NINGH. ANNUAL. REPORT. 183 
pent was quickly grasped by the neck, immediately behind the 
head ; and thus firmly held, it was treated by the writer. 
It was Mr. Snyder’s habit to manipulate the stick with his left 
hand and grasp the Cobra with the right. After the snake had 
been taken from the cage about a dozen times, during each of 
which it vigorously resented the process of handling, it appeared 
to evince a certain familiarity with the proceedings, and a deter- 
mination to baffle our operations. As Keeper Snyder approached 
it with the stick in his left hand, it would quickly turn in its 
course and glide to the right, thus making it necessary for him 
to reverse the position in which he stood. These actions were at 
first considered accidental, but finally they became so markedly 
persistent that after many tests were made the writer became con- 
vinced that the snake appreciated it was in danger of being pinned 
down by the stick if pursuing a parallel course to the left, on 
which side the same was held, but that by reversing its direction 
and darting to the right, it would be leaving behind it the man’s 
defenceless right hand. It was impossible for the snake to glide 
straight away, for the reason that it was always released in a 
narrow passage. When caught by the stick and its course 
changed to the left, it would stubbornly persist—a dozen times or 
more—in darting to the right. 
These actions indicated very clear reasoning powers. Similar 
manoeuvres have been observed in none of the many other venom- 
ous snakes under the writer’s care, and were restricted to reptiles 
of the genus Naja. 
Experiment No. 3; Sumatran Cobra (N. tripudians semifas- 
ciata).—A specimen of this snake that for a long time refused 
food, and was repeatedly taken from its cage to be fed with eggs 
forced down its throat with a syringe, developed traits exactly 
similar to those observed in experiment No. 2. 
Experiment No. 4; King Cobra (N. bungarus).—It has been 
stated that this species, although strictly cannibalistic, feeds. but 
seldom upon the viperine snakes.* possibly possessing an instinc- 
tive dread of the deep wounds liable to be inflicted by the fangs 
of such reptiles when attacked. To test the veracity of this asser- 
tion, the following test was made: 
A large, thick-bodied, harmless Water Snake (Tropidonotus 
taxvispilotus ), and a poisonous Water Moccasin (Ancistrodon pis- 
civorus), of much the same proportions, were selected for the 
experiment during a period when the big Cobra was voraciously 
awaiting its weekly meal of a living snake. The door of the cage 
* These serpents possess very long, erectile fangs. 
