THE RINGHALS COBRA, OR SPITTING SNAKES. 183 
THREE CANNIBAL COBRAS. 
Four months ago I secured three fine Cape Cobras of the 
yellow variety. I put them in one of the snake cages at the Port 
Elizabeth Museum. I conceived the idea of keeping certain 
lizards, etc., alive ; so, to make room for them, I collected the 
smaller live snakes, viz. the Night Adders, Schaapstekers, Garter 
Snakes, and several others, and put them along with the Cobras, 
as their cage was big and roomy. One day I happened to be 
passing, and saw a Yellow Cobra chasing a Spotted Schaapsteker. 
Presently it overtook and bit it. The Cobra held on firmly for 
some seconds, and was seen to push its fangs deep down into its 
victim’s body. The Schaapsteker, within five minutes, began to 
grow limp. The Cobra, taking the head in its mouth, slowly 
swallowed the unfortunate Schaapsteker. Opening the door of 
the cage, I searched in the various corners and nooks for the 
other small snakes, and found that the Cobras had, within the past 
two weeks, swallowed about a dozen of them. 
I was rather glad that the Cobras had started eating volun- 
tarily, for these perverse reptiles often refuse food, and have to be 
fed artificially, which is dangerous to the feeders, and besides, 
it is not very satisfactory. The snakes do not thrive nearly so 
well as when they eat willingly. So, summoning Williams, I 
told him to scour the neighbourhood for small snakes. These 
Wwe put into the Cobra cage. In due time they vanished from 
sight to undergo the process of digestion and assimilation inside 
one or other of those three cannibal Cobras. Up to the present 
they have eaten about thirty other snakes. 
THE RINGHALS. COBRA, OR SPITTING SNAKE. 
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Hemeachatus 
(Sepedon hamachates.) 
The Ringhals Cobra, although belonging to the Cobra family, 
is a good deal different in its scale formation to its cousins of the 
genus Naia. The Ringhals is classified under the genus Sepedon, 
and is the only species in the world under that particular genus. 
The Ringhals Cobra is common throughout South Africa. It 
extends from Cape Colony as far north as Namaqualand and 
Damaraland. There are two varieties, the difference, being 
