380 NATURAL HISTORY. 



venomous snakes of India, is a very peculiar-looking snake, with its broad 

 head and hood, its peculiar markings, and the like. But this other harm- 

 less form simulates almost exactly every appearance of its poisonous rela- 

 tive. It has the same pair of spectacles on the back, can distend the neck 

 in the same way. and in almost every detail of form, habit, and color, the 

 two are alike. Who can doubt but that this resemblance proves of consid- 

 erable benefit to the innocuous forms? Who, on seeing it, would wait to 

 study the inconspicuous characters which point it out as distinct from the 

 similar poisonous form? ' 



The striped snakes, or garter-snakes, are our most abundant forms. 

 They, too, are perfectly harmless, but they are very disagreeable to handle 

 on account of the offensive odor they exhale. After touching one of them 

 the hands retain the smell for a long time, and prolonged washing will 

 hardly suffice to remove it. 



A snake, common on the eastern coast of Africa, is most remarkably 

 adapted with reference to its food. It is an arboreal form, spending most 

 of its life in the tops of trees, and wending its way from one branch to 

 another, in its search for the nests of birds. All snakes are fond of eggs, 

 but they are apt to lose a great part of the contents : not so the rachiodon. 

 It takes the egg into the mouth and swallows it entire. It does not reach 

 the stomach in this condition; for on passing down the throat it comes in 

 contact with a row of saw-like teeth, which cut through the hard shell, 

 allowing the white and yolk to escape, and pass down to the stomach. 

 Not a diop is lost. These teeth are peculiar, in that they are really parts 

 of the backbone, which project through the walls of the throat, and their 

 tips are covered with enamel. 



The remaining snakes which we shall mention are all poisonous, but 

 then; exists considerable difference in the poison-apparatus in these forms. 

 In those first to be mentioned the poison-fangs are found in the front of the 

 mouth, where they always stand erect and ready for action, like the other 

 teeth. In the other group the fangs, which occur only in the upper jaw, 

 can be depressed so that they lie concealed and out of the way in the roof 

 of the mouth. To the structure of these last we will refer again. In the 

 first group — the forms with permanently erect fangs — these specialized 

 teeth are very sharp, and through them runs a line channel, which conducts 

 the poison from the gland into the wound. The poison is but a modified 

 saliva, and is secreted in regular salivary glands. 



Most celebrated of all these forms is the cobra, or cobra da capello — 

 the cobra with the little cape — of India. It is exceedingly poisonous, and 

 one bitten by it rarely recovers. It is held as ah object of superstitious 



