The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1881-01-01
Our Olio.
The Most Venomous of Snakes.

A recent arrival at the Geological So
ciety's Gardens in Regents Park deserves
special notice, apart from the fact that it
is the first of its species known to have
been brought to England. 1t is a snake,
called the echis carinata, about foot and
a half long, and Of dingy gray. Yet,
although i'll appearance neither interesting
nor formidable, it is the deadliest of Great
ed 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, neverthe-
less, one of the miracles and masterpieces
of nature, for it 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
The echis comes to US from India, where
it is tolerabIy common, being found in
nearly every part of the peninsula, and
feared wherever found as the incarnation
of instant and terrible destruction. For
tunately, however, for man, it is not, like
the cobra and the korait, house frequent
ing snake; for 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 aggressive habits would make it inf
nitely more fatal to life than its dreaded
relatives. For this king of the asps, this
modern basilisk, is not only venomous be-
yond conception, but is actively offensive
1t does not turn to escape from man, as
the cobra will, or flash into concealment,
like the korait, but, conscious perhaps of
its deadliness, keeps the path against its
human assailant, and, putting its own IS
inches of length against his bulk, chal-
lenges and provokes the conflict A stroke
with whip will cut it in two, or clod of
earth disable it; but such is it's 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 II 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 it's BODY
into figure -of-eight coil, and, attracting
attention by rubbing its loops together,
which from the roughness of the scales
hence the epithet cdrinata-makes rust
ling, 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 rest
less coils, which, in constant motion one
over the other and rustling ominously all
the while, stealthily 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 strik-
ing distance, but vents its malice in re-
peatedly darting at nothing, hoping, per-
haps, to aggravate its antagonist into COM
ing to closer quarters, or, more probably,
as mere expression of its own incontrol-
liable viciousness.-London Telegraph.