so6 ] Snakes and Frogs and Their Relatives 



South America. Reliable records show that this species sometimes 

 attains a length of twenty-eight feet. The anaconda is the largest 

 snake in the New World. 



PYTHONS THE LARGEST SNAKES 



Among the most fearsome-looking reptiles are the pythons, 

 which have been imported from Asia or Africa. There are giants 

 among them: a twenty-five-foot Indian python may weigh more 

 than two hundred pounds; the reticulated python, not quite so 

 thick in body, may be nearly thirty feet long. The large pythons 

 eat a variety of animals, but their taste runs to fairly large 

 mammals. 



"Snake-charming" showmen frequently use relatively small speci- 

 mens of the rock python in their acts, as these snakes become 

 very docile in captivity. Nevertheless, there is always some danger. 

 If the snake accidentally throws a complete coil about the body 

 of the performer, it will begin to constrict and throw new coils. 

 The "charmer" must quickly straighten out the reptile or be in 

 real danger of strangulation. Anyone who closely watches a snake 

 charmer with a python or boa, will observe that every movement 

 of his hands and arms is made solely to prevent the snake from 

 forming a coil. 



THE COBRA'S DOUBLE PERSONALITY 



A child who has been reading colorful stories of the Orient 

 in which cobras play a sinister part, may well be disappointed 

 when he sees this snake in the zoo. When it is not excited, this 

 dangerously venomous reptile looks quite commonplace. Alarmed 

 or angry the cobra presents a far different picture, weaving its 

 raised head back and forth with its hood erect. 



The Cobra's Terrifying Hood: The hood is actually only the 

 skin of the neck stretched taut. The cobra has a series of ribs on 

 the sides of the vertebrae of the neck, and when it is excited it 

 uses powerful muscles to draw these ribs forward, thus stretching 

 its skin and forcing the scales wide apart. 



Seen from in back when its hood is spread, the Indian cobra 

 gives the impression of having eyes on top of its head. But what 



