114 



STORY OF THE REPTILES 



found in the minds mostly of Southern negroes. No 

 snake so rolls, and none has any such weapon on the 

 tail as the horn which is said always to be present 

 in such venomousness as to kill the tree in a few 



**'...■ T- \:^l 



Fig. 57. — Flying lizards {Draco volans). They do not really fly aa 

 birds do, but glide through the air like flying squirrels. 



minutes which, according to the story, these snakes 

 always strike. No snake known really has any sting- 

 ing or poisonous spear or horn on its tail — ^nothing 

 that is a weapon ; though, as noted, there are points 

 and shields there which aid in progress. Our common 

 "spread-head" (Heterodon) does sometimes throw it- 

 self into great vertical loops when escaping down -hill, 

 notwithstanding the frequent statements from scien- 

 tists that all snake-motion is a horizontal wriggle. 



