170 SOME ETHIOPIAN REPTILES, FISHES, AND INVERTEBRATES 



East Africa., but the cobra is the rarer and the more aggressive, ejecting its venom 

 when approached. In attacking this reptile the negroes raise the left arm to 

 protect the eyes, and afterwards carefully wash off any venom from their bodies, 

 lest it should inflame the skin. 



The ring-hals is another species which habitually ejects its venom, and the 

 habit is probably common to all the African cobras. Writing of one of these 

 spitting snakes, the species of which was not determined, an observer states that 

 it was of a bright orange colour, with a green band round its throat and the typical 

 cobra-hood. The writer endeavoured to kill it by inserting sticks into the cage, 

 and his companion having pinned it against one of the corners, he placed his face 

 close to the wire-netting with which the front of the cage was covered. The snake 

 immediately ejected a stream of colourless fluid, a portion of which struck him in 

 the left eye, a drop or two on his lip, and a few drops on the front of his shirt. 

 He almost immediately experienced intense pain in the eye, which increased to 

 such an extent that he was in agony all night. 



The genus Bitis, it may be added, is peculiar to Ethiopian Africa, where 

 typical vipers of the genus Vipera are wanting. Another exclusively Ethiopian 

 genus of vipers is Atractaspis, of which eleven species are known, all of them 

 apparently viviparous. 



Particular interest attaches to the African egg-eating snake (Dasypeltis 



scabra), which ranges as far north as Sennar, and is the sole representative not 



only of its genus but likewise of a subfamily of the Cohibridce. Although scarcelj' 



exceeding a couple of feet in length, this snake is able to swallow and crack hens' 



eggs. By a great distention of the jaws, the egg is introduced into the gullet, 



where it is cracked by means of bony knobs forming the summits of the lower 



spines of the neck-vertebra?, which penetrate the upper wall of the gullet. Snakes 



of little more than a foot in length can swallow pigeons' eggs, although this 



involves the distention of the skin of the neck to its utmost extent. When the 



egg is cracked by being pressed against the aforesaid bony knobs, the swelling 



suddenly collapses. 



The absence of certain groups of animals is almost as characteristic 

 Amphibians. . . „., ,. 



or Ethiopia as is the presence ot its many peculiar types. Among 



these missing groups are the salamanders and newts. The small group of limbless 



amphibians is, however, represented by three generic groups, of which Hypogeophis 



is confined to Equatorial Africa and the Seychelles, Dermophis is common to tropical 



Africa and America, and Herpde is solely West African. 



Peculiar to Africa are the spur-toed frogs, of which Xenopxis Icevis is a well- 

 known southern and western species. These frogs resemble the Surinam toad in 

 being devoid of a tongue, and are specially distinguished by having the five front- 

 toes free, while the five hind-toes are united by a web and the three inner ones 

 armed with sharp spur-like nails. 



Till a few years ago the "record "in the matter of size, so far as frogs are 

 concerned, was held by Rana giippyi of the Solomon Islands; but this species 

 is exceeded in size by one from the Cameruns which has been named Rana, 

 goliath, whose head and body measure no less than ten inches. Two large West 

 African tree-frogs, Hylambates rufus and H. brevirostris, are remarkable for the 



