296 THE WORLD OF ANIMAL LIFE 



THE COBRAS (Family COLUBRID^) 



The Cobras are by no means the only snakes in this family, 

 but they are the best-known. The family is larger, so far as the 

 number of species is concerned, than the preceding one, but in 

 the size of its individual members it is, as a rule, considerably 

 smaller. 



THE COBRA-DI-CAPELLO 



This is a capital type of the family. It is one of the most 

 deadly of the venomous snakes, and is found only too plentifully 

 throughout almost the whole of India. So poisonous is its bite, 

 that when once its fangs have pierced the skin no remedies are of 

 any avail, and death invariably follows in from one to two hours 

 after the wound is received. And, although a reward is paid by 

 the government for every cobra's head that is brought in, many 

 thousands of people are killed every year in India by this snake 

 alone. 



A man was once killed in the Zoological Gardens of London 

 by the bite of a cobra. He was in charge of the serpents, and was 

 quite aware of their dangerous character. One day, however, in 

 a fit of intoxication, he seized a cobra by the tail, and began to 

 swing it round and round his head. As quick as thought the 

 angry reptile made a dart at his forehead, and just pricked him 

 with its fangs between the eyes. The wound was only a slight 

 one, but in little more than an hour he was dead. 



There are certain men in India who do not appear to be at all 

 afraid of these terrible serpents. These are the famous "snake- 

 charmers ", who will handle cobras quite freely, and scarcely ever 

 seem to receive a wound from their poisonous fangs. It is said 

 that the snakes with which these men perform their startling tricks 

 have been carefully deprived of their fangs, and so are perfectly 

 harmless. But although this is no doubt true in many cases, it is 

 not true in all. 



In one respect the cobra differs from all other snakes, for 



