324 ELEMENTARY ZOOLOGY 



compressing the veins between the wound and heart, then 

 to suck (if the lips are unbroken) the poison from the 

 wound, next to introduce by hypodermic injection per- 

 manganate of potash, bichloride of mercury or chromic 

 acid into the wound, and finally perhaps to take some 

 strong stimulant as brandy or whiskey. 



Of the kinds of snakes not found in this country perhaps 

 the most interesting are the gigantic boa constrictors, 

 anacondas, and pythons. Pythons are found in India, 

 the islands of the Malay archipelago, and Australia, while 

 the boas and anacondas live in the tropics of America. 

 The largest pythons reach a length of thirty feet and some 

 of the boas are nearly as large. These snakes feed on 



FIG. 131. Dissection of head of rattlesnake; /, poison-fangs; /, poison-sac. 



small mammals such as fawns, kids, water-rats, etc., and 

 birds. The prey is swallowed whole, being first encircled 

 and crushed to death in folds of the body. After a meal 

 the python or boa lies in a sort of torpor for some time. 

 A famous snake is the deadly cobra-da-capello of India. 

 These snakes are so abundant and the bite is so nearly 

 certainly fatal that thousands of persons are killed each 

 year in India by it. Other extremely poisonous snakes 

 are the vipers ( Vipera cerastes), which live in the hot 

 deserts of northern Africa. Over each eye there is a scaly 



