46 ^' TRiaONOCEPHALUS LANCEOLATUS 



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gland at the root, and the duct terminating from -^^ to ^ of 

 an inch from the point. They vary in length from -|- an 

 inch to 2^ inches, and are very fine and brittle. When at 

 rest they lie flat against the upper jawbones with the points 

 directed backwards towards the throat, "When an attack is 

 intended, the mouth is opened to the fullest extent, till the 

 jaws are in a line with each other, and the fangs are erected 

 at right angles to the jaws, and by a sudden spring are 

 driven into the victim. This sudden spring, however — at 

 least in the Fer-de-lance — can only be made when the 

 animal is in a particular position. He requires a firm foun- 

 dation to stand upon, and to obtain this coils himself sud- 

 denly into a concentric circle, with his head in the centre ; 

 then using the outer coil of his body as a broad vantage 

 ground to stand upon, he throws his head and the inner 

 coils forwards and buries his fangs in his prey. This man- 

 ner of springing has been invariably noted by observers in 

 St. Lucia, and I have no reason to doubt the truth of the 

 description. 



From this it will be seen that the Fer-de-lance can only 

 spring when he has plenty of tail to stand on, and as he 

 must rest on it, he can only throw forward about two-thirds 

 of his body, and the depth to which his fangs enter his 

 victim is in proportion to the distance of his leap. He may 

 bite at a person walking across the road, but he cannot 

 make his poison fangs enter the flesh except under the con- 

 ditions I have named. The average length of the snake is 

 six feet; he cannot therefore injure any one at a greater dis- 

 tance than four feet. A man on horseback is therefore 

 tolerably safe ; so also it is safe to go under trees, even if a 

 Fer-de-lance is lying in wait for you : he has no prehensile 

 tail, and has no foundation on a tree for a circular coil of 

 his body to rest on. 



