The weekly messenger. [volume] (St. Martinsville [i.e. St. Martinville] La.) 1886-1948, 1890-06-07
THE NAJA-KALLU.
A Curious Stone Used by Cobras
to Attract Fire-FlieS.
The Green Light Which 1t Emits
Acts as a Decoy.

penis which will eat insects. They
feed on ants, grasshoppers, a variety of
beetles, etc., but seem to have special
preference for fire. flies. perhaps because
the latter can be caught at night much
more easily than any other kind of in
sect. have often for hours watched
cobra in the grass catching the fire.
flies, darling about here and there, a
process which requires considerable ex
ertion on the part of the ser pent. Now,
every entomologist knows that the fly.
ing lampyrida consist entirely of males.
The females, which arc not very numer-
Gus, are much larger and cannot fly, as
they have only rudimcntary wings.
They sit quietly in the grass, emitting
greenish light, which is much strong
er than that of the ma es, and fades
and becomes brilliant at regular inter-
walls. If a glow-worm be watched for
time, steady cur rent of male insects
will be observed flying toward it, and
alighting in close proximity.
Now it so happens that the naja. kali
lu, little pebble of chloro plane or
huor- spar, emi,s in the dark greenish
light, which is so much like that the
female lampyris that is an easy matter
to deceive the male fire fly with it, by
setting it up as dccoy. The cobras
have gradually come to take advantage
of an experience made by them, acct
dentally. dare say, thousands of years
ago. 1t may frequently happen, for in
stance, that cobra finds one of these
shining stones in the gravel of the dry
river-bcds (where they are by no means
uncommon), being attracted to it by its
glow at night, and taking it fer glow
worm. 1t would tLen, at any rate,
notice that the fire. flies cou d be caught
much more easily AMI quickly in the
neighborhood of that sh min; OBJ
ject than anywhere else and
would habitually return to
it. Several cobras might thus come
together, and there would be competi.
ton, and from this moment to the find !
ing out that success in capturing fire. |
flies depends on the possession of this
phosphorescent pebble, and to the seiz.
ing OF it in order to prevent another
snake from monopolizing it, is, in nv
opinion, no great step, and involves no
exceptional powers of reasoning. The
cobra carries it about, and soon learns
to treasure it, for it affords it al easy
means of getting its living. All it has
to do is to deposit the stone in the
grass at night, and the obliging insects
literally fly down its throat.
There are even reasons for believing
that no individual experience is now
necessary to cause any cobra to act in
this manner, but that even younc
cobra, on finding such stone. will in.
take it up, and use it in the
manner l have desert bed. For it must
be borne in mind that there is an in
herlted race memory anon the lower
animals which is often far stronger than
he memory gathered during the short
lifetime of the individual. What
causes blind kitten to spit and put I'D
is back if dog is brought near it, 1t
lever saw dog, never saw ANYTHING
ret it knows there is some danger
head. Thus the accumulated expert.
nee of the cobra's ancestors durino
generations now causes it to
ct In a manner which we refer to in
tinct.
Such are the remarkable facts con.
ected with the naja- kallu, the cobra's
Inning stone. Who can tell whether
he old traditions of snakes CARVING
'recious stones, of which we still find
races in our fairy tales, may not have
heir source in some such fact as this?-