TRUE REPTILES. 



209 



ous. The tail is laterally compressed, forming a paddle, 

 with which they swim. They attain a length of five or six 

 feet, and are viviparous. Pro- 

 fessor Semper found one at 

 Mindanao on the rocks, cov- 

 ered by twenty young, that 

 were all two feet long. 



Allied are the Elapidce, 

 among the most deadly of all 

 snakes. The fangs are erect 

 and fixed. The JElaps, of 

 Central America, is richly col- 

 ored. The Naia haje, of Af- 

 rica, has a hood that is erect- 

 ed when it is excited. To 

 the early Egyptians it was an 

 emblem of divinity. The co- 

 bra,* or hooded snake (Fig. 

 251), is much feared in In- 

 dia. When enraged, it raises 

 a curious hood about the 

 head by drawing forward its anterior ribs. 



FlG. 251. Cobra, showing the 

 hood. 



NOTE. Over ig.ooo persons were killed by cobras in India in 1880, 

 and 2,000 head of cattle. During this time, 212,776 cobras were killed 

 by snake-killers, paid by the Government. Since 1870, 200,000 persons 

 have been killed by these reptiles alone. According to the Emperor 

 of Brazil, permanganate of potash is one of the most successful anti- 

 dotes to the venom of snakes. Large doses of whisky or brandy, 

 enough to intoxicate, are generally an antidote to the bite of the rattle- 

 snake. 



Pythons (Pythonida). This family comprises the 

 largest and most powerful of all the snakes ; forty-six spe- 



* Snake-charming in India is supposed by many to be a trick, but 

 this is not so in all cases. A missionary in Burniah found that he 

 could exert the curious influence over the cobra, and handle it without 

 fear ; he performed the same feats as the native jugglers. 



