339 

 of 33 feet, 



its victim, 

 described 

 here. In 

 they only 

 by being 



THE PERSONAL ENEMIES OF MAN 



human beings. This species is said to attain the length 

 or possibly more. 



The mechanism by which a venomous serpent bites 

 so as to introduce poison into the wound, has been 

 already (see vol. ii, p. 80), so does not require mention 

 justice to such creatures it may be said that, as a rule, 

 attack human beings when interfered with, as, e.g., 

 accidentally trodden 

 upon. Among the 

 most dreaded species 

 are the Indian Cobra 

 ( Naia tripudians ) ; 

 the even more dan- 

 gerous Krait (Bun- 

 garus c&ruleus) of the 

 same country ; the 

 Australian Death - 

 Adder {Acanthophis 

 antarcticus ) ; the 

 Coral -Snake (Elaps 

 corallinus] of tropical 

 South America; the 

 Sea- Snakes (Hydro- 

 phince] of the Indian 

 Ocean ; the African 

 Puff -Adder (Vipera 

 arietans}', Russell's 

 Viper (V. RusselK), 

 native to South Asia; 

 and the American 

 Rattle-Snakes (species of Crotalus). The following remarks by 

 Semon (in In The Australian BusK) will prove of interest: 

 "It is decidedly no exaggeration to say that 500 persons are 

 yearly bitten on the Australian continent, although the majority 

 of these cases do not prove fatal. The population of Australia is 

 at present supposed to amount to 3,000,000 [in 1901 it was nearer 

 4,000,000]. About 20,000 deaths by snake-bite are yearly re- 

 ported from the British provinces of India, containing 120,000,000 

 inhabitants [population of India in 1901 was 294,266,701]. This 

 record may indeed be somewhat exaggerated, and may owe its 



Fig. 1237. Indian Cobra (Naia tripudians) 



