Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1880-07-29
THE MOST yENOMOUS OF SNAKES.

A recent arrival at the Geological Society g
Gardens in Regent Park, deserves special no.
tice, apart from the fact that it is the first of
its species known to have been brought to
England. 1t is snake, called the echis Carl
nata, about foot and half long, and of
ding gray. Yet, although in appearance
neither interesting nor formidable. it is the
deadliest of created things. This detestable
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 ma
ture, for it is death itself, and carries in its
tiny head the secret of destroying lifewith
the sudden rapidity of lightning, and the con-
centrated agony of all poisons. The echls
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 des.
truction. Fortunately, however, for man, it
is not, like the kobra and the korait, house
frequenting snake; its tiny size would give it
terrible advantage over human beings who
live crowded together, as the natives Of India
do, in small, darkened rooms, while its rag.
gressive habits would make it 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. 1t does not turn to escape from
man as the cobra will, or flash into conceal
ment, like the korait, but conscious, perhaps,
of its deadIiness, deliberately keeps the path
against its human assailant, and, putting its
own 18 inches of length against his bulk,
challenges and provokes the conflict. A
stroke with whip will cut it in two, or a
clod of earth disable it; but such is its ma.
lignity that it will invite attack by every de-
vice at It's command, stalking its own life on
the mere chance of its adversary coming with.
in 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
on the bare hope Of hand or foot trespassing
within its reach, the echis throws its body into
figure of eight coil, and, attracting attention
by rubbing its loops together, which, from the
roughness of the scales-hence the epithet
cariaata-makes rustlng, Kissing sound,
erects its head in the centre and awaits attack
No one having once encountered this terrible
worm can ever forget its truculent aspect
when thus aroused, its eagerly aggressive air,
its restless coils, which, in constant motion
one over the other, and rustling ominously all
the while, stealthily but surely brings it near
er 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 darting at moth.
ing, hoping, perhaps, to aggravate its antago'
mist into coming to closer quarters, or, more
probably, as mere expression of its own un-
comfortable viciousness.- Telegraph