepares no coil, but raises himself up on high 

 perpendicular from the ground. As to the manner of securing 

 their prey, the rattlesnake is like a cat : he lies in wait for it in a 

 suitable locality, and then springs on it unawares, generally 

 waiting till its death struggles have ceased before swallowing it. 

 The cobra, on the contrary, hunts up his victims, pursues them 

 like a dog, and swallows them alive when caught. There is also, 

 as Dr. Weir Mitchell has shown, a marked chemical variance 

 between their poisons. 



All these differences are, as a rule, applicable to their respec- 

 tive classes ; and it is worthy of mention that in the several points 

 enumerated, excepting as regards the poison arrangements, the 

 ViperidcB agree with the true boas and the ElapidcB with the colu- 

 brine or common harmless snakes. So it will be understood that 

 the cobra is rather a cousin to the black snake than to the rattler. 

 In searching for his prey, he glides about without anything 

 remarkable in his appearance to denote that he is a cobra ; but, 

 when excited by fear or anger, he raises his head and from one 

 third to one half of his body perpendicularly from^ the ground, 

 while the remainder is gathered beneath into a coil of support. 

 At the same time the upper ribs, from the head downward for 

 five or six inches or more, spread themselves out laterally, carry- 

 ing the skin with them, thus making of his neck part a thin, flat- 

 tened oval disk four or five inches broad. This wide flatness of 

 the neck is called, the " hood," and above it the head appears 

 pointing horizontally to the front. His disposition is so ex- 

 tremely nervous and timid that he will strike at a moving adver- 

 sary long before he comes near enough to reach him with effect. 

 If you stand before a cobra thus erect and alarmed, and move 

 alternately your left and right hands up and down, he will strike 

 repeatedly to the left and right, following your motions, bringmg 

 his head and neck flat on the ground each time, and at every 

 stroke drawing closer to you. In striking thus he hisses audibly 



