the boa-constrictor in flight for life," and further 

 on, referring to che cobra, '' It sneaked along the 

 floor spitting out virus in all directions." 



No wonder that the snake has such a bad 

 name ! 



The stories that one so often hears of pursuit 

 by snakes are easily explained. 



A snake, when disturbed, will not always 

 retreat in the opposite direction to which it is 

 approached, but will make a bee line for its hole, 

 or the nearest jungle. 



If it is on a hillside it will be almost certain to 

 go down-hill when disturbed by anyone. 



If a person is going along a path, a snake will 

 sometimes cross the road in front of him, and 

 probably follow the man if his line of retreat lies 

 down-hill, or in the same direction as the snake's 

 hole is. Hence the fanciful idea of pursuit by a 

 snake. 



If snakes could talk they would probably tell 

 as alarming stories about mankind, as man does of 

 snakes. 



Only when cornered or injured will a snake 

 attack, and then, if left alone, will always retreat. 



All snakes have an instinctive fear of human 

 beings, and even members of the Python family 

 (the Giant Anaconda, for instance) will always 

 retreat if they get sufficient warning of his approach. 

 The rare cases in which people have been seized 

 and crushed by boa-constrictors, etc., are probably 

 due to the snakes mistaking them for deer or other 

 game, the sight of the different species of the 

 Pythoninae being very bad in the daytime. In 

 fact, a nocturnal snake that is having a meal in the 

 daylight will sometimes seize and bite its own body 

 in mistake for the dead body of its prey. 



