20 THE START [chap, i 



over, 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 breeding the mussurama. The favourite prey of 

 the mussurama is the most common, and therefore the 

 most dangerous, 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 mortahty 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 

 animals, should be so utterly helpless before the few 

 creatures that prey on them. But the explanation is 

 easy. Any highly speciaUzed creature, the higher its 

 specialization, is apt to be proportionately helpless 

 when once its pecuUar specialized traits are effectively 

 nullified by an opponent. This is eminently the case 

 with the most dangerous poisonous snakes. In them a 

 highly peculiar specialization has been carried to the 

 highest point. They rely for attack and defence purely 

 on their poison-fangs. All other means and methods 

 of attack and defence have atrophied. They neither 

 crush nor tear with their teeth nor constrict with then- 

 bodies. The poison-fangs are slender and delicate, and, 

 save for the poison, the wound inflicted is of a trivial 

 character. In consequence, they are utterly helpless in 

 the presence of any animal which the poison does not 



