NINTH ANNUAL REPORT. 183 



pent was quickly grasped by the neck, immediately behind the 

 head ; and thus firmly held, it was treated by the writer. 



It was Mr. Snyder's habit to manipulate the stick with his left 

 hand and grasp the Cobra with the right. After the snake had 

 been taken from the cage about a dozen times, during each of 

 which it vigorously resented the process of handling, it appeared 

 to evince a certain familiaritv with the proceedings, and a deter- 

 mination to baffle our operations. As Keeper Snyder approached 

 it with the stick in his left hand, it would quickly turn in its 

 course and glide to the right, thus making it necessary for him 

 to reverse the position in which he stood. These actions were at 

 first considered accidental, but finally they became so markedly 

 persistent that after many tests were made the writer became con- 

 vinced that the snake appreciated it was in danger of being pinned 

 down bv the stick if pursuing a parallel course to the left, on 

 which side the same was held, but that by reversing its direction 

 and darting to the right, it would be leaving behind it the man's 

 defenceless right hand. It was impossible for the snake to glide 

 straight away, for the reason that it was always released in a 

 narrow passage. When caught by the stick and its course 

 changed to the left, it would stubbornly persist — a dozen times or 

 more — in darting to the right. 



These actions indicated very clear reasoning powers. Similar 

 manoeuvres have been observed in none of the many other venom- 

 ous snakes under the writer's care, and were restricted to reptiles 

 of the genus Naja. 



Experiment No. 5; Siiiiiafraii Cobra (X. tripudiaiis semifas- 

 ciata). — A specimen of this snake that for a long time refused 

 food, and was repeatedly taken from its cage to be fed with eggs 

 forced down its throat with a syringe, developed traits exactly 

 similar to those observed in experiment Xo. 2. 



Experiment No. 4; King Cobra {X. bungarus). — It has been 

 stated that this species, although strictly cannibalistic, feeds but 

 seldom upon the viperine snakes. ^'^ possibly ])ossessing an instinc- 

 tive dread of the deep wounrls liable to be inflicted by the fangs 

 of such reptiles when attacked. To test the veracity of this asser- 

 tion, the following test was made : 



A large, thick-bodied, harmless Water Snake {Tropidonotn.<; 

 taxispilotus), and a poisonous Water Moccasin {Ancistrodon pis- 

 civorus), of much the same proj^ortions. were selected for the 

 experiment during a period when the big Cobra was voraciously 

 awaiting its weeklv meal of a living snake. The door ot the cage 



* These serpents passess very long, erectik- fangs. 



