POISONOUS SNAKES 191 



The snake was caiiglit ])y tlie neck, its jaws applied 

 to the chamois, and it immediately Ijit liercely, sending 

 the fangs through the soft covering of the glass vessel. 

 As it closed its jaws on the apparatus the fangs dis- 

 charo^ed their venom. From a snake four feet in 

 length fully half a teaspoonf ul was the amount usually 

 obtained, and the large diamond-back rattlesnakes of 

 our Southern States are able to eject a considerably 

 larger amount from their deadly weapons. 



The entire amount of venom in the poison-sacs is 

 never expended in a single bite ; a poisonous snake of 

 moderate dimensions is capable of dealing successively 

 half a dozen deadly wounds. The manufacture of 

 venom is rapid, and even though a snake's glands be 

 entirely emptied of their contents through a mechan- 

 ical process, forty-eight hours affords ample time 

 for refilling the glands under the chemical action 

 exerted by the organs which manufacture the deadly 

 fluid. 



That a poisonous snake may be rendered harmless 

 by the extraction of its fangs is a fallacious idea. The 

 venomous serpents are constantly shedding their fangs. 

 Strangely enough, the fangs which are shed are, in 

 the majority of instances, swallowed by the reptiles. 

 This is frequently illustrated in the cleaning of cages. 

 It may be explained, in a way, from the fact that a 

 loose fang may be left embedded in the l)ody of an 

 animal struck by the snake for food, and subsecpiently 

 swallowed, but it is nevertheless remarkable that a 

 snake which has not eaten for months re<>-ularlv sheds 

 its fangs, and swallows them in the process. 



