LENGTH OF SNAKES 



nessed the first disentangling of the hamadryad from 

 the cobra as a distinct serpent. It was not until 1875 

 that the first live specimen ever reached Europe. This 

 individual arrived at the Zoological Gardens in that 

 year, and survived for no less than twelve years. From 

 that time to the present there have been many, and 

 some of them large ones. Length in a serpent is a matter 

 which is apt to be exaggerated. The one thing which 

 a serpent has got to be is to be long. But with all the 

 stretching in the world the hamadryad cannot be 

 pulled out to more than fifteen feet, and twelve feet 

 is perhaps a better estimate of its extreme length. 

 With misleading pedantry the British Museum catalogue 

 of snakes calls it 3,900 millimetres ! No creature that 

 is not enclosed in a hard box like a tortoise or an insect 

 can be measured with such absolute accuracy. The 

 colour above is brown to black, with a whitish belly, 

 and in young examples there are yellow bands. It has 

 been pointed out in the case of the cobra that legend 

 has it that the blacker specimens are the more ferocious. 

 Melanism, or a darkening of normal hues, is a not 

 uncommon phenomenon in the animal world ; but to 

 associate it .with a correspondingly increased fierceness 

 is perhaps making the creature out to be blacker than 

 Nature has painted it. Nevertheless, we learn from 

 the poet that the dark-coloured South is " fierce and 

 fickle." 



The name hamadryad is plainly to be derived from 

 the tree-frequenting habits of Ophiophagus bimgarus, 

 as the full scientific name runs. From this " bad 

 eminence " the serpent is said to look out for a coolie, 

 and then to descend upon him in an unexpected shower 

 of writhing coils. Exaggeration apart, it does seem 

 to be proved that during the breeding season, that 

 time of fierce irritability in many beasts and birds, the 

 hamadryad is more apt to lose its temper, and to 



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