SNAKES 75 



those parts of the Empire in which there is comparatively 

 little dense forest. 



The great majority of Born can snakes are harmless to 

 man. Excluding the Sea-Snakes, which are all extremely 

 poisonous, there are, out of a total of 113, only n 

 poisonous species ; or, including the Sea-Snakes, 24 

 out of a grand total of 125. The knowledge that only 

 a small proportion of snakes in any given locality is 

 poisonous affords small comfort to most people. In 

 some the mere sight of a snake inspires terror, in 

 others a Berserk desire to kill the noxious object, all 

 investigation of its dangerous or harmless properties 

 being postponed till the creature is dead. There can 

 be little doubt that this honor of snakes manifested by 

 all men is instinctive, and it is interesting to learn from 

 some experiments conducted in the Zoological Society's 

 Gardens by Dr. P. Chalmers Mitchell and Mr. R. I. 

 Pocock 1 that our nearest relatives in the animal king- 

 dom, the Primates, also show extreme terror when 

 confronted by snakes, even though these may not be 

 poisonous species. These observers, writing of the panic 

 shown by two Orangs, state : " Both ... are usually 

 extremely slow and deliberate in their movement, but as 

 soon as they got sight of a snake and long before it 

 was near them, they fled silently but with the utmost 

 rapidity, climbing as far out of reach as possible with 

 a ludicrous celerity." Chimpanzees, on seeing the snakes 

 brought near their cage, " fled backwards, uttering a low 

 note sounding like ' huh, huh/ They soon got more 

 excited and began to scream." Of all the Anthropoid 

 Apes the Gibbon showed the least alarm, and it is 

 suggested that these animals, being arboreal in their 

 1 P.Z.S., 1907, pp. 792-4. 



