1 32 SERPENTS. 



way. The one we killed at Kolobeng continued to distil 

 clear poison from the fangs for hours after its head was 

 cut off. This was probably that which passes by the 

 name of the " spitting serpent," which is believed to be 

 able to eject its poison into the eyes when the wind favours 

 its forcible expiration. They all require water, and come 

 long distances to the Zouga, and other rivers and pools, 

 in search of it. We have another dangerous serpent — the 

 puff adder — and several vipers. One, named by the 

 inhabitants " Noga-putsane," or serpent of a kid, utters 

 a cry by night exactly like the bleating of that animal. 

 I heard one at a spot where no kid could possibly have 

 been. It is supposed by the natives to lure travellers to 

 itself by this bleating. Several varieties, when alarmed, 

 emit a peculiar odour, by which the people become aware 

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

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

 annoyed, 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.* Their fangs are formed not so 



* "As this snake, Bucephalus Capensis, in our opinion, is not pro- 

 vided 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 swal- 

 lowing. Without such fangs escapes would be common ; with such 

 they are rare. 



"The natives of South Africa regard the Bucephahis Capensis as 

 poisonous ; but in their opinion we cannot concur, as we have not 

 been able t© 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 



