REE Twn S Or ALL, WANDS 631 
ous snakes, so mutilating the animals’ 
mouths in the process that they have no 
desire to bite. The Hindu of this type 
ostentatiously handles a few harmless 
snakes, mostly small pythons. 
While the cobras and their allies must 
be rated among the most deadly serpents 
known, the venom apparatus is rather 
crude in its development. The fangs are 
small, but these diminutive venom-con- 
ducting teeth inflict wounds more speed- 
ily fatal than the enormously elongated 
hypodermics of the vipers, unless the 
fangs of a reptile of the latter kind 
should wound an important blood-vessel. 
Among the allies of the cobras is a 
number of dangerous snakes that evolu- 
tion has handled in an incomprehensible 
manner. The species of Doliophis, of 
Indo-China and Malaysia, are inoffensive 
in appearance, but remarkable in having 
enormously developed poison-secreting 
glands, which, instead of being confined 
to the head, extend a third the length of 
the body. ‘This extraordinary develop- 
ment has pushed the heart farther down 
the body than with any other snake. 
THE VIPERS 
In strong contrast to the graceful ela- 
pine poisonous snakes, the members of 
the viper family are thick-bodied and 
forbidding in appearance. Africa is the 
home of the typical vipers, and a number 
of these snakes inhabiting that continent 
are the most hideously ugly reptiles in 
existence. They exhibit every outline 
that is formidable and villainous in a 
snake, and dre exceedingly sluggish in 
gait. Quite incongruous with the struc- 
ture are their exquisitely beautiful colors 
and patterns. 
The most widely distributed is the 
deadly puff adder, with its sooty-black 
chevrons separated by cream - colored 
crescents. This snake hisses vocifer- 
ously when disturbed. It lies in brushy 
places in watch for rodents. A dart of 
the head seals the fate of the victim, 
which, pierced by the terrible fangs, 
seldom utters as much as an agonized 
squeal. Colonel Roosevelt quotes several 
observations of this snake during his re- 
cent trip. 
Near allies are the rhinoceros viper 
and the gaboon viper. The former is 
gorgeously colored, after shedding the 
skin, in a fantastic pattern of rich blue, 
yellow, carmine, and green. Being semi- 
aquatic, its skin is soon soiled by muddy 
waters ; and, with the pattern hidden, the 
bloated body and horned head make up 
a most forbidding combination. 
The gaboon viper ranges over the 
whole of tropical Africa. The body is 
exceedingly thick, stub-tailed, with a 
huge, spade-shaped head. The purplish 
markings form outlines like a chain of 
hour-glasses, and the silvery white eyes 
glare in vivid contrast. Instead of pro- 
gressing in ordinary fashion, this reptile 
throws forward lateral loops of the body 
and moves along in an oblique direction 
to that in which the head is pointing. A 
captive specimen displayed the trait of 
striking backwards. 
This same example was a voracious 
feeder and on one occasion swallowed 
not only its own portion of rats, but 
those intended for its cage-mates. It 
was discovered in the morning so gorged 
that it was unable to entirely engulf the 
last rat it had eaten, and the tail of 
which was protruding from the viper’s 
mouth. The snake appeared quite con- 
tent to await developments; but, rather 
than have the reptile’s gluttony cause its 
death, the writer withdrew two of the 
rats with a pair of forceps and the ser- 
pent quietly oiled up to digest the re- 
mainder. 
No species of true viper inhabits the 
New World. The viperine snakes of the 
Western Hemisphere belong to a sub- 
family of the vipers, which is technically 
known as the Crotaline. 
These are pit vipers, so called from a 
mysterious organ between the eye and 
the nostril. The pit appears to perform 
some important function, as it is lined 
with a network of nerves and there is 
a large nerve-lead connecting it with the 
brain. It has been alleged to be an organ 
of a sixth sense, but as man lacks the 
same, it is difficult to imagine what this 
should be. The rattlesnakes, copperhead 
snake, water moccasin, bushmaster, and 
fer-de-lance are typical pit vipers. 
