The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-10-03
THE CITY OF
 SNAKES IN BRAZIL
Continued from Page One,


 all at once the mussurama made a jump and grabbed the jararaca by the neck just back of the head At the same time the terrible jararaca darted it's fangs into the body of it's enemy, and spat forth it's poison. The mussurama. how ever is poison proof. It kept It's grip on the throat of the jararaca, holding 1t as in a vice, and twisting 1t slowly from one side to the other. It keeps its hold. and then slowly began to wind it's coils about the body of the poison ous snake. It twisted itself around and around until it held the body of the jararaca as in vice. It then elevated it's head and began to pull and twist. until 1t had pulled apart the bones of the cervical vertebrae and the snake was practically dead.
 It did not seem dead, however. It's coils kept twisting and going through conclusions. and this continued after the good snake, the mussurama, had taken the head of the dying snake in it's mouth and had begun to swallow it. The head soon disappeared, and then, inch by inch, the body moved slowly into the mouth and belly of the mus surama. It twisted its head this way and that as it dragged the snake in, the latter keeping up its coilng and twist
 
 before the jararaca had disappeared. The latter was. judge. more than four feet In length. and it went in quarter of an inch at bite, writhing and turning with the skin unbroken until all was in but the tail This still wiggled as the mussurama gave final suck and a gulp, after which it again darted out it's tongue as though to ask for more. could see no perceptible difference in the size of the good snake, after 1t had swallowed the bad one, and I am told that after long fast. they will eat three of their poisonous brothers before they are satisfied to stop.
 Before leaving the lecture room. the doctor had an attendant bring in an- other poisonous snake, the head of which was held over a glass so that 1t bit at the glass and it's mouth was so opened that the venom could be ex- tracted He showed me this venom. It consisted of about two or three drops of a yellowish, gum-like fluid. and I was told there was enough there to cause the death of several men. Later on saw some of this venom turned to crystal. It looked like sulphur, being yellow in color This is the color of the venom of all the poisonous snakes of Brazil. with the exception of the rattler, whose venom is white.
 
 to see the snake cities, and to be in- troduced to their inmates. We first visited the town of good snakes, l mean the nonpoisonous ones. As l have said they are kept for research and experi- ment only. Only the mussurama is be- ing bred with the idea of scattering it over the country, so that it may go out on the farms and eat up the poisonous snakes. The good snakes live in little dome-like houses similar to those I have described in the beginning of the let ter and in a similar city. They have wall and moat about the town and also a tree up which they can climb and play in it's branches They fight as well as play and we saw a great snake of one species trying to swallow smaller one of another. He succeeded in getting the little fellow inside his body to a depth of six inches, when the latter sunk his teeth in and tried to bite his way through, keeping as it until the larger snake was glad to let him come forth.