THE BLACK SNAKE. 
231 
and thrown off by a stick, at length become quite 
enraged, the neck being dilated to nearly an inch in 
width, and perfectly flattened, so that the white 
skin could be seen between the scales. 
“ Tollentemque minas et sibila colla tumentem.” 
ViRG. Georg, iii. 421. 
It is this dilatation of the neck, but in a much higher 
degree, which gives so remarkable an appearance to 
the deadly Najas or Cobras of Africa and India. A 
Black Snake which I had tied by the neck with a 
string while I made a sketch of it, struck flercely 
at me with gaping jaws as far as its cord would allow, 
every time I looked up or down. The creoles say 
that if a dog attacks it, it always strikes at his eyes, 
and not infrequently produces blindness. 
Though not venomous, the bite of this Coluber 
is rather an unpleasant affair. In Mr. Purdie’s 
botanical tour in the eastern and central parts of the 
island, he has recorded a case of some interest. 
“ When walking with Dr. Bromfield,” says this 
gentleman, ‘‘in St. Ann’s, I pointed out a flne 
Black Snake lying under a stone wall, which he in- 
sisted on capturing alive with his unprotected hand, 
in the belief that the reptile was innocuous, like 
the common ringed serpent of England. But it 
proved otherwise ; the seizure was strictl;y mutual ; 
the Black Snake fastened on his hand as he laid hold 
of it, and bit him severely. The wound swelled for 
some days, though with little pain, and no dangerous 
consequences ensued.”^ 
Comp, to Bot. Mag. ii. 40. 
