The Sunday herald. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1866-1887, 1880-08-01
THE MOST vENoMous OF SNAKES.
The Disposition and Habits of the
Echis CarfuRtn-A Fearless ami Dead
~ nCntllO

Echis Carinatn-A Fearless and Dead
~ Reptile.
A recent arrival at the Geological Societys
garden in Regents Park deserves special
notice, apart from the fact that IL Is the first
of its species known to have been brought to
England. II IL snake called cchis cd,inatd,
about a foot and a half long, and of a dingy
gray. Yet, although in appearance neither
interesting nor formidable, il is the dcadlest
of created things. This detestabe little
worm, which, looking at it, the spectator
might make bold to say he could initiate very
passably in cork and putty, is, nevertheless,
one OF the miracles and masterpieces of
nature, for IL is death itself, and carries in
its tiny head the secret of destroying life
with the sudden rapidity of lightning and the
concentrated agony of all poisons. Theechis
comes to us from India, where it is tolerably
common, being found in nearly every part of
the peninsula, and feared wherever found as
the incarnation of instant and terrible de-
struction. Fortunately, however, for man,
it is not, like the cobra and the korait, a
house frequenting snake, for its tiny size
would give ii terrible advantage over hui
man beings who live crowded together, as
the natives of India do, in small darkened
rooms, while its aggressive habits would
make II infinitely more fatal to life than its
dreaded relatives. For this king of the asps,
this modern basilisk, is not only venomous
beyond conception, but is actively offensive.
II does not turn to escape from man, as the
| cobra will, or flash into concealmcnt, like
the korait, but, conscious perhaps of its dead
illness, deliberately keeps the path against
its human assailants, and, putting its own
eighteen inches of length against his bulk,
challenges and provolses the conflict. A
stroke with whip will cut it in two, or a
clod of earth disable it; but such is its
malignity that it will invite attack by every
device at its command, stalking its own life
on the mere chance of its adversary coming
within the little circle of its power. AT
most the radius of this circle is twelve inches,
but within it, at any point, lies certain
death, and, OH the bare hope of hand or foot
trespassing within its reach, the echs throws
its body into n figure -of-eight coil, and, at
tracing attention by rubbing its loops to-
getler, which from the roughness of the
scales-hence the epthet carinota--makes a
| rustling, kissing sound, erects its head in the
centre and awaits attack. No one having
| once encountered this terrible worm can
ever iorgets its truculent aspect when thus
aroused, its eagerly aggressive air, its rest
| less coils, which in constant motion one over
| the other, and rustling ominOusly all the
while, stcalthily but surely bring it nearer
and nearer TO the object of its fury; the eye,
malignant even beyond those of other vipers,
| and then the inconceivable rapidity of its
stroke. For the echis does not wait to strike
until it is within striking distance, but vents
| its malice in repeatedly darling at nothing,
hoping, perhaps, to aggravate its antagonist
into coming to closer quarters, or, more
| probably, as a mere expression of its own in
controllable vicousncss.-London1 Telegraph.