TRUE REPTILES. 209 
ous. The tail is laterally compressed, forming a paddle, 
with which they swim. They attain a length of five or six 
feet, and are viviparous. Pro- 
fessor Semper found one at 
Mindanao on the rocks, cov- 
ered by twenty young, that 
were all two feet long. 
Allied are the Zlapide, 
among the most deadly of all 
snakes. The fangs are erect 
and fixed. The Zaps, of 
Central America, is richly col- 
ored. The Maia haje, of Af- 
rica, has a hood that is erect- 
ed when it is excited. To 
the early Egyptians it was an 
emblem of divinity. The co- 
bra,* or hooded snake (Fig. 
251), is much feared in In- 
J : FIG. 251.—Cobra, showing the 
dia. When enraged, it raises hood. 
a curious hood about the 
head by drawing forward its anterior ribs. 
NotTeE.—Over 19,000 persons were killed by cobras in India in 1880, 
and 2,000 head of cattle. During this time, 212,776 cobras were killed 
by snake-killers, paid by the Government. Since 1870, 200,000 persons 
have been killed by these reptiles alone. According to the Emperor 
of Brazil, permanganate of potash is one of the most successful anti- 
dotes to the venom of snakes. Large doses of whisky or brandy, 
enough to intoxicate, are generally an antidote to the bite of the rattle- 
snake. 
Pythons ‘(Pythonide). —This family comprises the 
largest and most powerful of all the snakes ; forty-six spe- 
* Snake-charming in India is supposed by many to be a trick, but 
this is not so in all cases. A missionary in Burmah found that he 
could exert the curious influence over the cobra, and handle it without 
fear ; he performed the same feats as the native jugglers. 
