The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1883-06-16
ECHlS CARINATA.
The Most Deadly Reptile Yet Known t
Man

me Most Deadly Reptile Yet Known Il
Man.
A new snake, called the echis carinsta
which ls the first specimen of its race seer
in England, and Of which We have no spec.
linen here, is attracting crowds at the r,
gents Park, London, and dividing sensa
ton with Oscar Wilde, in his new-sheared
and common.sepse form. 1t Is about q foo,
and half long, and the color is dingy gray
1t is the deadliest of created things, for il
carries in its tiny head the secret of destroy
ing life with the sudden rapidity of light
mag and the concentrated agony of all
poisons. This king OF the asps is more
dangerous than the cobre or the korait, for
II does not turn and run like the one, OF
flash into concealment like the other
but with fearless pluck gives fight,
and pitches its eighteen inches OF
length against any conner. A stroke
of stick will break II in two, or some
will smash 1t, but such is its venomous
malignity that 1t will challenge attack BY
every device in its power, stalking its own
ing within the little circle of its reach. At
most the radius of that circle is twelve
inches, but within 1t at any point lies GER
tain death, and In the bare hope of hand
or foot trespassing within its reach the
echis throws its body into fgure-ofeight
coll, and attracting attention by rubbing
its loops together, which from the rough.
ness OF the scales (hence the epithet carl
natal makes rustling sound, erects its
head in the center and awaits attack. No
one having once encountered
this terrible little creature can
ever forget its truculent aspect
when aroused; its eagerly aggressive air; its
restless coils, which, IN constant motion one
nd linz n
the time, bring 1t nearer and nearer to the
object of its fury; its eye. malignant even
beyond those of other vpers; and then the
uncomfortable rSpidity of its stroke. The
echis does not wait to strike until 1t is with.
in striking distance, but vents its malice in
repeatedly darling at nothing, hoping to
aggravate its antagonist into coming into
closer quarters, or more probably as q mere
expression Of its own uncomfortable vicious,
ness.
A diary Of its daily career finds IL in the
morning basking in the sun, where It reyeis
until aroused 10 sudden anger by football.
1t then coils itself up so that a mans hand
might cover it, and waits. The needless
victim approaches, disregards the rustling
at his feet, and the next instant goes stag.
gering from the path, for he has felt the
deathbite and is doomed. The echis never
shtsoeo 40 AhC kuuu ID given
few moments. The swift venom strikes
the life instantly from his blood; his limbs
become paralyzed, his eyes dizzy, he
reels as he walks, suddenly stops
clutches at something and falls. This
is certainly the perfection OF death.
craft. BY flash ofelectricity q man can
kill living creature as instantly as If it
had been struck by lightning, or, invoking
the discoveries of chemists, can dissolve
and destroy life with all the terrible cir.
cumstances of vegetable or mineral poison.
But these are the results of science, labori-
ously acquired by the cooperation of gen.
erations OF human beings. The echis is
master of swift and silent murder of its
own right from Its birth, and, unaided, 1t
periects its venom, and goes out on its war.
path to give or take. Its assailants have a
thousand weapons; the echis only one. But
against that one, II the chance to strike
comes, not all the forces of nature or the
cunning of science can prevail.-[New YORK
Sun.