Snakes* Delhi 299 



terrible robbers of hen-roosts, returning again and 

 again. In sending off cobras from India to the Zoo, 

 egg-boxes filled with hens' eggs are always packed 

 with them and despatched by the cobras on the 

 journey. 



A repulsion towards snakes is ingrained, naturally, 

 in the heart of man, and yet they are worthy of 

 admiration. Huxley used to say that the most beautiful 

 piece of anatomy he knew was the vertebra of a snake. 

 In some species there are four hundred joints in a 

 snake's spine ; each one fits with a ball and socket into 

 the next, and every joint therefore can move in every 

 direction the utmost pliancy of motion. Each joint 

 supports a pair of ribs, which are connected with the 

 scales. These are formed of folds of skin, and they 

 move with the ribs. Think of four hundred little 

 joints and four hundred pairs of little ribs ; contem- 

 plate it reverently. 



Snakes seem to have three different modes of 

 progression : on smooth, plane surfaces by means of 

 their rib legs ; through high grass by rapid, almost 

 invisible, sinuous, onward movements like swimming ; 

 and in climbing straight walls by creating a vacuum 

 with the ventral scales. 



A snake as a rule moves along the ground in a 

 serpentine way ; but it can proceed most quickly by 

 arching its body off the ground, and a large snake 

 will advance at an immense speed in an undulating 

 form. It can out-climb the monkey, out-swim the 

 fish, out-wrestle the athlete, leap its own length 



