The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1890-10-16

pendent heads they await the passage of some
| small animal. Or they coil themselves in
| thickets by game-paths, or lie halfsubmerged
on tho margin of water-hoes and streams.
When the victim Is within striking distance,
| it 10 seized with lightning-lke rapidiEy by the
| nose and then strangled. Its bones are subse-
quently crushed, and it Is slowly swallowed
head first. This act may occupy but brief
period or extend through several hours, because,
like the torpidity which follows, the act and
| tho succeeding lethargy arc alike dependent
upon the bulk of tho creature ingested. Those
great rock-snakcs of India, A frica and Australia
about which so many fables are current rarely
measure more than 90 feet in length, and IL is
altogether impossible says Rumpus. that these
could engorge an animal SO bulky as goat,
"horns and ALL"
In boas the body is rather fusiform than
cylindrical,
THE HEAD Is DISTINCT AND FLATTENED,
and the labials are commonly without those
pits which distinguish the pythons of tho Old
World. They are, however, constructors and,
IKE all SNAKES carnivorous. Properly tho boas
arc Brazilian forms, but they have representa-
tivos both on the Isthmus and In Central Ameri-
ca. Like Pythonid9 the genus Boidm includes
o number OF species, and "a in the case of the
former also there Is strong likeness in all
essentials of structure and habit between their
respective members.
FROM great serpent5 who crush their prey,
but arc powerlcss against animals of any con-
siderable size, we turn to those who although
comparatively diminutive aud are incapable of
eiiectual construction, arc competent TO destroy
creatures much larger than themelves, and
every year kill men literally By the thousand
In India alone.
The most characteristic distinction between
Proteroglypha and Solenoglypha is that in tho
hrst group the poisOn-fang Is permanently
tin -
depressed at will. As both divisions however
include number of specific forms, their most
important representatives-the cobra and rat
tlesnake-can alone be noticed
Above all things that live the Indian OphiO-
phagns Is tho most deadly. But fortunately
for humanity it is rare, and the number of cas-
uaitles occasioned by its bite are relatively to
those due to that of the cobra, but fow.
That most destructive member of the Flaps
family, the cobra da-capelIo (Naia tripudians)
is ovoviviparous, cylindrical in body, has fusi-
form tail, round instead of the commonly YER
tloal pupils oil serpentS is furnished with head
shields, its nostrls arc lateral, and the fang,
besides an internal canal communicating with
poison sac is also grooved in front The serpent
is found In most tropical countries Of the Old
World and in Australia, although in India and
tho Archipelago there is but ono species, of
which cobras elsewhere are, probably, only va
Tleties. It's prey consists of small reptiles,
frogs, fishes, etc. and the snake swims well and
often goes long distances from shore Unlike
the majority of serpents, Naia is nocturnal in
It's habits. The principal enemies of its young
are Jungle-fowls, and Of adults the ichneumon,
whose assault Is ALWAYS successful. On tho
other hand, cobras seem conscious of the viru-
Ience OF their venom, for they constantly at
tack and kill other snakes, strike any animals
who disturb them,
AND CAUSE A GREATER LOGS OF HUMAN LIFE
than all the wild beasts Of Southeastern Asia
put together. 1t would seem from the reports
oil naturalists upon the snake.house at Call
outta, and from the behavior of these creatures
mot all of whose fauRs are drawn In the hands
OF multitudCs o. Eastern snake-charners, that
they easily become, to q certain extent, domes-
icatcd. Of course the current tales of their
powers of fascination, of their love for music
and of the self.iuminous stone (naja- kallu) over
which the Cingalcse cobras fall into IL sort Of
aesthetic trance during the night are maginary,
and merely results of those faulty observations
aud premature iafcronces which have been so
frequently referred to in the course of these
papers.