356 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 189:?. 



Tliat their venom also is more nearly the same than is that of the 

 cobras and the rattlesnakes there can be no doubt. As will be shown 

 later on, the poison of these last-mentioned snakes has been investi- 

 gated and found to be considerably different, and althou*i^h no exainin- 

 ation of the chemical composition of the hJliips poison has been made 

 as yet, as far as I know, the similarity in the symptoms shows that the 

 venom of the cobra and the Coral Snake are very much alike. 



In Mr. Shindler'scase the doctor's report docs not mention any local 

 symptoms beyond the swelling of the finger, and Mr. Shindler informs 

 me that there was no discoloration, as in the case of rattlesnake bites, 

 beyond the reddening near the wimnd. The absence of special men- 

 tion of violent local changes in the other cases is indication enough 

 that none took place, while Dr. Herff expressly states that "different 

 from our common poisonous snakes, the bitten part would neither swell 

 nor become discolored," nor could anything be observed on the wound, 

 except the small impression caused by the teeth of the serpent. But 

 this absence of local effect is Just one of the essential characteristics of 

 the cobra poison as contrasted with that of the rattlesnake. 



I have alluded to the extraordinary similarity between the Elaps 

 and several perfectly harndess snakes inhabiting the same region, and 

 it is (luite probable that the innocent nature of the latter is in a great 

 measure responsible for the former's good reputation, just as reversely 

 several of the harmless snakes have received bad names on account of 

 their external similarity to the venomous moccasin or copperhead. 



It will therefore not be amiss to institute a comparison between the 

 coral snakes and their imitators,* in order to furnish a means of readily 

 distinguishing the venomous and dangerous reptiles from the innocuous 

 ones. 



With the dead specimens in hand the correct identification is not 

 difficult. In the first x>li^t;c:, the Ulaps is provided with permanently 

 erect, perforated fangs, that is, there is found at the front end of each 

 upper jawbone one solitary curved tooth, which has a channel running 

 through its wenter and a groove on its anterior surface, and which is 

 not followed by any other teeth t on the upper jawbone, while the 

 other snakes with which it can be confounded have no such perforated 

 fang but instead a series of smaller solid teeth on the entire length of 

 the bone in (piesti«n (figs. 3 and 4). Running the point of a pin or a 

 j)enknife along the bone just inside the upper lip will soon disclose 

 tfie presence or absence of these teet-h. There are several other minor 

 points of structure and proportion which serve to distinguish the Elaps. 



* It seems as if tbe harmless suakes are the imitators, ami not rite uersa, because 

 the peculiar coloration of the various species o£ Elaps is more or less the same every- 

 where, while the harmless snakes resembling them belong to many difterent genera, 

 in soine o^ which there occur species of widely dilierent color And pattern. 



t Except, of course, the reserve fangs, likewise grooved. 



