Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1892-01-01
THEIR BITE Is DEATH.
ENORMOUS SERPENTS WITH
POISONOUS FANoo.
boa Constructors That Swallow Men
Rhttlesnake Skins Tanned and
Made Into Boots-Eating
Snake Eggs.

year. lhey are one OF the chief causes
OF mortality in that country. Grea'
efforts have been made by the British
government to destroy them. but with
very little success. Unfortunately the
natives regard them as sacred. They
consider the cobra in particular as en-
bodying some sort of divinity, and Il
Is customary for them TO allow these
frightful creatures as pets on their
premises. Oilers Of bountics for SER
pents' heads have been discouraged by
the discovery of the practice pursued
by many low-caste Hindoos of breed
ing snakes artificially to supply the
official demand. In that warm climate
snakes propagate their species very
fast and their venom accumulates
rapidly. Although the cobra is the
most dreaded of all, the kraft and
other varieties are hardly less deadly.
They swarm everywhere. The cobras
are especially fond Of taking up their
residence in gardens and under veran-
das. No cure for n cobra's bite Is
known TO science. although there is
good evidence that the native doctors
sometimes rescue victims by remedies
which they keep secret.
DIR. Buckland mentions that the
teeth of serponts are not always found
in their mouths, says the Chicago
Herald. There is snake in Africa
that lives upon the eggs of birds
which he purloins from the nests. 1t
has no teeth in its mouth. but they
develope in its belly being formed
in a very curious manner. They are
not true teeth, but certain little bones.
parts OF the vertebr;e, are made to
serve a like purpose, one projecting
from the center OF each vertebra. The
end of these bones pass through the
wall OF the stomach, being covered
with enamel like real teeth. so that
on looking into the stomach row of
what looks exactly like teeth is seen
at its back part The egg, when
swallowed by the snake goes down
into the stomach and is broken
against the teeth by the pressure of
abdominal walls. Being thus broken
the contents OF the egg cannot escape.
as would have been the case if it had
been broken in the mouth.
1t is not generally known th1t the
remarkable Australian mammal known
as the ornithorynchus. which lays
eggs and has a ducks bill and webbed
feet possesses q poison apparatus
much like that of snake The male
OF this animal has a gland on the back
part OF the thigh. communicating by
means OF duct with a sharp spur,
very like cocks spur This spur is
perforated like the cobra's tooth and
the poisonous secretion of the gland is
thus transmitted into the wound made
by the spur.
If any reader Of this article should
ever be so unfortunate as TO expert
ence the embrace of boa constructor
it is recommended that he try to re-
lease himself by taking hold of the
creatures tail and unwinding it from
that end. 1t can be easily unwound
in that way, bit otherwise it is impos-
sible. The way to kill snake is not
TO attempt to crush its head. the bones
OF which are very hard, but to strike
the tail where the spinal cord is but
thinly covered oy bone and suffers
readily from injury. 1t is the same
way with an eel. Hit the tail two or
three times against any hard sub
stance and it quickly dies The boas
are not venomous but their fangs are
sufficiently powerful to infict serious
wounds, and large specimens have
been known to swallow men whole.
The case is related by the traveller
Gironiere OF a criminal in the Philip
pine islands, who hid from justice in a
cavern. His father, who alone knew
of his hiding place. went sometimes to
see him and to take him rice for food.
One day he found instead OF his son an
enormous boa asleep. He killed it
and found his sons body in the snakes
stomach. Serpents sometimes swal-
low prey so much too big for their
digestive powers that they actually
burst from repletion- The instance is
recorded OF a boa constructor which
swallowed a goat the horns OF which
pierced the belly of the monster and
killed him.
There is a very handsome pair OF
boots In the display OF feathers at the
National museum made out of rattle
snake skins. In some parts Of India
the hides of serpents are used for
clothes on account of their
beauty. Such garments
are very highly valued. Snakes eggs
are often eaten. Dr. auckland tells
about some that he put on the shelf OF
a green house to see il the sun would
hatch them. One morning several of
them were gone. Everybody denied |
touching them. At the same time a
certain miss then an inmate of the |
was suddenly taken ILL A
physician was sent for and the sobbing
culprit reluctantly confessed that she |
had eaten 'somo large sugar plums
which she had found on shelf in the |
green house" Sho had. in fact made |
a repast on the, snakes eggs under the
delusion that she was robbing the !
cook OF preserves put out to dry.
Getting Lost I'm the Woods.
/ have often laughed to see how |