beetles, grubs, insects and small lizards — abounds amid the dung of those 
creatures. 
Like other rear-fanged snakes the shaapsteker must imbed its fangs 
for many seconds before the poison can take effect. Its venom is stronger 
than a cobra’s but less in quantity. It can kill a rat in two hours, a chicken 
in seven to ten. For the first two hours the fowl shows no symptoms, then it 
grows sleepy, and a gradual paralysis ensues. Humans can be poisoned 
from bites only on the bare flesh, as the curved fangs cannot penetrate 
clothing. But if the reptile does succeed in getting the proper grip, a man, 
unattended, may die in from six to twelve hours. 
MUSSURANA 
The blackish-blue mussurana, or false boa, constricts and also injects 
poison. This eight-foot snake appears to deliberately hunt the highly poison¬ 
ous Brazilian fer-de-lance, against whose venom it is immune. In fighting 
the fer-de-lance, its fangs are of little use; it kills its victim by constriction, 
and while the poisonous reptile is still writhing, swallows it whole. The 
process of swallowing takes about fifteen minutes. The mussurana also hunts 
rodents, which it corners and paralyzes with its poison. 
FLYING SNAKES 
The flying snakes, a group less than a yard in length, are largely ar¬ 
boreal, chasing lizards up and down tree limbs. When frightened or startled, 
they flatten out their elongate bodies by shifting their movable ribs, and 
glide to the ground or to a lower limb. On landing they resume their normal 
shape and crawl away. Members of this genus vary in color from green to 
olive to black. Clirysopelea ornata has rich red or yellow splotches. The 
flying snakes are found in South China, Malaysia, Burma and India. 
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