THE SNAKES 309 



life. They are remarkable for the development of the 

 venom-secreting glands, which, instead of being con- 

 fined to the temporal region of the head, extend a third 

 the length of the body, terminating in club-shaped tips. 

 Owing to this incomprehensible development, the heart 

 has actually been pushed farther down the body than 

 with any other serpent. 



New World Elapine Snakes. 



A single genus, Elaps, represents the Elapince in the 

 New World. About twenty-six species are known. 

 Two occur in the southern United States. The others 

 are distributed throughout Mexico, Central America and 

 tropical South America. Owing to their brilliant colors, 

 a rich red nearly always figuring in the pattern, we will 

 call these reptiles the Coral Snakes. They are not so 

 highly organized as the cobras, being rather addicted to 

 a burrowing life. The form is cylindrical, with small, 

 blunt head. The usual markings consist of red, black 

 and yellow disposed in rings, a pattern rendering the 

 species generally distinguishable, though various harm- 

 less snakes evince striking similarities of pattern. In 

 Mexico is a variety of Elaps fulvius, with narrow black 

 rings separated by very wide red spaces, the black nar- 

 rowly and obscurely bordered with yellow ; it is wonder- 

 fully like a non-venomous snake known technically as 

 Ophibolus micropholis and closely related to the little 

 red king snake of the southern United States, O. dolia- 

 tus. The harmless serpent in question has the narrow 

 black rings separated by wide red spaces, but close exam- 

 ination will show a faint and very narrow yellow ring 

 within the black. Hurriedly examined, the poisonous 

 and harmles snakes might be pronounced identical. To 

 add to the deception, the head of each is black with a yel- 



