Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1892-03-29
MEMORY or SNAKES.
rbe shining stone which the Cobra Car.
ries to Attract Eir~nie-


ries to Attract Eirefies.
The cobras are perhaps the only 4ef-
pents which will eat insects. They feed
on ants, grasshoppers, = variety Of bees
Ties. etc., but seem to have q special pref
erence for fireflies, perhaps because the
latter can be caught at night much more
easily than any other kind Of insect.
have often for hours watched cobras In
the grass catching the firetiies, darling
about here and there, a process which
requires considerable exertion on the
part OF the serpent Now, every en-
tomologist knows that the flying lam
pyridte consists entirely Of males. The
| females. which are not very numerous,
are much larger and cannot tiy, 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 a glow
worm be watched for a time, a steady
current of male insects will be observed
tlying towards it and alighting in close
proximity.
Now it SO happens that the naja-kallu,
this little pebble Of chlorophane or huor-
spar. emits in the dark a 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
ualy come to take advantage Of an ex-
perience made by them, accidentally,
dare say, thousands Of yearsago. Itmay
frequently happen, for instance, that q
| 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 it's glow at night, and
taking it for a glowworm. 1t would
| then, at any rate, notice that the fire
flies could be caught much more easily
and quickly in the neighborhood of that
shining object than anywhere else, and
would habituallv 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 firefies depends on the
! possession of this phosphorescent pebble
and to the Selling 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, anG
soon learns to treasure it, for it affords
it an easy means of getting its living
All it has to do is to deposit the stone il
the grass at night, and the obliging in
sccts literally fly down its throat.
There are even reasons for believing
that no individual experience is now
necessary to cause any cobra to act ii
this manner, but that even young co
bra, on finding such stone, will in
stinctively take it up and use it in the
manner | have described. For it mus
be borne in mind that there is an inherit
81 race memory among the lower ami
mails which is often far stronger thar
the memory gathered during the shor
life time of the Individual. What causes
blind kitten to spit and put up it's bacl
if dog is brought near it? 1t never saw
dog, never saw anything. yet it knows
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's
shining stone. Who can tell whether
the old traditions of snakes carrying
precious stones, of which we still fine
traces in our fairy tales. may not have
their source in some such fact as this?-
Professor Ii. Hensoldt in Harper's.