THE SNAKES 303 



frogs or young rats and thus made to equal in bulk and 

 nourishment a half dozen snakes. A meal like this lasts 

 the cobras for a good two weeks. 



Before leaving the genus Naja it is well to understand 

 just how the cobras spread their necks so widely. In this 

 portion of the body they are provided with extremely 

 long, movable ribs lying closely against the backbone 

 when the snake is in a quiescent mood. When annoyed, 

 the reptile spreads this series of ribs laterally, forming 

 the well-known hood. With a dead cobra it is impossible 

 to spread the "hood" unless the ribs are pushed forward. 

 In mounting alcoholic specimens in the characteristic 

 fighting position, the writer makes an incision in the skin 

 beneath the neck, thus uncovering the ribs, pushes these 

 forward with the tip of a scalpel, then pins them into 

 shape against a sheet of cork in much the fashion of 

 stretching a butterfly. The body is reared upward 

 against a form of wire, plentifully injected with a strong 

 solution of formalin, when the entire snake is placed in 

 a large jar of that preserving solution for about a week's 

 time. By that time it has rigidly set, is removed from 

 the form and placed in the permanent museum jar, con- 

 taining alcohol. 



Among the poisonous Colubrine snakes the writer's 

 observations of the breeding habits have been restricted 

 as to species, but nevertheless of importance. They have 

 demonstrated, despite the general assertion to the con- 

 trary, that the cobras are egg-laying — oviparous — 

 snakes. Not only has he succeeded in breeding the rep- 

 resentatives of two species, but has hatched the eggs by 

 placing them in layers of damp sphagnum moss. A 

 batch deposited by a fine Spectacled Cobra consisted of 

 twenty perfectly smooth, tough-shelled, creamy-white 

 eggs, which were one and a quarter inches long and 



