THE NATURE OF SNAKE POISON 11 



the world — their only rivals in this respect being the 

 diamond rattlesnake of Florida, one of the African 

 mambas, and the Indian hamadryad, or snake-eating 

 cobra. The fer-de-lance, so dreaded in Martinique, and 

 the equally dangerous bushmaster of Guiana, are in- 

 cluded in this genus. A dozen species are known in 

 Brazil, the biggest one being identical with the Guiana 

 bushmaster, and the most common one, the jararaca, 

 being identical, or practically identical, with the fer-de- 

 lance. The snakes of this genus, like the rattlesnakes 

 and the Old- World vipers and pufF-adders, possess long 

 poison-fangs which strike through clothes or any other 

 human garment except stout leather. Moreover, they 

 are very aggressive, more so than any other snakes in 

 the world, except possibly some of the cobras. As, in 

 addition, they are numerous, they are a source of really 

 frightful danger to scantily clad men who work in the 

 fields and forests, or who for any reason are abroad at 

 night. 



The poison of venomous serpents is not in the least 

 uniform in its quality. On the contrary, the natural 

 forces — to use a term which is vague, but which is as 

 exact as our present-day knowledge permits — that have 

 developed in so many different families of snakes these 

 poison-fangs have worked in two or three totally 

 different fashions. Unlike the vipers, the colubrine 

 poisonous snakes have small fangs, and their poison, 

 though on the whole even more deadly, has entirely 

 different effects, and owes its deadliness to entirely 

 different qualities. Even within the same family there 

 are wide differences. In the jararaca an extraordinary 

 quantity of yellow venom is spurted from the long 

 poison-fangs. This poison is secreted in large glands 

 which, among (vipers, give the head its peculiar ace-of- 



