The Start 21 



distinction between poisonous and non-poisonous snakes, 

 for Mr. Ditmars has recorded that two individuals in 

 the Bronx Zoo which are habitually fed on harmless 

 snakes, and attack them eagerly, refused to attack a cop- 

 perhead which was thrown into their cage, being evi- 

 dently afraid of this pit-viper. It would be interesting 

 to find out if the hamadryad is afraid to prey on all pit- 

 vipers, and also whether it will prey on its small relative, 

 the true cobra — for it may well be that, even if not im- 

 mune to the viper poison, it is immune to the poison of 

 its close ally, the smaller cobra. 



All these and many other questions would be speedily 

 settled by Doctor Brazil if he were given the opportunity 

 to test them. It must be remembered, moreover, that not 

 only have his researches been of absorbing value from 

 the standpoint of pure science but that they also have a 

 real utilitarian worth. He is now collecting and breed- 

 ing the mussurama. The favorite prey of the mus- 

 surama is the most common and therefore the most dan- 

 gerous poisonous snake of Brazil, the jararaca, which is 

 known in Martinique as the'fer-de-lance. In Martinique 

 and elsewhere this snake is such an object of terror as 

 to be at times a genuine scourge. Surely it would be 

 worth while for the authorities of Martinique to import 

 specimens of the mussurama to that island. The mor- 

 tality from snake-bite in British India is very great. 

 Surely it would be well worth while for the able Indian 

 Government to copy Brazil and create such an institute 

 as that over which Doctor Vital Brazil is the curator. 



At first sight it seems extraordinary that poisonous 

 serpents, so dreaded by and so irresistible to most ani- 



