198 ] Snakes and Frogs and Their Relatives 



motion. This results in its ' 'stony stare" and the false belief that 

 snakes hypnotize their prey. 



The Snake's Hearing Aid: Though snakes have no ears, they 

 might be said to have a sense of hearing as sounds are trans- 

 mitted to them through ground vibrations. Tests have been made 

 with cobras to illustrate this point. After the snakes' eyes had 

 been bound with adhesive tape, someone walked toward the 

 animals. Immediately they reared and faced in the direction from 

 which the footsteps were approaching. By way of contrast, the 

 noise made by blowing a bugle brought no response. 



This inability to hear sounds carried through the air tends to 

 disprove the Hindu snake charmer's claim that music charms 

 serpents into dancing. The truth seems to be that the snakes 

 merely follow the continuous movement of the musician's arms 

 or knees as he plays his reed instrument. 



You can quite easily see the snake's nostrils. There is one on 

 either side of the snout, and they function in the normal manner. 



MOLTING How SNAKES SHED THEIR SKIN 



Your child may be thrilled by the discovery of a discarded 

 snakeskin in the course of his summer wanderings. If he visits 

 the zoo he may see just how this molting takes place. The snake 

 loses its lustrous appearance before shedding; its bright colors 

 are dimmed. Even the eyes become milky and the color of the 

 eyes is obscured. 



This goes on for a week or two; then the snake's normal colora- 

 tion returns and it is ready to molt. It finds a rough, hard object 

 and rubs its nose and chin against it until its skin breaks. Once 

 the head is freed, the snake wriggles its body until the whole skin 

 peels off, inside out. 



Why Shedding is Necessary: Molting is necessary because the skin 

 to which a snake's scales are attached, cannot grow. After the skin 

 has stretched as much as possible to accommodate the growing 

 snake, it must be discarded. Actually a new layer of skin forms 

 beneath the old one before molting takes place. There is no 

 regular interval for shedding: It depends to a great extent on 

 the age and vitality of the reptile. Young snakes shed more 



