A RINGHALS FEIGNS DEATH. 193 



The Ringhals Gives Birth to Young. 



The Ringhals gives birth to young, which are of the same 

 colour as the adult, viz. black with wavy brown cross-bands. 

 One in the Port EUzabeth Museum gave birth to as many as 

 twenty-eight. Immediately after being born, the young, if 

 irritated, rear, expand their hoods, and attempt to bite. Their 

 poison glands are active, and capable of secreting venom. The 

 bite of a baby Ringhals two hours after birth will kill a fowl. 



The number of young given birth to by a large female Ringhals 

 varies from about thirty to over sixty. Sixty-three is the largest 

 number I have known. The young are produced at Port 

 Elizabeth during the months of January, February, and March. 



A Ringhals Feigns Death. 

 Ringhals are the only snakes I know which actually feign 

 death. I have killed, captured, and kept in captivity nearly 

 all the other South African snakes, but have never seen any 

 attempt to feign death in this way, except with this species of 

 snake. That the Ringhals does so I am certain. Mr. WiUiams, 

 of Boomslang fame, captured an adult Ringhals. When liandling 

 it, the snake suddenly became limp. It was placed on the 

 ground, and immediately turned over and lay on its back. We 

 moved off and hid. Presently it turned over on its abdomen, 

 cautiously raised its head, looked round, and then began moving 

 off. We captured it, and again it feigned death. We presently 

 placed it on the ground upon its back, and once more 

 secreted ourselves. After the lapse of five or ten minutes, the 

 snake again showed signs of life, turned over, looked around, 

 and then endeavoured to escape. This clever ruse, however, is 

 not always resorted to. Often the Ringhals will fight bitterly 

 to the last, and in captivity he is ever ready for a fight. A 

 series of photographs of a Ringhals simulating death are shown 

 elsewhere in this book.* 



A medical correspondent writes me as follows — 

 " In a fatal case of Ringhals' bite, where the patient could not 

 swallow, I used whisky subcutaneously (under the skin), which 

 only rallied the insensible patient's pulse for a short time ; but 



* After being in captivity a week or two the Ringhals usually shams 

 death when handled, but will instantly bite if anything soft be brought in 

 contact with its nose when gripped by the neck with finger and thumb. 



O 



