The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-02-05
HOW SNAKES WALK.
THE STRANGE WAYS IN WHICH
SNAKES MOVE.

without Claws They Can Climb
where an Active Squirrel Cannot
Go. without Fins They Swim,
without Legs They Really walk.
story of n south African Puff-Ad-
der-HOw 1t Was Captured-ExDer-
iments with a Captive BOa-COn-
strictOr-HOw to Tell From Its
Track in "a Dusty Road Whether n
Snake Is VenOmOus or Harmless.
New York, Feb. 3.-One of the questions
about snakes which children most fire.
quently ask is, how do they walk, for they
cannot comprehend how these reptiles,
without either legs or wings or fins, can
move rapidly on land, in water or In the
trees.
If we begin to think about the question,
we will find that it is not so easy to an
swer. Grown people believe that they set
tie the problem by saying that snakes
don't walk nor run, but just wriggle
along. This answer, however, is imper-
feet, and does not solve the puzzle, for
it is quite true that snakes can and do
sometimes walk in line perfectly straight,
without any wriggling or sinuous motion
whatsoever.
Most commonly, however, they glide, and
this method of progress sometimes gives
them such swiftness that nimble run
ner finds it difficult to overtake them.
Without arms or claws, they can climb
where even the active squirrel would fail
to find foothold, and so well can they
swim without fms that some of them
subsist almost entirely upon the fishes
they catch in the water.
Thus, then, the question to be made
clear is, how is this walking without legs
accomplished? What muscular force is
used in that graceful and mysterious
gliding, and how Is it applied?
Three Ways That snakes Move.
This problem of how snakes move is
mixed one, and like all complex questions,
Is difficult to answer. In order to make
it simpler to the understanding, it is well
to begin by laying down the statement
| that i'm serpent locOmotion, muscular force
Is applied in three different ways:
First-A foot-like movement of the ribs.
Second-A lateral movement of the spine.
Third-A combination of both.
FOR the better comprehension of these
three ways of movement, and for giving
wonderful capacities Of snakes for getting
about. it is well to take a few typical
Instances of serpent locomotion and
| through them come at the secret means
of each gymnasuc feat of these legless,
fnless, w1ngless reptilan athletes.
South Africa is pre-eminentiy a country
| OF snakes, and it was there that l studied
my first lessons in serpent life history
from Nature herself, while rambling
through bush and veldt.
story of South African Snake.
On a sultry afternoon. when the hot wind
was blowing dry and sitting as from the
mouth of an oven, l sat in the shade of
feather-leafed mimosa in a rock ravine
near Grahamstown. No sign of life was
| stirring save the Stubborn lizards career
| ing over the hot rocks. The birds were
| silent as at midnight and kept themselves
! hidden away in the shadiest retreats. The
| country was yellowish with drought and
the only evidence of joy in nature was the
| ail-pervading and continuous noise of ,he
cieadas Soon a snake made his appear
ance. He was a large puff-adder-a viper
| whose very name inspires terror in the
lnho bitants of South Africa for he is one
of the most deadly that the earth pro-
duces. He was full-grown, about three
| feet long His body at the middle was
as thick as mans arm, and tapercd
off suddenly to short tail. His head was
broad and fiat, while his neck was thin.
| On the back he was of a deep velvet
black with large half moons of golden yell
low all the way down from head to tail.
| Beneath he was of golden yellow, but
little of this could be seen as he moved
with deiberation. He came out from the
bushes by my side. While he passed along
| among the obstructing stones his course
was more or less winding, but when he
| began to go over the clear ground he as
tonished me by progressing with his back
bone perfectly straight. In very truth
he was going in a direct line, and was
actually walking. He was not more than
ten yards from me- and, as ] put up my
opera glass to observe him carefully,
saw clearly how it was that he could &c
forward without any deviation or wrig-
Cling. There were motions-wave-hke mo-
tions-passing along his sides. The fact
was that his ribs were moving backwards
aud forwards like legs beneath his skin
Their wave-like movements We're very
similar to the undulatory motion of the
legs of the millipede. ] had observed this
motion before in my Gagged snakes, but
had never heretofore understood it.
Catching a Poisonous Viper.
I determined, therefore, to catch this
puff-a adder, take him home put him into
a glass-fronted cage and make a more
close observation of this curious and un-
suspected method of locomoton Before
stood up to go toward him he was advanc-
ing at his slowest-a walking pace let US
call it-but when he saw me stirring near
him, he accelerated his rate of progress
broke into n run, as we may say, for
the rib-waves began TO pass along his
sides at a much llvolier rate. Still witt
this simultaneous increase in speed and
in rib-motiou, he never once bent hi.
spine or deviated one jot from his straight
line course
Having satisfied myself OF this through
the opera glass. II took hold of my stick