The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-09-07
SEA SNAKE.
The South Sea Ones Are Big and Not
 Nicp

| NlCe.
 Sea snakes should not be confoundet
 with the very numerous species of ses
 els which, though exceedingly savage
 and armed with strong, needle pointed teeth, are -venomous. Their bite | however, produces high inflamma-
 ton, if it is not at once properly at
 tended to and treated with antiseptlc
 dressing.
 The sea serpent is a true snake ir
 many respects, having a thick cordu-
 roy-like skin, resembling rudimentary
 scales. The head is flat and the gen
 eral structure of the body similar to l the land snake. Whether the sea
 snakes possess the true poison glands or
 not is question; but bite from one | of them is regarded by the natives of the lands washed by the seas in which l the serpents disport themselves as
 always fatal The island of Fortuna, Torres Straits, the shores of New
 Guinea and the Great Barrier reef of Australia are the favorite homes of the sea snakes although they may be found in almost all tropical seas. About the great Barrier reef they can be seen any day disporting themselves on the sur face or rising suddenly from the depths. They will spring out of the water, erect their heads and stare at passing vessel for a moment and then swiftly disappear again.
 In all the Pacific islands, the natives hold them in detestation and horror. and when one is seen coiled upon top of a rock taking his sun bath or crawl ing along a reef in search of food, a stone, accompanied by a curse, is all ways thrown at the serpent by the na- tive. Most of the sea snakes of the Barrier reef range from six inches to four feet in length, and all species have one characteristic in common-a blunt tail end.
 There is plenty of evidence of the headlines of the bite of one of these serpents. A case occurred near Raine Island, in the Torres Straits. A stall wart young Kanaka, one of the crew of pearling vessel was diving for shells on the reef, when a snake, about three feet in length suddenly shot up from below within a foot of his face. In his anger and disgust, the Kanaka unthinkingly struck the serpent with his fist, and was quickly bitten in the forefnger A few hours later he was in a high fever, accompanied by twitching of the extremities Lock- jaw followed and the man died in great agony rty-eight hours after he had been bitten.
 In fishing for flying fish at night among the Ellice Islands, 1t is no un- usual thing to find two or more of i,, ha That great sea serpent which turns up from the abyss of the unfathomed deep" now and then, to serve as an attraction for the summer hotels on the seashore or to furnish the founda tion of a strange and weird tale of the sea, may or may not exist. A few accounts seem to have had some in fact, and some natural ists suspect that left over" from the fauna of some previous era of the world may exist, but the reptile is one of the mot proven" cases.
 Of the existence of the venomous sea of the tropic seas, however, there is no manner or shadow of doubt. They are as we'll known in the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific as the shad is in the Hudson, but are far less welcome and of no use as far as ,an be ascertained. The best known | species of the actual and up-to-date | sea serpents have received the rather | sounding names of hydro | phis and platurus. The hydrophis is the most common variety of . sea serpent He is a green animal, | with a yellowish underbody and is cov-
 l turus is the black and white banded l reatlre -Notr0i+ Nnv,e -7rrihr,,1e I