THE PUFF ADDER 105 



a marker and rather more polished hue. An irregular dark brown band runs along each 

 ,/;ide of the nape and the crown of the head. 



/WE now come to the second great family of poisonous Serpents, namely the Vipers, or 

 Viperidse. All the members of this family may be distinguished by the absence of the pit 

 between the eyes and the nostrils. There are no teeth in the upper jaw except the two 

 poison-fangs. 



A rather celebrated species of these Snakes is the TIC-POLONGA or KATUKA (Ddboia 

 elegans), a native of Asia, and perhaps of Brazil. This Serpent is much dreaded, its poison 

 being of a very deadly character. A chicken that was bitten by a Tic-polonga died in 

 thirty-six seconds, and a dog bitten by the same creature was dead in twenty-six minutes 

 after receiving the injury. It is tolerably common in India and Ceylon, but is not so 

 familiarly known as the cobra and other species, because it is not employed for public 

 exhibition as is the case with those Serpents. 



Sir Emerson Tennent, in his well-known " Natural History of .Ceylon," writes thus of 

 the Tic-polonga. "These formidable Serpents so infested the official residence of the 

 District Judge of Trincomalie, in 1858, as to compel his family to abandon it. In another 

 instance, a friend of mine, going hastily to take a supply of wafers from an open tin case 

 which stood in his office, drew back his hand on fin ding the box occupied by a Tic-polonga 

 coiled within it." 



The word Tic-polonga signifies Spotted-polonga, the latter word being a kind of generic 

 title given by the natives to many Serpents, no less than eight species being classed under 

 this common title. It is said that the Tic-polonga and the cobra bear a mortal hatred 

 towards each other, and to say that two people hate each other like the Tic-polonga and 

 cobra is equivalent to our proverb respecting the cat and dog. The Tic-polonga is said 

 always to be the aggressor, to find the cobra in its hiding place, and to provoke it to fight. 

 There are many native legends in Ceylon respecting the ferocity of this Snake. 



Its general colour is brown ; there are two dark brown spots on each side of the back 

 of the head, and a yellow streak runs between them. Upon the bodv are three rows of 

 oblong brown spots, edged with white. 



THE terrible PUFF ADDEE is closely allied to the preceding species. 



This reptile is a native of Southern Africa, and is one of the commonest, as well as one 

 of the most deadly, of poisonous Snakes. It is slow and apparently torpid in all its 

 movements, except when it is going to strike, and the colonists say that it is able to leap 

 backwards so as to bite a person who is standing by its tail. Captain Drayson, E.A., who 

 has seen much of this reptile and its habits, has kindly forwarded to me the following 

 short account of this creature : 



"This formidable looking reptile is more dreaded than any other of the numerous 

 poisonous Snakes in Africa, a fact which mainly results from its indolent nature. Whilst 

 other and more active Snakes will move rapidly away upon the approach of man, the Puff 

 Adder will frequently lie still, either too lazy to move, or dozing beneath the warm sun of 

 the south. This reptile attains a length of four feet, or four feet six inches, and some 

 specimens may be found even longer ; its circumference is as much as that of a man's arm. 

 Its whole appearance is decidedly indicative of venom. Its broad ace-of-clubs-shaped 

 head, its thick body, and suddenly tapered tail, and its chequered back, are all evidences 

 of its poisonous nature. It derives its popular name from its practice of puffing out or 

 swelling the body when irritated. 



^ In a country so infested with poisonous snakes as are some portions of South Africa, 

 it is surprising that there are not more instances of lives having been lost by this means. 

 It is, however, as rare to hear of a person having been bitten and dying from the bite of a 

 poisonous Snake in South Africa as it is to hear of a death in England from the bite of a 

 mad dog. The fact, however, is that all Snakes will, if possible, make their escape when 

 man approaches them, and it is merely when they are trodden upon, or are oppressed by 

 their own superabundant poison, that they are disposed to bite an animal unsuited for 

 their food. 



