The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-07-01
STRANGE FACTS ABOUT SNAKES.

CannTbalistic Preferences Are Display ed by Certain Species of the Reptiles.
 One of the strange or, as some deem it. unnatural, features in snake his tory is that the principal food of eer- tain species is other snakes. The fell ing as to the habit being unnatural arises from the general knowledge or | the fact that carnivOrous animals 1 seldom kill and eat other carnivors. By every curious chance. if it is chance and not part of the order of nature among snakes, two out of the three English serpents live mainly, if not on snakes. on other snakelike creatures. The favorite food of the smooth snake and of the adder is the slowwor,m, which. though lizard. is in appear ance nothing but a snake. The smooth
 ake is believed to live mainly on i slowworms and lizards. Its range, which is very limited and is steadily decreasing, seems to depend almost en- 1 tireiy on the presence of lizards.
 The following description of the , manner of hunting of the smooth snake is given by Mir. Baldry: "As soon as it sees its victim within easy reach it slowly approaches, keeping it's body concealed. but slightly rats- ] ing its head above the heather and
 coarse grass. When 1t gets within
 striking distance, after remaining mo- l tiOnless for a few seconds, it darts suddenly and with the quickness of ] thought at the throat of the helpless 1 lizard. If it's aim is successful the l snake instantly grasps with it's tail a
 stem of heather or tuft of grass, and proceeds at once to the enjoyment of it's meal. It first gradually shifts its hold from the throat to the snout of
 the lizard by slow and almost tmper-
 ceptible degrees. When once 1t has the 1 lizards head fairly in it's jaws the pro-
 cess of swalling is rapid, and the 1 strong proteetes of it's vietime are un- l availing, as the snake, with its tail
 knotted round the grass, is able to <, overcome all resistance. In this way 1 1t will dispose of lizard as large round
 as itself and two-thirds of its length" Though vipers are very abundant in
 many parts of both England and Scot land, there is no such general feeling l against them as causing injury to fioeks as is current in the Swiss noun tains. Doubtless they are there very mischievous to lambs and kids. In Eng
 land no shepherd ever recIxons the vi-
 per as among his natural enimfes, ex- cept on the Cheviot Hills. On those green mountains. swarming with sheep the injury to the vipers has led to the survival of | very ancient race of quite wild goats. These goats correctly or not are believed to kill numbers of yipers, and consequently, no farmer ever kills
 one or sees one shot, as is occasionally done, without regret. No one knows
 how long these goats have continued to exist as privileged animals owing
 to their reputed usefulness, but as the
 keeping of sheep because possible on the borders after the union of England
 and Scotland had made properly safe,
 the breed may have an antiquity of nearly three centuries.
 There is q very marked difference
 between the effects of a vipers bite and
 those of the sting of a wasp or hornet.
 The means of introducing the poison
 is the same in each case-puneture with hollow point. But while the pain from tf1e insects sting is instant
 and acute, that from the viper's bite
 is at first no more than is caused by
 the prick of the booth. Numbness,
 great drowsiness and then swelling
 and aching follow, The reason is that
 the poison injected by the wasp is for
 mic acid. But in the viper's reservoir
 above the tooth is far more deadly
 secretion, the effect of which is para i lyztng, Some five cases in all are in re-
 cord of children dying from the bit of
 vipers. The poison acts first on the