38 



Serpents. - 



-IrEPTILES.- 



-Serpents. 



of serpents possess the property of secreting a poisonous 

 liquid. Out of tlie twenty dilferent species found by 

 Dr. Davy in Ceylon, only four were really poisonous. 

 Multitudes are harmless, at least as far man is con- 

 cerned, and many are as beautiful in their colouring as 

 graceful in their forms ; still, few or none are favourites. 

 It is well, however, to remember, that serpents very 

 seldom attack man without provocation ; on the con- 

 trary, as all people who have been in hot climates 

 know, they usually appear to dread his presence. 

 Although cunning, they are timid and fearful. The 

 common snake of England, for instance, may be domes- 

 ticated, and the coial snake of Florida, which is very 

 beautiful and gentle, is often kept tame, and allowed 

 by the women to entwine itself round their necks as a 

 necklace. It is gratifying to find from travellers and 

 others who have seen serpents in their native abodes, 

 that their fear of these reptiles diminished as they 

 became better acquainted with them, and found from 

 e.xperience how safe they were in cotmtrios which their 

 fears had previously depicted as almost uninhabitable. 



But thougli we have thus attempted to do away 

 with the exaggerated notions of the immense numbers 

 of serpents, and tried to lessen the too great fear and 

 horror entertained by people in general against them, 

 we by no means wish to make light of the formidable 

 nature of the weipons of defence and offence carried 

 by the poisonous Bpeeies, or the fotal and deadly effects 

 produced by them. Instances of death in the human 

 subject from the bite of snakes, even in this cold cli- 

 mate, are too numerous and too well authenticated to 

 be lightly treated. 



Many persons have attempted to express in a clear 

 manner the characters by means of which we might be 

 able to distinguisli venomous serpents from those which 

 are not so, but they have not succeeded. Mr. Martin 

 says " that there is something more than usually repul- 

 sive in the aspect of poisonous serpents. Their thick 

 broad head, their wide jaws, armed with horrible poison 

 fangs, together with their brilliant eyes, give them a 

 ferocious expression ; and man and beast instinctively 

 recoil from their presence." The eyes of all serpents 

 are brilliant, the mouth in all is wide when opened, 

 and it is only when the jaws of poisonous snakes are 

 extended that the fangs can be seen. There remains, 

 therefore, of this definition, only the thick broad head 

 which can be of use in distinguishing them; and though 

 this is correct in the case of the Viperine serpents, it is 

 a character which cannot be depended upon in all the 

 poisonous species, as the Cobra de capello and many 

 others iu form and general characters belong to the 

 Colubrine group, or those which are for the most part 

 harmless. We will enlarge, however, a little more upon 

 the characters which mark the eminently poisonous 

 or Viperine serpents when we come to treat of them 

 more particularly. Serpents are said to possess a 

 peculiar power of fascinating their intended victims, 

 so that their prey is literally drawn into their mouths. 

 According to some authors and travellers, who assert 

 they have witnessed the fact, we are assured that, 

 being fixedly regarded by a serpent hissing, and dart- 

 ing its forked tongue out of its mouth, squirrels and 

 birds arc constrained, as it were, to fall from the sum- 



mit of the trees into the mouth of the reptile, which 

 immediately swallows them up. Hares, rats, frogs, 

 and other animals, seem to be petrified by terror ; and 

 far from attempting to fly, will precipitate themselves 

 upon the fate that awaits them. Even when they are 

 at a sufficient distance to escape, they are paralyzed 

 by the sight of their dreaded foe, and deprived of all 

 their faculties in a manner that appears wholly super- 

 natural. Much has been written upon this subject, 

 and many arguments have been used both for and 

 against. Mr. Waterton, already quoted, does not 

 believe in the fascinating power of serpents. " I am 

 not a believer," he says, "in the evil eye of snakes. 

 Their e3'es are very beautiful, and no doubt they woidd 

 be much admired did the beholder lay aside his pre- 

 judices, and consider that the snake before him has 

 no intention to create alarm, nor to meditate a work 

 of mischief." Sir Andrew Smith, on the contrary, 

 speaking of this power in some of the snakes in South 

 Africa, observes — " Whatever may be said in ridicule 

 of fascination, it is nevertheless true that birds, and 

 even quadrupeds, are, under certain circumstances, 

 unable to retire from the presence of their enemies ; 

 and, what is still more extraordinary, unable to resist 

 the propensity to advance from a situation of actual 

 safety into one of the most imminent danger. This I 

 have often seen exemplified in the case of birds and 

 snakes." The subject is still involved in a considerable 

 degree of obscurity. The most probable explanation 

 of the fact, however, is, that in the case of squirrels, 

 rats, &c., fear of their known and dreaded enemy 

 deprives them of all energy ; they are unable to escape, 

 and thus fall easy victims. In the case of birds, in all 

 probability, it is the instinctive desire, natural in them 

 and strongly developed, of protecting their nests and 

 young, that leads them into danger. The mother sees 

 the reptile gliding up the tree, and along the branches, 

 to where her nest is placed ; she endeavours to oppose 

 the serpent's progress, and thus exposes herself to the 

 most imminent hazard ; she will often attack it with 

 her wing, her beak, or her claws, and venturing thus 

 too near the creature's mouth, falls a prey to its vora- 

 city. Kalm, the Swedish traveller and naturalist, says, 

 in regard to the rattlesnakes of North America, that 

 the assumed fact of squirrels and birds being fasci- 

 nated by the gaze of the icptile, and dropping from the 

 trees into its mouth, may be explained thus : — -The 

 animals have been wounded by the snake, and have 

 made their escape to the tree, where they expressed 

 b}' their cries and emotions the violent action of the 

 poison left in their blood by the fangs of the reptile. 

 Becoming enfeebled by the continued action of the 

 venom, they have hopped and fluttered from branch to 

 branch, and at last have fallen close to where the ser- 

 pent lay, who has been following, with inflamed eyes 

 and eager looks, every motion of the poor creatures, 

 and then anew darted upon them when nearly deprived 

 of life and motion. It is commonly believed, and cer- 

 tainly frequently asserted, that serpents emit from their 

 bodies a disgusting odour, cspeciallj' after gorging them- 

 selves with food. When opened after death, some time 

 after they have had a full meal, the fcetor exhaled from 

 their body is very great ; but that in a living state 



