138 INTRODUCTION 



fering with the natural conditions under which 

 animals live. Cultivation of the ground or destruc- 

 tion by fire of the vegetation of the wilderness seems 

 to be the only efficacious means of getting rid of so 

 abundant and prolific a creature as the Viper. 



A word may be said, however, in defence of 

 Vipers : they do a great deal of good to agriculture 

 by the destruction of small rodents, on which they 

 feed chiefly, and whose multiplication they serve to 

 keep in check. It must be pointed out that, with the 

 exception of the species of Coluber and Zamenis, other 

 European snakes are to be regarded as indirectly 

 injurious to agriculture, feeding as they do mainly on 

 lizards or frogs and toads, which, as insectivores, 

 deserve to be protected. 



Snakes are not of much economic value to man. 

 Tanned skins of Boas and Pythons are utilized for 

 making shoes and fancy articles, such as purses, 

 pocket-books, blotters, etc., and the Siamese make 

 the drum-heads of native drums out of the skins of 

 Pythons and Acrochordus. To say nothing of savages, 

 who seem to be partial to the flesh of large snakes, 

 the peasantry in some parts of France do not disdain 

 snakes as an article of food, the Grass-snake being 

 occasionally served in village inns under the name of 

 Anguilles de hates, or hedge-eels. 



Viper fat has for a long time been in request as an 

 ointment in the case of various affections, and much 

 used by quack doctors in the preparation of their 



