204 



Descriptive Zoology. 



antidote, a hypodermic injection of permanganate of potash 

 (i to 100), is by many now preferred to alcoholic liquor. In 

 India the cobra kills several thousand persons yearly. 

 (See The American Natural History. Hornaday.) 

 How Snakes protect Themselves. ( i ) By their color, 

 (2) by flight, (3) by their odor, (4) by their poison. 



Many snakes are colored so like their surroundings as to 

 be decidedly inconspicuous, and this is of advantage both 



in escaping enemies and in 

 securing their prey. By their 

 noiseless mode of locomotion 

 they can, unobserved, ap- 

 proach a victim or elude a 

 pursuer. We are so familiar 

 with their stealthy move- 

 ments that we are not sur- 

 prised when we learn that 

 the words snake and sneak 

 are of the same origin ; 

 nor do we wonder that there 

 has been a long-standing 

 enmity between man and serpent. Yet the majority of 

 snakes are entirely harmless, and are as much surprised as 

 we are when we " meet by chance." Many snakes have a 

 disagreeable odor which probably serves to protect them 

 from some enemies. Lastly, the poisonous snakes use their 

 poison to secure food and to protect themselves. Among 

 the enemies of snakes are to be reckoned several kinds of 

 birds, such as the shrikes and hawks, hogs, wild and domesti- 

 cated, bears (occasionally), and various other animals. 



Molting. At least once a year snakes shed the epi- 

 dermis over the entire body, even over the eyes. During 

 this process they are dull-colored and inactive. 



FIG. 127. DISSKCTION OF HEAD OF 

 RATTLESNAKE. 



Showing fangs and poison sac (/). From 

 Kingsley's Comparative Zoology. 



