RAPID SECRETION OF VENOM 189 
instantly reared and remained on the defensive. I kept out of 
reach of any venom he might spit at me, and adopting the Mun- 
goose plan, began circling around him. As I moved he turned 
and faced me, but after some time his brain grew dizzy with 
the rapid revolutions, and, observing him wobble, I shielded 
my face with my hat, rushed forward, and smashed him with a 
blow from a stout stick. 
How THEY SPIT. 
Various are the theories in regard to the nature of the fluid, 
and the manner in which it is ejected or “‘ spat out ”’ by the Ring- 
hals, all of which are more or less incorrect. I have had excep- 
tional opportunities for closely studying snakes and their habits, 
having kept live snakes in captivity for many years in Natal, and 
at the Port Elizabeth Museum. Pe 
I have scores of times purposely irritated our captive Ringhals 
snakes, and closely observed the manner in which they ejected 
the fluid. The fluid is not saliva, as generally supposed, but pure 
venom ejected in two streams from the poison fangs. When the 
snake struck the glass in the act of spitting (see Fig. 79), the venom 
was ejected from the fangs in two streams which ran down the glass, 
but if a couple or more feet away, the venom would be sprayed in 
a fine shower. This spraying of the venom is mainly accom- 
plished by the expulsion of air from the lung sac, simultaneously 
with the ejection of the venom from the fangs. The air is 
expelled very forcibly, and is accompanied bya short but loud 
hiss. 
RAPID SECRETION OF VENOM. 
The venom is evidently secreted at a very rapid rate when the 
snake is enraged, for I observed that a large Black Ringhals dis- 
charged five showers of venom within as many minutes. For the 
first day or two of a Ringhals’ captivity, it spits at every one who 
approaches. A single snake covered a sheet of plate glass four 
feet by four feet all over with venom in a day. 
The venom on exposure rapidly hardens, cracks irregularly, 
and assumes a straw-yellow colour. When first ejected it is 
colourless, and is of the consistency of glycerine. 
