THE PERSONAL ENEMIES OF MAN 339 



human beings. This species is said to attain the length of 33 feet, 

 or possibly more. 



The mechanism by which a venomous serpent bites its victim, 

 so as to introduce poison into the wound, has been described 

 already (see vol. ii, p. 80), so does not require mention here. In 

 justice to such creatures it may be said that, as a rule, they only 

 attack human beings when interfered with, as, e.g., by being 

 accidentally trodden 

 upon. Among the 

 most dreaded species 

 are the Indian Cobra 

 ( Naia tripudians ) ; 

 the even more dan- 

 gerous Krait [Bim- 

 garns coerulett-s) of the 

 same country ; the 

 Australian Death - 

 Adder i^A cant hop his 

 antarcticus ) ; the 



Coral -Snake (^Elaps 

 corallinus) of tropical 

 South America; the 

 Sea- Snakes {Hydro- 

 phiiUB) of the Indian 

 Ocean ; the African 

 Puff- Adder {Vipera 

 arieians) ; Russell's 

 Viper ( V. Russelli), 

 native to South Asia; 

 and the American 

 Rattle-Snakes (species of C7'otahts). The following remarks by 

 Semon (in In The Australian Btish) will prove of interest: — 

 "It is decidedly no exaggeration to say that 500 persons are 

 yearly bitten on the Australian continent, although the majority 

 of these cases do not prove fatal. The population of Australia is 

 at present supposed to amount to 3,000,000 [in 1901 it was nearer 

 4,000,000]. About 20,000 deaths by snake-bite are yearly re- 

 ported from the British provinces of India, containing 120,000,000 

 inhabitants [population of India in 1901 was 294,266,701]. This 

 record may indeed be somewhat exaggerated, and may owe its 



Fig. 1237. — Indian Cobra [Naia irtftidians) 



