A MAN BITTEN. 



141 



poison-glands are comparatively small — a fifth the size of those 

 of a Puff Adder. That they secrete a venom, potent and virulent, 

 in proportion to their size, does not admit of a doubt. Dr. 

 Calmette claims that the fangs are 

 simply used for the retention of 

 the prey, such as birds, which 

 would otherwise escape. This is 

 partly, but not wholly so. When 

 a Boomslang seizes a live bird, it 

 grips with great tenacity. The 

 bird struggles frantically for a 

 minute or two, and is then over- 

 come by the potent action of the 

 venom injected through the snake's 

 grooved fangs. It then leisurely 

 proceeds to swallow the bird, 

 feathers and all. Boomslangs 

 never constrict their prey. 



A Man Bitten. 



During November, 1907, we 

 had occasion to transfer our col- 

 lection of live snakes to their 

 new apartments, and Mr. WilUams 

 was carrying a large male Boom- 

 slang when it suddenly buried its 

 teeth in the muscles of his bared 

 forearm, just below the elbow- 

 joint. It gripped with great 

 power, and held on firmly. We 

 disengaged its jaws, and I sug- 

 gested treating the wound, but 

 he would not hear of such a 

 thing, and believing, as I did at 

 the time, that it was practically 

 a non-poisonous snake, I did not insist. The wound smarted 

 a little, and he went on working. Within an hour a throb- 

 bing headache had manifested itself, accompanied by oozing of 



Fig. 60. — This is .Mr. James Williams, 

 who was bitten by a Boomslang, referred 

 to in the te.xt. The parts, coloured 

 black, were the portions of his body 

 where the blood flowed out through the 

 walls of the blood vessels, and accumu- 

 lated in the tissues, causing dark purple 

 patches, which were very much swollen 

 and inflamed. The right eye and the 

 surrounding tissues were immensely 

 swollen, disfiguring Williams' face 

 almost beyond recognition. In fact, the 

 man presented a terrible and never-to- 

 be-forgotten sight. Blood oozed from 

 his mouth and nose. Hemorrhage 

 also took place in his stomach and 

 bowels. His recovery was little short 

 of miraculous. It was evidently due 

 to his vigorous constitution, the result 

 of very abstemious habits. 



