The Washington herald., 1911-05-28
SEA SERPENTS

groove for the poison tube instead of deep
furrow or a tunnel. Their bite is almost az
bad as any, however, and they are greatly
dreaded by fishermen and bathers in the East
:, Sea snakes turn up very unexpectedly some.
times. One was found firmly trapped by an
oyster, and another twined itself around a
submarine telegraph cable and was drawn up
on board steamer during certain operations
for the repair of the wires.
Many creatures-I was going to say most
creatures, and 1 don't think / should be far
wrong-will eat snakes of all kinds, and the
venom of the poisonous ones does not take
any effect on them when swallowed; but it il
quite possible that some Of these cold. .blooded
animals may not be affected injuriously. even
don't know how it may be with shark,
but could never see that ordinary fish
showed any symptoms Of yielding to poison
when caught by sea snake, though some
rendered incapable of struggling thereby.
The sting of q wasp has no effect On q
goldfish for instance, who will eat it az readily
as fly. Toads, again. are very fond of bees;
they have been found inside or close to hives
literally packed full of them. ] have noticed
bottle flies, will aways "go for a wasp in
preference when one comes their way
On one occasion / was carrying tive sea ser
pents in moose at the end Of a stick-the
safest way to catch .venomous snakes-when
one in its terror and rage bit the other, bury
ing it's distended jaws 80 deepy that / had
some difficulty in disengaging the fangs from
the flesh, yet nothing happened to the bitten
one. 1t Ii subject, however, which is not
properly understood yet Poisonous snakes are
confinement when two or more seize the same
food.
Now and then, too, the great snakeeating
snake, the hamadryad,. would relinquish the
relation it had caught for its dinner, and the
poor grass snake, though it might appear un-
comfortable and swollen, generally survived.
On the other hand. a cobra bitten by its cage
mate never fed again, but pined away and
died in a few months; and, so did several
young 1puff-adders which had lacerated each
A ringhals Ia very deadly African species)
Of my own not only bit but bolted half the
length of another Of the same kind, who had
taken fancy for the hind legs of the rat just
disappearing down the throat of its lawful
captor..
main force, and its body was scratched and
fang-marked all along the hack; yet not only
did it get off scot-fres-es far as poisoning was
concerned, but it ate the rat after all having
held on gamely to the legs in spite of its en-
barrassing position and violent restoration to
liberty.
But a little leptodeira, beautiful serpent
found on the Isthmus of Panama, was struck
by a venomous coral snake which l had just
placed in the same box--for as a rule poison
ous and non-poisonous snakes live together in
perfect peace-and the poor little thing curled
up, turned on its back, and died almost in
stantly.
So you will see from these incidents, and
from still more singular one which will
relate, that the point is wrapped in much
doubt and mystery.
In the market place of Bahia, in Brazil,
where animals Of all kinds are brought down
to the coast by Indians from the interior for
sale to the homeward-bound passengers on
board the steamers which put in there for
mails and coffee, bought big rattlesnake.
Its cage was by no means commodious or se.
cure, being simply q fiat, dilapidated biscuit
box, with one side broken away and the space
covered with jagged wire netting, the lid
proper being nailed down. suppose for econ
Gmy of wire.
One of the most deadly snakes-I ever pos.
sessed was sent to me m an open bowl shaped
basket without any cover Ut all, being tied
to the. wickerwork with q thin stalk Of grass
around its neck.
! soon prepared a better lodging for my
but this was by no means an easy task. It's
the simplest thing in the world to induce a
snake to coil himself away in a box. bottle
or bag, which you would never have thought
big enough to contain him, but it's very
different matter to get him out again.
So, after ripping off the crazy scrap OF wire
! shook the box, trying. to jerk or jar him
through the narrow opening. The poor snake
was naturally and justifiably indignant at such
treatment, and showed his opinion Of il by
the crisp, loud whir Of his rattle and by his
widely distended jaws, displaying his erected