144 SERPENTS — FASCINATION. Chap. VII. 



travellers to itself by this bleating. Several varieties, when 

 alarmed, emit a peculiar odour, by wliich the people become 

 aware of their presence in a house. We have also the cobra 

 (Naia haje, Smith) of several colours or varieties. When an- 

 noyed, they raise their heads up about a foot from the ground, 

 and flatten the neck in a threatening manner, darting out the 

 tongue and retracting it with great velocity, while their fixed 

 glassy eyes glare as if in anger. There are also various species of 

 the genus Dendrophis, as the Bucephalus viridis, or green tree- 

 climber. They climb trees in search of birds and eggs, and are 

 soon discovered by all the birds in the neighbourhood collecting 

 and sounding an alarm.* Then fangs are formed not so much for 



* " As this snake, Bucephalus Capensis, in our opinion, is not provided with 

 a poisonous fluid to instil into wounds which these fangs may inflict, they 

 must consequently be intended for a purpose different to those which exist in 

 poisonous reptiles. Their use seems to be to offer obstacles to the retrogression 

 of animals, such as birds, &c, while they are only partially within the mouth ; 

 and from the circumstance of these fangs being directed backwards, and not 

 admitting of being raised so as to form an angle with the edge of the jaw, they 

 are well fitted to act as powerful holders when once they penetrate the skin and 

 soft parts of the prey which their possessors may be in the act of swallowing. 

 Without such fangs escapes would be common ; with such they are rare. 



" The natives of South Africa regard the Bucephalus Capensis as poisonous ; 

 but in their opinion we cannot concur, as we have not been able to discover 

 the existence of any glands manifestly organized for the secretion of poison. 

 The fangs are enclosed in a soft, pulpy sheath, the inner surface of which is 

 commonly coated with a thin glairy secretion. This secretion possibly may 

 have something acrid and irritating in its qualities, which may, when it enters 

 a wound, occasion pain and even swelling, but nothing of greater importance. 



" The Bucephalus Capensis is generally found upon trees, to which it resorts 

 for the purpose of catching birds, upon which it delights to feed. The presence 

 of a specimen in a tree is generally soon discovered by the birds of the neigh- 

 bourhood, who collect around it and fly to and fro, uttering the most piercing 

 cries, until some one, more terror-struck than the rest, actually scans its lips, 

 and, almost without resistance, becomes a meal for its enemy. During such 

 a proceeding the snake is generally observed with its head raised about ten or 

 twelve inches above the branch round which its body and tail are entwined, 

 with its mouth open and its neck inflated, as if anxiously endeavouring to in- 

 crease the terror which it would almost appear it was aware woidd sooner or 

 later bring within its grasp some one of the feathered group. 



" Whatever may be said in ridicule of fascination, it is nevertheless true that 

 birds, and even quadrupeds, are, under certain circumstances, unable to retire 

 from the presence of certain of their enemies ; and, what is even more extra- 

 ordinary, unable to resist the propensity to advance from a situation of actual 



