Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1901-12-06
vENOMoUs SEA SNAKES
Instances of Death Resulting fro
Their Bites.


Their Bites. -
These snakes must not be eonfound.
ed with the very numerous specias 90
sea cells, which, though exeeedinoIr
savage and armed with strong needIo,
pointed teeth, are all: nenvenomons IL
at once properly attended to and
cleaned by an antiseptic. The seo
snake is a true snake in many respects
having either laminated scales. or
thick corduroyed skin resembling rudi.
mentary scales, the head is fat and
the general structure of the body SINH.
lar to that of the land snake. A writor
ia the Leisure Hour says:
whether any of them possess tha
true poison glands and fangs | do nor
know, for although have killed many
hundreds of them, l never took sniff.
cient interest to make a careful ex.
animation, and l was told by a Dutch
gentleman, long resident on the coast
of Dutch New Guinea, and who had
made much investigation on the sub.
ject, that he had failed to discover onv
poison sacs or glands in any one of the
many snakes he had captured. Yet in
some instances he found what at first
appeared to be the two long front
teeth common to yenomous land
snakes, but on detailed examinations
these always proved to be perfectly
solid; nevertheless, bite from one of
these sea serpents was generally re-.
garded by the natives as fatal.
'.In my own experience | know of
two. such cases, one at the Island of
Fortuna, in the South Pacific, and the
other in Torres straits. In Sigavi har-
Dor, on Fortuna, there is a rock to
which vessels occasionally make fast
their stern mornings. In the boat
which l sent away with line to this
rock were several boys, natives of the
island, who went with the crew for
amusement. One of them, aged about
10, jumped out of the boat, and in his
hurry fell on his hands and knees right
on the top of large black and white
banded sea snake, which ut once bit
him sayagely on the wrist, causing the
lures. The boy at once swan on shore
to be treated by a native; in the even
ing | heard that he was suffering
great agony; in the morning the poor
little fellow was dead The second in
stance was near Raine island, in
Torres straits. A stalwart young Kan
aka one of the crew of a pearlng lug
ger, was diving for clam shells ON the
reef, when snake about three feet in
length suddenly shot up from below
within a foot of his face In his anger
and disgust he unthinkingly struck 1t
with his hand and was quickly bitten
on the forefnger. A few hours later
he was in a high fever accompanied
with twitching of the extremities; then
tetanus ensued, followed by death in
forty eight hours.
Although these sea snakes are COM
mon to most tropical seas, they are
most frequent about the Great Barrier
reef of Australia. On any smooth day
they may be seen disporting them
selves on the surface of the water, or
ilSiHS Shbbcniy IIOitl iIlt ucpluS, erect
their heads and some inches Of their
bodies clear from the water gaze at
the passing vessel, and then swiftly
disappear. In nearly all the Pacific
islands the natives hold them in detes-
tation and horror, and when one is
seen lying coiled up on rock summing
itself or crawling over the surface of
the reef in search of food, a stone. ac-
companied by a curse, is always hurled
at 1t. In the Ellice group, when catch
ing fish at night, one Tor more of these
horrld serpents is sometimes swept up
in the scoop net before it can be avoid
ed. They range from six inches to
nearly -four feet in length and have
one feature in common-a blunted tail
end"