The Portland daily press., 1890-03-22
MEMORY OF SNAKES.
The Shining stone which the Cobra
Carries to Attract Fireflies.
[Harper's Weekly.l

The cobras ara perhaps the only SER
penis which will .at insects. They feed
on ants, grasshoppers, variety of bee
ties, etc, but seem to have a special pref
erence for fireilics, perhaps because the
latter can be caught at night much more
easily than any other kind of insect. l
have often for hours watched cobras in
the grass catching the fireflies, darling
about here and there, process which
requires considerable exertlon on the
part OF the serpent. Now, every en-
tomologist knows that the flying lam
pyrid@ consists entirely of males. The
females, which are not very numerous,
are much larger and cannot fly, as they
have only rudimentary wings. They sit
quietly in the grass, emitting greenish
light, which is much stronger than that
of the males, and fades and becomes
brilliant at regular intervals. If glow.
worm be watched for a time, a steady
current of male insects will be observed
flying towards it and alighting in close
proximity.
Now it SO happens that the naja-kallu,
this little pebble of chlorophane or fuor
spar, emits in the dark greenish light,
which is SO much like that of the female
lampyris that it is an easy matter to de.
ceive the male FREELY with it by setting
it up as decoy. The cobras have grad.
ually come TO take advantage of an ex.
perience made by them, accidentally, ]
dare say, thousands of yearsago Itmay
frequently happen, for instance, that a
cobra finds one of these shining stones in
the gravel of dry river beds (where they
are by no means uncommon, being at
tracted to it by its glow at night, and
taking it for glowworm. 1t would,
then, at any rate, notice that the fire.
flies could be caught much more easily
and quickly in the neighborhood of thai
shining object than anywhere else, and
would habitually return to it. Several
cobras might thus come together, and
there would be competition, and from
this moment to the finding out that sue
cess in capturing fireflies depends on the
possession of this phosphorescent pebble
and to the seiEing Of it in order to pre-
vent another snake monopolizing it, is
in my opinion, no great step, and in
wolves no exceptional powers of reason
ing. The cobra carries it about, and
soon learns to treasure it, for it affords
it an easy means of getting its living.
All it has to do ID to deposit the stone in
the grass at night, and the obliging in.
sects 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 young CO
bra, on finding such stone, will in
stinctively take It up and use it in tbs
manner have described. For it mus
be borne in mind that there is an inherit
ed race memory among the lower ami
mails which is often far stronger thar
the memory gathered during the shorl
life time of the Individual. What causei
blind kitten to spit and put up its bach
if dog is brought near it? 1t never saw
dog, never saw anything, yet it know
there is some danger ahead. Thus the
accumulated experience of the cobra's
ancestors during countless generations
now causes it to act in a manner which
we refer to instinct.
Such are the remarkable facts con.
nected with the naja-kallu, the cobra,
shining stone. Who can tell whether
the old traditions Of snakes carrying
precious stones, of which we still find
traces in our fairy tales, may not have
their source in some such fact as thiss