THE RINGHALS COBRA, OR SPITTING SNAKE. 183 



Three Cannibal Cobras. 



One day we secured three fine Cape Cobras of the yellow 

 variety. I put them in one of the snake cages at the old Port 

 Elizabeth Museum. I conceived the idea of keeping certain 

 lizards, etc., alive ; so, to make room for them, I collected the 

 smaller live snakes, viz. the Night Adders, Schaapstekers, Garter 

 Snakes, and several others, and put them along with the Cobras, 

 as their cage was big and roomy. One day I happened to be 

 passing, and saw a Yellow Cobra chasing a Spotted Schaapsteker. 

 Presently it overtook and bit it. The Cobra held on firmly for 

 some seconds, and was seen to push its fangs deep down into its 

 victim's body. The Schaapsteker, within five minutes, began to 

 grow limp. The Cobra, taking the head in its mouth, slowly 

 swallowed the unfortunate Schaapsteker. Opening the door of 

 the cage, I searched in the various corners and nooks for the 

 other small snakes, and found that the Cobras had, within the past 

 two weeks, swallowed about a dozen of them. 



I was rather glad that the Cobras had started eating volun- 

 tarily, for these perverse reptiles often refuse food, and have to be 

 fed artificially, which is dangerous to the feeders, and besides, 

 it is not very satisfactory. Tlie snakes do not tlirive nearly so 

 well as when they eat willingly. So, summoning Williams, I 

 told him to scour the neighbourhood for small snakes. These 

 we put into the Cobra cage. In due time they vanished from 

 sight to undergo the process of digestion and assimilation inside 

 one or other of those three cannibal Cobras. In our live Snake 

 Park at the new museum the Cobras feed principally on snakes 

 of other species, and rats. 



The Ringhals Cobra, or Spitting Snake. 

 {Scpedon hcemachates.) 

 The Ringhals Cobra, although belonging to the Cobra fajuily, 

 is a good deal different in its scale formation to its cousins of the 

 genus Naia. The Ringhals is classified under the genus Sepedon, 

 and is the only species in the world under that particular genus. 

 The Ringhals Cobra is common throughout South Africa. It 

 extends from Cape Colony as far north as Namaqualand and 

 Damaraland. There are three varieties, the difterence being 



