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2% HOPLEY (C. C.) SxAKES: CuriositS
and ^^ onders of Serpent Life. A^lh 614

SNAKES

CURIOSITIES AND WONDERS OF SERPENT LIFE.

Morrison &" Gihb, Edinburgh,
Pi inters to Her Majesty's Stationery Office.

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SNAKES

CURIOSITIES AND WONDERS OF SERPENT

LIFE,

BY

CATHERINE C HOPLEY,

AUTHOR OF 'sketches OF THE OPHIDIANS,' ' LIFE IN THE SOUTH,' 'RAMBLES AND
ADVENTURES IN THE WILDS OF THE WEST,' ETC. ETC.

'These lithe and elegant Beings.' — Rymer Jones.

'Can out-swim the Fish and out-climb the Monkey.'— Owen.

GRIFFITH AND FARRAN,

SUCCESSORS TO NEWBERY AND HARRIS,

WEST CORNER OF ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD, LONDON
E. r. DUTTON & CO., NEW YORK.
1882.

The Rights of Translation a^id of Reproduction are reseit'ed.

TO MY
MUCH HONOURED AND ESTEEMED FRIEND,

WHO HAS GRACIOUSLY ENCOURAGED THE STUDIES

OUT OF WHICH IT CAME;

AND WHOSE CORDIAL SYMPATHY AND REGARD,

WITH FRANKEST RECOGNITION OF HIS

DEEP DEVOTION TO HIS ART,

GAVE ONE OF ITS FEW GREAT PLEASURES TO THE

SHORT LIFE OF

A DEAR BROTHER OF MINE,

THIS BOOK

IS HUMBLY DEDICATED,

WITH GRATEFUL RECOLLECTIONS OF THE PAST.

CONTENTS.

CHAP. PAGE

I. SEEING A SNAKE FEED, ...... 27

II. SNAKES OF FICTION AND OF FACT, . . . .4!

III. OPHIDIAN TASTE FOR BIRDS' EGGS, . . . -59

IV. DO SNAKES DRINK ? . . . . . -75
V. THE TONGUE OF A SNAKE — PARTI. WHAT IT IS ' NOT,' . 94

VI. THE TONGUE OF A SNAKE — PART II. WHAT IT ' IS,' . . 107

VII. THE TONGUE OF A SNAKE — PART III. ITS USES, . . II 5

VIII. THE GLOTTIS, . . . . . . . I29

IX. BREATHING AND HISSING OF SNAKES, . . . . I42

X. HIBERNATION, . . . . . . -159

XI. THE TAIL OF A SNAKE, . . . . . . 1 70

XII. OPHIDIAN ACROBATS : CONSTRUCTION AND CONSTRICTION, . I92
XIII. FRESH-WATER SNAKES, ...... 221

XIV. THE PELAGIC OR SEA SNAKES, ..... 233

XV. * THE GREAT SEA SERPENT,' . . • .247

XVI. RATTLESNAKE HISTORY, ...... 268

XVII. THE RATTLE, .....•• 294

XVIII. THE INTEGUMENT — ' HORNS,' AND OTHER EPIDERMAL APPEND-
AGES, . . . . . . • '315

XIX. DENTITION, ,....•• 342

XX. VIPERINE FANGS, ...... 368

vii

VIU

CONTENTS.

CHAP.

XXI. THE CROTALID.^;, ....

XXII. THE XENODONS, . .

XXIII. OPHIDIAN NOMENCLATURE, AND VERNACULARS,

XXIV. DO SNAKES INCUBATE THEIR EGGS ?
XXV. ANACONDA AND ANGUIS FRAGILIS,

XXVI. 'lizzie,' ......

XXVII. DO SNAKES AFFORD A REFUGE TO THEIR YOUNG?
XXVIII. SERPENT WORSHIP, 'CHARMING,' ETC., '.
XXIX. THE VENOMS AND THEIR REMEDIES,
XXX. NOTES FROM THE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS,

PAGE
381

395
413
431
452
470

483
507
532
561

INDEX,

593

INTRODUCTION.

TO the many friends who have repeatedly asked me,
' What C02ild induce you to take up such a horrid
subject as snakes?' a few words of explanation must be
offered. Some words of apology are also due that I, a
learner myself, should aspire to instruct others. I cannot
do better, therefore, than tell the history of this book from
its birth, and in so doing cancel both obligations. The
little history will be a sort of OPHIDIANA^ or gossip about
snakes ; and in this I only follow the example of most
herpetologists, who, when writing exclusively on these
reptiles, preface their work with some outline of the history
of ophiology, and generally with an excuse for introducing
the unwelcome subject at all. There is still reason to lament
that traditional prejudice invests everything in the shape of
a serpent with repulsive qualities, and that these prejudices
are being only very slowly swept away by the besom of
science.

Serpents are intimately associated with our religious

A

2 INTRODUCTION,

beliefs. Not that we zvorsJiip them ! Far otherwise. Many
excellent and orthodox persons associate with a serpent all
the sin and misery which ever existed on our globe, and
are persuaded that the sooner everything in the shape of
one is exterminated the better.

On the other hand, those who can look at a snake with
unprejudiced eyes and study its habits, find continual reason
to wonder at and admire the extraordinary features which
exhibit themselves in its organization. Owing to their
retiring habits, many of them nocturnal, and partly in
consequence of preconceived errors, less is understood about
them than almost any other natural group of animals ;
therefore — as the reader will discover — a student, when left
to himself, has to wade through ages of writers in order
to find out what to believe regarding them. Scientific
ophiologists are still engaged in settling mooted questions
concerning them. But apart from science there Is a glamour
of poetry, romance, and mystery about snakes, and not
without reason. There has been a great deal of what we
may call 'Drawing-room Natural History' of late years —
charmingly sensational and romantic ; attractive also in
illustrations and colouring, but not always intended as
reliable guides for students.

All travellers are not naturalists ; and though they may
contribute valuable information in one branch of science,
it is possible they may mislead in another ; and from the
very popularity of their books, such errors are rapidly
disseminated. I aspire to a place on drawing-room tables
for my book also, but let me assure my readers that my aim
has been to assist by diligent search to establish truthful-

INTR on UCTION. 3

ness. Whatever of romance or sensation attaches to it, is
due to the marvellous powers of the creatures who fill its
pages, and whose true nature I have laboured to com-
prehend.

Schlegel and Dumeril are two authorities on serpents much
quoted by English writers, and both give us a list of all the
naturalists of repute who have done service to herpetology,
up to the date of their works. As many of these are
introduced in the body of my work, let us glance at the
progress of ophiology since the date of these two dis-
tinguished authors. In zoology as much as in any branch
of science progressiveness is observable ; and in zoology
the advance of ophiology has of late years been remark-
able. In 1843, when Schlegel's Essai siir la PJiysionomie
des Serpents, 1837, was translated into English by Dr. Thos.
Stewart Traill, of the University of Edinburgh, he mentioned
as a reason for curtailing the original (and not adding the
atlas containing 421 figures, with charts and tables), that
the low state of ophiology in this country did not invite
a larger work, and ' deters booksellers from undertaking such
costly illustrations ; ' but he hoped to be useful to science
by cultivating a branch of zoology hitherto neglected. Ten
years prior to that date, viz. 1833, the monthly scientific
magazine TJie Zoologist was started ; in introducing which
the Editor, Mr. Ed. Newman, wrote: * To begin, the attempt
to combine scientific truths with readable English has been
considered by my friends one of surpassing rashness ; ' that
he had ' many solicitations to desist from so hopeless a task/
and many ' supplications to introduce a few Latin descrip-
tions to give it a scientific character,' science being then

4 INTRODUCTION.

confined to the scientific alone. Nevertheless the Zoologist
has survived half a century, and under able editorship has
taken its stand as a popular as well as scientific journal.
Formerly you might have hunted the pages of such
magazines year after year without finding mention of an
' odious snake ; ' but within the last decade, not only this
but other periodicals have frequently opened their pages
to ophiology, and a considerable removal of prejudice is
noticeable.

Mr. Newman felt encouraged by the success attending the
publication of White's Selborne, that being one of the first
works to induce a practical study of nature. Yet, until the
appearance of Bell's British Reptiles in 1849, o^^ present
subject occupied but very stinted space in literature.
Indeed, we must admit that as a nation we English have
followed, not taken, the lead as naturalists. So long ago
as 1709, Lawson in his History of Carolina lamented
the * misfortune that most of our Travellers who go to this
vast Continent are of the meaner Sort, and generally of
very slender Education ; hired laborers and merchants to
trade among the Indians in remote parts.' . . . ' The French
outstrip us in nice Observations,' he said. 'First by their
numerous Clergy ; their Missionaries being obedient to their
Superiors.' Secondly by gentlemen accompanying these
religious missions, sent out to explore and make discoveries
and to keep strict journals, which duly were handed over to
science. And what Lawson remarked of the American
colonies was extended to wherever the French, Portuguese,
and Italians established religious communities. We find
our bookshelves ever enriched by foreign naturalists.

INTR OD UCTION. 5

In Germany, also, ophiology was far in advance of us.
Lenz, Helmann, Effeldt, and many others pursued the study
practically ; and produced some valuable results in their
printed works, which unfortunately are too little known in
England. Doubtless because we in England have so few
native reptiles, there is less inducement to concern ourselves
about them. Not so in America, where herpetology soon
found many enthusiasts ; and the researches of Holbrooke,
Emmons, De Kay, and Weir Mitchel were published within
a few years of each other. Dr. Cantor in India, and Dr.
Andrew Smith in South Africa, Drs. Gray and Gunther
and P. H. Gosse in England, all enriched ophlological
literature previous to 1850, to say nothing of the
valuable additions to the science dispersed among the
Reports and Transactions of the various scientific Societies.
After the appearance of Dr. Giinther's important work,
The Reptiles of British India, in 1864, published under
the auspices of the Ray Society, another fresh impetus
was observable, and we had Krefft's Snakes of Australia,
1869; Indian Snakes, by Dr. E. Nicholson, 1870; culmi-
nating in The Thanatophidia of India, by Sir Joseph, then
Dr. Fayrer, F.R.S., C.S.I., etc., Surgeon-Major of the Bengal
Army, in 1872, which brings me to the commencement of
my own studies.

A few years ago, I knew nothing whatever about snakes ;
and to them, though deriving my chief pleasures from an
inherited love of all things in nature, a faint interest at a
respectfnl distance, was all I accorded. In Virginia and
Florida, where a country life and a gorgeous flora enticed
my steps into wild and secluded districts, we not unfrequcntly

. 6 INTR on UCTION.

saw them ; and one or two ^ narrow escapes ' seasoned the
pages of my notebook. When In such rambles we caught
sight of one, we flew at our utmost speed, encountering the far
greater danger of treading on a venomous one in our
precipitous flight, than in shunning the probably innocent
one from which we were fleeing.

My first startling adventure in Virginia was more ridiculous
than dangerous. We were about to cross a little rivulet that
ran rippling through a wood, in which there were many such
to ford. Often fallen boughs or drifting logs, dragged into
the shallow parts by the negroes, served as stepping-stones.
These becoming blackened in the water, and partially
covered with tangled drift-weed, were so familiar a sight that,
without pausing to observe, I was making a spring, w^hen
my companion caught hold of my dress, crying out, ' Don't
step on them ! They will bite you ! ' The supposed shining
and tans^led boug^hs were two larije black snakes commonlv
known as ' Racers,' enjoying a bath ; but until I had
hastily regained the top of the bank, alarmed at the
excitement of my young friend, I did not discover the
nature of our intended stepping-stones. The snakes were
not venomous, but very ' spiteful,' and might have
resented the interruption by sharp bites. In moving, they
probably would have caused me to fall upon them and
into the water, when they might have attacked me with
unpleasant results. Now, however, my chief vexation was
that they got away so quickly, I could learn nothing
about them.

Another * escape' was on an intensely hot day, when
in early morning we had started for a botanical ramble. Our

INTR on UCTIOK 7"

way lay along a sloping bit of pasture land, bounded on the
east and higher ground by a dense wood, which afforded
shelter from the sun. Beguiled on and on, among the
lovely copses of exquisite flowering shrubs and a wealth
of floral treasures which carpeted the turfy slopes, we were
unconscious of time.

Though only in the merry month of May, blackberries
of enormous size and delicious flavour, trailing on long
briars yards and yards over the mossy grass, invited us to
break our fast ; and, all unmindful of the breakfast-hour,
we feasted and rested.

Suddenly we found ourselves no longer shaded by the
wood to the east of us, for the sun had mounted high ; and
at the first touch of his scorching rays as we rose to our feet,
we glanced at each other in dismay, for we had open ground
to cross in getting home. My Virginia companion said that
it would be better to ford the streams in the wood, than
risk sunstroke by crossing a cornfield, our nearest way home.

This we decided to do, and having surmounted all
obstacles, were almost within earshot of the house, when
Ella, with a shriek, started and ran back, exclaiming, ' A
moccasin ! '

' What ? where ? ' I eagerly inquired, trying to follow
the direction of her eye.

* Oh, Miss Hopley, come back ! Quick ! Come away !
Water moccasins are worse than rattlesnakes, for they dart
at you ! '

Sufficiently alarming, certainly ; yet I wanted to see the
terrible object, and ascertain how far off it was, and at
length discovered the head and neck of a snake erect.

8 INTRODUCTION,

About a foot of it was visible, and might have been
taken for a sh'ght stem or stick standing perpendicularly
out of the swampy herbage bordering the narrow path.
The fixed eyes and darting 'sting' — which I then thought
the tongue to be — seemed to endorse the character my
young friend had given it. Yet I lingered, ' fascinated,' no
doubt, by its gaze, the fascination in my case partaking of
curiosity chiefly. The reptile remained so rigid that I
was inclined to venture nearer ; nor did I welcome the
idea of having to retrace our steps and risk the open field
under that Virginia sun. But Ella would not hear of
passing the deadly snake. There were others, she was sure,
in that swampy part.

Well, we reached home at last, more dead than alive,
having discarded our treasured specimens and substituted
sprays of enormous leaves with which to shield cur heads
from the sun. And I have ever reflected, that of the
two dangers — snakes and sunstroke — we risked the greater
in traversing that cornfield at such an hour.

Besides that 'deadly moccasin' and frequent 'black
snakes,' there were 'whip snakes,' 'milk snakes,' and many
others which the negroes would bring home as trophies of
their courageous slaughter ; but by no scientific names were
they known there. Except this name moccasin or mokesoji,
which probably conveyed some especial meaning to the
aborigines, few of the Indian vernaculars have been
preserved in the United States, as we find them in other
parts of America, which latter are treated of in chapters
xxii. and xxiii. of this work ; but common English
names prevail.

INTR OD UCTION, 9

After a time I proposed to write a book about snakes,
starting with the stereotyped ideas that they all ' stung '
in some incomprehensible way ; that the larger kinds crushed
up horses and cattle like wisps of straw ; and that all,
having viciously taken the life of the victim, proceeded with
epicurean gusto to lick it all over and smear it with saliva,
that it might glide down their throat like an oyster! There
are those who to this day believe the same.

My proposed book was, however, simply to recount some
adventures among the snakes which were encountered in
our American rambles. It was intended for the amusement
of juvenile readers, and to supplement the little work about
my pet birds,^ which had met with so kind and encouraging
a reception.

But in order to merely recount an adventure with a
snake, some knowledge of the reptile is essential. One
must, at least, be sure of the correct name of the 'horrid
thing ' which lifted its ' menacing head ' a few feet in front
of us; such local names as 'black snake' and 'moccasin
snake ' affording no satisfactory information.

Nor were hasty references to books much more satis-
factory. Mr. P. H. Gosse had been over the same ground,
gathering many interesting items of natural history ; but in
his Letters from Alabama I could not decide on my moccasin
snake. From this and his other works, and then from the
authors quoted by him, I discovered only that there were
many ' black snakes,' some deadly, others harmless. The
same with the 'moccasin 'snake, which was now of this colour,
now of that. While one writer expatiates on the beauty of

1 Aunt Jenny s American Pets. By Catherine C. Hopley. London, 1872.

lo INTRODUCTION.

the 'emerald snake,' a 'living gem, which the dark damsels
of southern climes wind round their necks and arms,' another
describes snakes of emerald green which are dreaded and
avoided. One traveller tells of a ' coral snake ' whose bite
is fatal within an hour ; while elsewhere a ' coral snake ' is
petted and handled. Equally perplexing were the ' carpet
snakes,' 'whip snakes,' ' Jararacas,' and 'brown snakes.'

Nor were names the only puzzle to unravel ; for in almost
every other particular writers on snakes are at variance.

Those ' moccasin snakes ' in Virginia were venomous, I was
sure, having known of accidents from their bite. Hoping
to become enlightened as to their true name and character,
I repaired to the Zoological Gardens to ascertain if they
were known there. Yes ; there were several together in one
cage, labelled 'Moccasins' {TropidonottLs fasciaiiis) 'from
America ; ' but to identify them with the one in Virginia, of
which I had seen only a short portion from a distance, was
impossible. To add to the perplexity, Holland the keeper
assured me these were ' quite harmless.'

' But are you siire these are harmless snakes ? They are
poisonous in America.'

'Well, miss, they have bitten my finger often enough for
me to know,' returned Holland.

' Then there must be tivo kinds of moccasin snakes,' I
argued, ' for the others are extremely venomous ; ' and I
related my Virginia experiences, and that I had known of a
horse bitten by one that had died in an hour or so, fearfully
swollen.

' They have never hurt me,' persisted Holland.

Subsequently I discovered that in the United States this

JNTR OD UCTION. 1 1

name moccasin is a common vernacular, first and chiefly
applied to a really dangerous viper, Ancistrodon pugnax or
piscivortis, the one, most likely, that ^ve saw in the wood ;
and secondly, to a number of harmless snakes which are
supposed to be dangerous, and of which those at the Gardens,
Tropidonotus fasciattis, are among the latter. Thus at the
very outset the puzzles began.

Nevertheless, after some research I learnt enough of snake
nature to feel safe in proceeding with my book oi Adventures,
and in presenting it to a publisher.

'As a gift-bock no one would look at it, and as an
educational work there would be no demand for it,' was its
encouraging reception.

This was about ten years ago ; and so far from inducing
me to relinquish the subject, I began to aspire to become a
means of assisting to overcome these prejudices. For the
space of two years the anticipated 'sequel' to my Ame^'ican
Pets went the round of the London publishers of juvenile
works, and to several in Scotland. It was read by many of
them, who professed to have been unexpectedly and ' ex-
tremely interested' in it — ' bnt' — none could be persuaded to
' entertain so repulsive a subject.' One member of a publish-
ing house distinguished for the high standard of its literature,
positively admitted among his insurmountable objections,
that when a child his mother had never permitted him to
look through a certain favourite volume late in the day,
'for fear the pictures of snakes in it should prevent his
sleeping! '

An editor of a magazine told me he should lose his
subscribers if he put snakes in its pages ; and another made

12 INTRODUCTION,

excuse that his children would not look at the magazine with
a snake in it.

Perhaps this is not so surprising when we reflect that
until within a late date snakes in children's books, if repre-
sented at all, are depicted as if with full intent of creating
horror. They are represented with enormously extended
jaws, and — by comparison with the surrounding trees or
bushes — of several hundred feet in length ; sometimes
extending up a bank or over a hedge into the next field, or
winding round a rock or a gnarled trunk, that must be — if
the landscape have any pretensions to perspective — a long
way off Slender little tree snakes of two or three feet long
are represented winding round and round thick stems and
branches strong enough to support you. Into the chasm of
a mouth from which an enormous instrument (intended for a
tongue) is protruding, a deer the size of a squirrel (by com-
parison), or a squirrel the size of a mouse, is on the point of
running meekly to its doom.

No wonder children ' skip ' the few pages devoted to
snakes in their natural history books, and grow up full of
ignorance and prejudices regarding them. In no class of
literature are original and conscientious illustrations more
required than to replace some of those which reappear again
and again, and have passed down from encyclopaedias into
popular works, conveying the same erroneous impressions
to each unthinking reader.

The strongly - expressed opinions of publishers con-
vinced me that the prejudices of adults must first be
overcome before children could be persuaded to look
at a snake as they would look at a bird or a fish, or to

INTRODUCTION. 13

enter the Reptile House at the Zoological Gardens without
the premeditated * Aughs ! ' and ' Ughs ! ' and shudders.

During the two years that witnessed the MS. of Atint
Jeimfs Adventiwes lying In first one and then another
publishing house, an especial occurrence acted as a great
stimulant, and Induced an almost obstinate persistence In my
apparently hopeless studies.

This was the sensation caused by the dally papers
in reporting the case of ' Cockburn versus Mann ; ' and the
' Snakes in Chancery.' To the horror and dismay of the
' general public,' Mr. Mann, of Chelsea, was represented
as ' keeping for his amusement all manner of venomous ser-
pc7its ; ' or, as another paper put It, ' Mr. Mann had a peculiar
penchant for keeping as domestic pets a large number of
venomous snakes.' (I copy verbatim from the papers of
that date.) That these ' water vipers and puff adders ' were
' apt to stray In search of freedom ; ' or, ' being accustomed
to take their walks abroad,' had * strayed into the neigh-
bours' gardens, to the terror of maid-servants and children ; '
and were 'now roaming up and down Cheyne Walk,' and
' turning the College groves into a garden of Eden.' So
an action was brought against Mr. Mann : for the neighbours
decided that ' there was no better remedy for a stray cobra
than a suit in Chancery.' 'Everybody' during July 1872
was reading those delightfully sensational articles, and
asking, 'Have you heard about Mr. Mann's cobras ? '

Mr. Frank Buckland was brave enough to venture Into
the dangerous precincts of Cheyne Walk, and even into the
house of Mr. Mann, to test the virtues and vices of both the
'pets' and their possessors. He finally tranquillized the public

14 * INTRODUCTION,

mind by publishing accounts of his visit, affirming that
not one of the snakes was venomous, but, on the contrary,
were charmingly interesting and as tame as kittens. The
testimony of so popular an authority served not only to
allay local terrors, but to modify the sentence that might
otherwise have been passed on the ophiophilist, who was
merely cautioned by the honourable judge to keep his pets
within due bounds.

After this, Mr. and Mrs. Mann and their domesticated
ophidians held daily receptions. I was invited to see them,
and in company with a clerical friend repaired to Chelsea.
It was the first family party of snakes I had ever joined, and
I must confess to considerable fluctuations of courage as w-e
knocked at the door. Nor could one quite divest oneself of
apprehension lest the boa-constrictors to which we were intro-
duced should suddenly make a spring and constrict us into a
pulp. But they didn't. On the contrary, towards ourselves
they were disappointingly undemonstrative, and only evinced
their consciousness of the presence of strangers by entwining
themselves about the members of the family, as if soliciting
their protection. They were very jealous of each other,
Mr. Mann said; jealous also of other company, as if unwilling
to lose their share of attention. There were half-a-dozen or
more snakes — viz., several boas, of whom * Cleo,' or Cleopatra,
has become historical ; two or three lacertine snakes from
North Africa ; and a common English snake. The smaller
ones were regaled on frogs for our special edification.
At that time I had never been to the Reptilium at the
Zoological Gardens on feeding days, and when Mr. Mann
permitted a frog to hop about the table^ and we saw

JNTRODUCTION. 15

the ring snake glide swiftly towards it and catch it in its
mouth, we could not comprehend what was to happen next.
* What will he do with it ? ' we both exclaimed. We had
not long to wait. Somehow or other the frog, caught by its
hind leg, got turned round till its head was in the snake's
mouth and the hind legs were sprawling and kicking, but in
vain. Then head-foremost it vanished by degrees into the
jaws of the snake ; while the head of the latter, * poor thing,'
seemed dislocated • out of all shape ! It was a wonderful
but painful sight ; for how the snake's head stretched in
that amazing manner, and how the frog was drawn into the
mouth, was past our comprehension.

An equally wonderful but far more attractive sight Vv^as
Mrs. Mann, a graceful and charming little lady in black
velvet, with Cleo coiling around her in Laocoon-like curves.
The rich colouring of the beautifully-marked reptile entwin-
ing the slender form of the woman, the picturesque and
caressing actions of Cleo, and the responsive repose of Mrs.
Mann as the snake was now round her waist, now
undulating around and over her head and neck, was
altogether a sight never to be forgotten. Two sweet little
children were equally familiar with the other boas, that
seemed quite to know who v/ere their friends and play-
fellows, for the children handled them and patted and talked
to them as we talk to pet birds and cats.

Such were the ' vipers, cobras, and puff adders' that had
figured in the daily papers. .

After this, the reptile house at the Zoological Gardens
became a new attraction. From there to the bookshelves
and back again to the Gardens, my little book of adven-

1 6 INTR OB UCTION.

tures was discarded for a more ambitious work ; but still
was confronted by disaffected publishers, whom even the
Chelsea snakes failed to convince of public interest.

Friends protested — and still demand — even while I write
— * How can you give your mind to such odious, loath-
some, slimy creatures?' and I boldly reply, 'In the hope
of inducing you to believe that they are not odious and
loathsome, and especially not "slimy," but in the majority
graceful, useful, beautiful, wonderful I' And I invite them
to accompany me to the Zoological Gardens, and endeavour
there to contemplate a reptile as they look at the other
denizens of the Gardens, simply as a member of the wide
family of the brute creation, appointed by the Great All-wise
to live and feed and enjoy existence as much as the rest, and
that have to accomplish the purpose for which they were
created equally with the feathered families which we admire
and — devour !

And as whatever may be original or novel in this book
has been obtained at the Zoological Gardens, I now invite
my readers to accompany me in imagination to the
Ophidarium, where we may learn how that little ring snake
was able to swallow his prodigious mouthful without sepa-
rating it limb from limb, as a carnivorous mammal would
divide the lamb it has killed.

' But ' — you exclaim in horror — ' we do not wish to con-
template so painful, so repulsive a spectacle ! How could
you, how can you, stand coolly there and see that poor
frogf tortured and swallowed ahve?'

Dear, tender-hearted reader, I did not, I coidd not, un-
moved, contemplate this sight at first ; nor for a very

INTR OD UCTION. 1 7

long while could I bring myself to watch a living creature
being drawn into that living trap. Nor could we — you and
I — feel aught but horror in visiting a slaughter-house and
watching a poor calf slowly die. Nor could we, for pleasure
merely, look coolly on at a painful surgical operation. Yet
we know that such things must be. The life of the snake
is as important as that of the frog. If we are to talk about
cruelty, this book of natural history, and of intended — let
me say, of hoped-for — usefulness, would become one of
political economy instead. We might discuss the sport of
the angler, the huntsman ; the affairs of the War Office ; of
railroad managers and of road-makers ; the matters of the
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals ; followed by
an examination into the questions that have been ventilated
in so-called 'benevolent organs;' and how some of them
employ writers who in every tenth line betray their ignor-
ance of the creatures they attempt to describe. Not even
theology could be dispensed with in this work ; for, since the
time when Adam was told to have ' dominion over the fish of
the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living
thing that moveth upon the earth,' the question of 'cruelty'
has never been satisfactorily solved. Morally and broadly,
let us understand it to mean unnecessary torture — pain and
suffering that can be avoided, and which offers a very wide
scope indeed. In the animal world, ' every creature is
destined to be the food of some other creature ; ' and by
these economics only is the balance of nature maintained.
Happily we are spared the too vivid realization of the
destruction of life ceaselessly going on throughout creation ;
the myriads of Insects destroyed each moment by birds, the

B

1 8 INTRODUCTION,

sufferings inflicted by the feline families and by birds of prey,
the countless shoals of the smaller fish devoured — swallowed
alive too ! — by larger ones, or caught (and not too tenderly)
for our own use. These things we dismiss from our minds,
and accept as inevitable. We do not ventilate them in
daily journals. Nor do we take our children to the
slaughter-house or the surgery for their entertainment ; or
repair thither ourselves for the sake of minutely discussing
afterwards the sufferings we have witnessed. You will, I
hope, discover that the pain Inflicted by the constrictor or
the viper Is not, after all, so acute as It is by some imagined
to be. The venomous bite of the latter causes almost
immediate insensibility ; the frog which the ring snake ate
probably died of suffocation, which also produces insen-
sibility ; the constriction of the boa — in Its natural condition
— produces also a speedy death. Besides, as Dr. Andrew
Wilson, in a paper on this subject, has explained to us, the
sufferings of a frog or a rat are not like 07Lr sufferings.
Their brain and nerves are of a lower order.^

Permit me, therefore, in the outset, to dismiss from these
pages the question of cruelty as not being a branch of
zoology ; and as we cannot prevent snakes from eating
frogs, or the vipers from catching field mice (nor need we
wish to do so, or the small quarry would soon become too
many for us), let us examine the curious construction of
a snake's head and jaw-bones that enables it to accomplish
the task so easily.

With reference to the rapid development of science, it has

1 'Snakes and their Food,' J/^rtt'r;/ Thought^^dSi. iSSi, in reply to a paper
in Time of the previous September.

INTRODUCTION, 19

been said that a scientific work is old as soon as the printer's
ink is dry. Up to the moment of sending my concluding
pages to press, I realize this ; and remarkably so in the
growing interest in the Ophidia. Writings on this subject
are becoming so frequent that, while correcting proofs, I
am tempted to add footnotes enough almost for another
volume.

Several circumstances have combined to enrich ophio-
logical literature within a few years; one which, in 1872,
I quite think established a sort of new era in this
branch of zoology, was the appearance of Dr. Fayrer's
magnificent work, TJie ThanatopJiidia of India. Mr. BuUen,
then the Superintendent of the Reading-Room at the British
Museum, knowing that the subject was engaging my atten-
tion, informed me of the arrival of this book, and, with his
ever kind thought for students, ordered it into the room for
my express use ; and I think I may affirm, that I was the
very first * reader ' who had the privilege of inspecting the
work, and, I hope, of helping to make it popular. For
as day after day those huge folio leaves stood open,
with the conspicuous and lifelike illustrations almost
moving before your eyes, readers would linger and gaze,
acquaintances would stop to inquire and inspect ; some with
a shudder would ask 'how on earth I could endure the sight
of such fearful creatures t ' while a few would manifest
sufficient interest and intelligence to be indulged with a full
display, and to whom I eagerly aired my convictions of the
tremendous errors afloat concerning the snake tribe.

* Beyond the pale of science but little is known of
Ophiology,' were Fayrer's words. Two years previously

20 INTR on UCTION.

to this, in 1870, Dr. Edward Nicholson wrote his hook, hid ian
Snakes, 'in the hope of dispelling the lamentable ignorance
regarding some of the most beautiful and harmless of God's
creatures.'

This enthusiasm is gradually spreading, and we now not
unfrequently hear of domesticated snakes in English homes ;
both from friends who keep them, and from the correspond-
ence of the Field, Land and Water, and similar papers, in
whose columns inquiries for information are often made
regarding ophidian pets. Lord Lilford, one of the kindest
patrons of the London Reptilium, has, I believe, for many
years been a practical ophiologist. There is one little
favourite snake that figures in these pages of which his
lordship gave an' excellent character from personal
acquaintance, 'the beautiful species ElapJiis-quater-radiatus,
as being the most naturally tame of all the colubrines,
never hissing or trying to bite though frequently handled.'
A noble lady not long since carried a pet snake to the
Gardens. It was twined round her arm, where it remained
quiet and content, though to the alarm of some monkeys
who caught sight of it. Some members of our Royal
Family, with the enlightened intelligence which displays
itself in them all, have more than once paid visits to
the Reptile House at the Zoological Gardens, where the
keeper has enjoyed the high honour of taking snakes out of
their cages to place in royal hands. The good-will and
interest towards the inmates of the Ophidarium are likewise
displayed by some country gentlemen in presents of game,
in the form of ring snakes for the Ophiophagus and frogs for
the lesser fry. Lord Arthur Russell, Lord Lilford, and other

INTR on UCTION. 2 1

distinguished personages set excellent examples of this kind.
All of which proofs of prejudices overcome are features in
the history of ophiology, and especially in the last decade.

Then, in glancing at recent literature, a great change
is discernible, more particularly so during the last two
years, since the popular contributions of Dr. Arthur Strad-
ling, a corresponding member of the Zoological Society,
have imparted a novel interest to this branch of zoology.
To this gentleman my own most grateful acknowledg-
ments are due, as will be evident to the reader, not only for
the zest imparted by his correspondence from Brazil, but
for some important specimens presented to me by him,
which have enabled me to describe them minutely from
personal observations, as well as to add some original
illustrations from them. Though my work and my studies
were far advanced, previous to his valued acquaintance, yet
I have been able to enrich my pages from his experience,
and have added footnotes from his published writings.

Already, however, some few dispassionate students of
nature among editors were promoters of herpetology, and
I must here express my acknowledgments to the talented
daughters of the lamented Mrs. Alfred Gatty (and editresses
of \\\2X facile princeps among juvenile periodicals. Aunt Judy s
Magazine), for having been the first to encourage and accept
from my pen a snake in their pages, and subsequently several
papers on ophidian manners and habits for their magazine.

In preparing ' Sketches of the Ophidians' for the Dublin
University Magazine, December 1875, and January and
February 1876 (in all, about forty closely-written pages), I,
by request of the editor, included a paper on the venom

22 JNTR on UCTION.

and the various remedies, though, reluctant to intrude within
the arena of professional science, a sort of summing up of
evidence was all that I attempted. Having been thus
required to glean some crude ideas from technical writings
(which necessitated glossaries and dictionaries to be ever at
hand), I again add a chapter on the * Venoms' to my
present work. Left entirely to my own independent con-
clusions, if I have ventured to think in opposition to some
popular writers, and have even presumed to offer some
suggestions of my own, I trust I may be treated with
clemency.

With regard to the terrible death-rate from snake-bite in
India, it does, however, appear to me that journalists who
hold up their hands in horror, and write strong articles on
this subject, lose sight of the religious and social condition
of the low-caste Hindus, who are the chief sufferers, and
whose superstition is so fatal to them. S7iake-worship is
the root of the evil ! Edtication must lower the death-rate.
During the visit of H.R.H. the Prince of Wales to India,
the entire programme was on one occasion interrupted
because some Hindu children, to whom a feast was to be
given, could not eat in the presence of Christians, whose
'shadow would have polluted their food,' or some
obstacle of this nature. Similar difficulties arise when
they are snake-bitten ; their creed prohibits their having
recourse to approved remedies. 'Snake-charmers' and
native quacks are sent for instead, and often when cures
are possible the fatalists submit to death.

To Professor Owen, who six years ago permitted me the
honour of dedicating this contemplated work to him, and to

INTR OD UCTION. 2 3

others who were then led to expect its early appearance, I
may be allowed to offer an excuse for tardiness. Like the
creatures which fill its pages, I succumb to the chills of
winter, and depend on the suns of summer for renewed
vigour and activity. At one time impaired health, and the
enforced suspension of literary pursuits under the threatened
loss of the use of my right hand, were grievous interruptions.

Filial duties and domestic bereavements caused another
two years' delay. Banished to the seaside, and the pen
prohibited during the winter of 1874-75, I had almost
despaired of turning my studies to account, when a new
impulse arrived in the shape of a note from the editor
of Chambers's Journal^ begging to know if my 'work
on the Ophidia was out, and by whom published ' ? My
* work on the Ophidia ' t Could that mean my poor, despised
little book that had been long ago submitted among others
to those Edinburgh publishers ? My work on the Ophidia !
I began to get better from that day ; and from that date,
March 1875, I have had the inexpressible pleasure and
privilege of including among my kindest and most sympa-
thetic ophiological friends, the Editor of that popular
journal. On the Ophidia, he entrusted me with work in
various directions, encouraged by which I again returned
to town, and to the Zoological Gardens.

If I am so fortunate as to afford instruction or entertain-
ment in the following pages, my readers will join me in
congratulating ourselves on the possession of so large and
valuable a zoological collection as that in the Regent's
Park, without which this book could not have been
attempted. And I may embrace this opportunity of express-

24 INTR OD UCTION.

ing my sincere thanks to the President and Council of the
Zoological Society for the privileges and facilities afforded
me at their Gardens, where not only the Reptilium but the
annual series of zoological lectures there, given by the first
biologists of the day, have been of inexpressible use to me.

I would also express my thanks to Professor Flower, Hun-
terian Professor at the Royal College of Surgeons, London,
for his invariable courtesy in facilitating my examination of
the ophiological specimens in the museum of that College,
to which my honoured father (himself a member) attributed
all the love of the study of natural history which from our
earliest recollections were encouraged in his children. My
thanks are also due to Dr. Giinther of the British Museum
for similar facilities there. Indeed, the words of encourage-
ment given me, no less than six years ago, by the dis-
tinguished heads of the zoological department of our great
national collection, sustained my courage in opposition
to all counter influences outside the British Museum. When
first contemplating and presenting some outline of this
work to Dr. Giinther, he honoured me by expressing his
opinion that such a book was * much needed ; ' that it
would be 'extremely useful and interesting.' He was
even so kind as to promise to state this opinion in writing
to any publisher who might consult him on the subject.
I here claim the pleasure of thanking my present publishers
for dispensing with the necessity of troubling Dr. Gunther,
and for entrusting me with the preparation of this
book, which, before a chapter of it w^as completed, they
engaged to publish. Deficient as I feel it to be, it is at
length launched on the doubtful waters of public criticism.

INTR OD UCTION. 2 5

If any scientific eyes honour it with a glance, they will with
clemency remember that, with no scientific knowledge what-
ever to start with, I have had to grope my way unaided,
plodding over technicalities which in themselves were
studies ; and if, as no doubt is the case, any misappre-
hension of such technicalities has here and there crept
in and misinterpreted the true meaning, I anxiously trust
that the truth has not been altogether obliterated by such
obscurities.

In conclusion, let me not omit a grateful tribute
to the invariable kindness of the heads of the Reading-
Room at the British Museum ; and for their assistance in
obtaining books of which I might never have known. The
kindness of Mr. Garnett extended even beyond the Reading-
Room ; for while I was invalided at the seaside, and could
only read, not zvrite, he translated and forwarded to me
some important pages from Lenz, a German ophiologist.
To him, therefore, the thanks of the reader are also due.

In the choice of illustrations my aim has been rather
to exemplify a few leading features than to attract by
brilliantly-figured examples. Some of the woodcuts are
borrowed from Giinther's and Fayrer's works ; others I have
drawn faithfully from natural specimens; but in them all
I am indebted to the kind and patient work of Mr. A. T.
Elwes in reproducing my own imperfect attempts. And as it
was impossible to draw a snake /;/ action from life, or to
witness a second time the precise coils or movements which
had at first struck me as remarkable, the composition of
some of these subjects was by no means an easy one. Our
united efforts have been to represent the natural actions as

26

INTR on UCTION.

far as possible, and this I hope may commend them to the
reader.

There are few English persons who have not relatives in
India, Australia, America, and Africa, and from whom they
are continually hearing of escapes or accidents from snakes.
Many letters from these friends beyond the seas find place in
the columns of the daily journals. Whether, therefore,
naturalists or not, a very large class of the intelligent public
claims an anxious interest in the Serpent race, and to all of
whom my Ophidiana or snake gossip is hopefully addressed.

CATHERINE C. HOPLEY.

London, October 1882.

SNAKES:

CURIOSITIES AND WONDERS OF SERPENT LIFE,

CHAPTER I.

SEEING A SNAKE FEED.

IN any person who for the first time witnesses a snake
with prey just captured, the predominant feeHng
must be one of surprise at the seemingly unmanageable size
of the animal it has seized ; and he probably exclaims to
himself, or to his companion, as we did on the occasion
described in the introduction, ' What will he do with it ? '
Let us again take our common ring snake, Coluber
iiatrix, that ate a frog for our edification ; only, in the
present instance, instead of seeing a tame snake in a
private residence at Chelsea, w^e will suppose ourselves to
be watching one on the banks of a stream in fine summer
weather. A slight movement in the grass causes us to turn
our eyes towards the spot, and we are just in time to see the
quick dash, and the next instant a recalcitrant frog held

11

28 SNAKES.

aloft in the jaws of a snake that with elevated head glides
up the bank. Coluber's head is no bigger than a filbert, and
the frog is nearly full grown, its body inflated to twice its
original size, and its legs, of impracticable length and angles,
kicking remonstrantly.

' How in the world is the snake going to manage it ? '
again you exclaim, and your amazement is not exceptional.
It is what has been witnessed and heard weekly in London
when the public were admitted to the Reptilium on feeding
days, and it is what the reader will recall in his own case
Vv^ien first informed that a snake was going to swallow that
monstrous mouthful undivided.

In the present instance, the injury to froggie's feelings
thus far partakes more of moral than of physical pain, for
the grasp of the snake is not violent, and he finds that the
more he struggles the more he injures himself. Yet he
kicks and struggles on, at thus being forcibly detained
against his will. In the mouth of the snake he is as propor-
tionately large as the shoulder of mutton in the jaws of the
dog that has just stolen it from the butcher's shop. How
do the canines manage unwieldy food t The dog can
tackle the joint of meat, big though it be, because he has
limbs to aid him, and he was prepared for emergencies
before he stole it. He knew of a certain deserted yard up
a passage close by, and of some lumber stacked there ;
he watched his opportunity, and is off to his hiding-place ;
and once hidden behind the lumber, he settles down quietly
with his ill-gotten dinner firmly held between his fore-paws,
while, with eyes and ears on the alert, he gnaws away.

The snake, no doubt, knows of a hole in the bank, or in a

SEEING A SNAKE FEED. 29

hollow tree, in which he can hide if alarmed ; but he cannot
set his frog down for one instant, nor can he relax his jaws
in the slightest degree, or his dinner hops away, and he has
to pursue it, or wait for another frog, when the same thing
may happen again. He has only his teeth to trust to, and
these have all the work of paws and claws, and nails and
talons, to accomplish, while yet, not for one instant, must
they relinquish their hold.

'Besides! — how much too big that frog is for Coluber's
small mouth ! ' And we continue to gaze in wonder-
ment, filled with amazement . that brings us to the book-
shelves, to endeavour to comprehend the phenomenon.
Not, however, until we have seen the end of that frog on
the banks of the stream, where the reader is supposed
to be waiting.

First, let me explain that in the manner of feeding, snakes
may be divided into three classes, viz. those that kill their
prey by constriction or by smothering it in the coils of
their body ; those that kill by poison ; and some smaller
kinds, which, like the ring snake, eat it alive — the latter a
quick process, which may also be said to be death by
suftocation. Our little Coluber is in a spot where we can
watch it easily ; so we keep rigidly still, and soon perceive
that though the snake just now had hold of froggie's side,
he now has the head in his mouth. How can this be } and
how has he managed to shift it thus, almost imperceptibly,
while seeming to hold it still } Now the head begins
to disappear, and the snake's jaws stretch in a most dis-
torted fashion, as if dislocated ; its head expands out of all
original shape, while slowly, slowly, the frog is drawn in as

30 SiVAKES.

if by suction. Now its legs are passive ; they no longer
kick right and left, but lie parallel, as by degrees they also
vanish, and only the four feet remain in sight. These
presently have been sucked in, and the skin of the snake is
stretched like a knitted stocking over the lump which tells
us just how far down Coluber's neck the frog has reached.
Gradually the lump gets farther and farther down, but is
less evident as it reaches the larger part of the body. The
snake remains still for a few moments till his jaws are
comfortably in place again ; then he yawns once or twice,
and finally retires for his siesta, and we to the bookshelves.

* Snakes work their prey down through the collapsed
pharynx,' says Giinther. That is, the muscles of the throat
seize upon what is presented to them, and do their part, as
in other animals. Only, in most other animals there is the
action of swallowing, one mouthful at a time ; whereas in
serpents the action is continuous, the throat going on with
the work begun by the teeth, which in a snake is only
grasping and working the food in with a motion so gradual
as to simulate suction. The reason why the head and jaws
have been so enormously stretched and distorted, is because
all the bones are, in common language, loose ; that is, they
are not consolidated like the head-bones of higher animals,
but united by ligaments so elastic as to enable them to
separate in the way we have seen. This extends to the
jaws, and even to the palate, which is also armed with teeth,
two rows extending backwards. The lower jaw or mandible
being extremely long, the elastic ligament by which the
pair of bones is connected in front, forming the chin, enables
them to separate widely and move independently. This is

SEEING A SNAKE EEED. 31

the case in a lesser degree with the palate bones, and the
upper jaw-bones, all six being furnished with long, fine, re-
curved, close-set teeth, adapted for grasping and holding,
but not for dividing or for mastication in any way.

For, as we have seen, if a snake were to open Its mouth
one moment for the purpose of what we call biting, the prey
would escape. In addition to a very unusual length, the
lower jaw Is joined to the skull by an extra bone, — one
which Is not found In mammals, but only, I think, In birds, —
a long 'tympanic' bone, which forms an elbow, and
permits of that wide expansion of the throat necessary for
the passage of such large undivided prey.

The illustration of the skeleton of a cobra, on p. 33,
will enable the student to distinguish the principal
head-bones. There Is so much similarity of construction
throughout the whole ophidian families that a cobra Is
chosen here, because the unusually long anterior ribs which
form the hood can be obsei-ved, and the expansion of
which Is described elsewhere. The longer teeth in the upper
jaw are here fangs ; the inclination of the other rows
of teeth and the bones sufficiently Illustrate those of the
non-venomous kinds generally, such as the little rlno-
snake that has just swallowed his frog. A few of the
larger constricting snakes possess an additional bone —
an Intermaxillaiy in front between the upper jaws, very
small, yet sometimes furnished with two or four teeth,
thus facilitating the expansion of the jaws as well as the
retention of the food.

It is this adaptive development of head-bones that enabled
Coluber natrix to turn his frog round to a more convenient

32 SNAKES,

position, and then draw it into his mouth so gradually that
we scarcely comprehended how it disappeared. The six
rows of small teeth form six jaws so to speak, each one of
which advanced a very little, while the other five were en-
gaged in holding firmly. In those largest pythons which
have the little bone in front between the two upper jaw-
bones (intermaxillary) we may say there are seveft jaws. As
those gigantic snakes have to deal with proportionately
large and strong prey, they are thus enabled to retain and

manage it.

In the graphic language of Professor Owen let me re-
capitulate.

The mouth can be opened laterally or transversely, as in
insects, as well as vertically, as in other vertebrates. The
six jaws are four above and two below, each of which can
be protruded or retracted independently of the others.
' The prey having been caught and held, one jaw is then
unfixed by the teeth of that jaw being withdrawn and
pushed forward, when they are again unfixed farther back
upon the prey; another jaw is then unfixed, protruded, and
re-attached, and so with the rest in succession. This move-
ment of protraction, being almost the only one of which they
are susceptible, while stretched apart to the utmost by the
bulk of the animal encompassed by them : and thus by
their successive movements, the prey is slowly introduced
into the gullet.'^

This working of the jaws would be almost imperceptible
excepting to a very close observer. In the lower jaw-
bones the independent action can be more readily perceived

1 Odontogi-aphy. By Richard Owen. London.

SEEING A SNAKE EEED.

Z3

flWl-

Skeleton of a Cobra (from Owen's Anatomy of the Wr ted rates).

34 SNAKES.

and is often very grotesque, one side of the mouth open-
ing while the other is closed, conveying the idea of the
reptile making grimaces at you ; but the gradual disappear-
ance of the prey so much more bulky than the snake itself
is quite incomprehensible until we are acquainted with the
remarkable phenomena of the six rows of teeth acting
independently. Thus, in turning the frog round to adjust
it to a more convenient position, the jaws acted like hands
in moving, dragging, or shifting some cumbrous article,
say a carpet or a plank, when the left hand follows the
movement of the right hand until the plank or carpet is
worked round or forward in the required direction.

The form and arrangement of the fine claw-shaped teeth
assist the process. They are too close together, and the
pressure is too slight to inflict a wound ; they merely retain
what they hold, and it is in vain for the prey to struggle
against them, or it might get some ugly scratches as they
all incline backwards. In chapter xix. illustrations of
teeth, life-size, show their forms and direction ; here it only
need be added regarding them, that the above description
refers chiefly to the non-venomous snakes.

The palate being covered with that armoury of teeth, the
snake must have but a slight sense of taste, which is to its
advantage, we should say ; for having no assistant in the
shape of beak or limbs to divide its prey, hair, fur, feathers,
dust — all must be swallowed with the meal, completely dis-
guising whatever flesh they cover, so that we should suppose
the process of feeding could be productive of very little
enjoyment to the reptile. Perhaps out of this state of things
has developed their habit of eating so seldom, but when they

SEEING A SNAKE FEED. 35

do take the trouble of feeding, of doing it thoroughly, so that
their meal lasts them a long while.

Deglutition is greatly facilitated by an abundant supply
of saliva, which lubricates that uncomfortable coating of
feathers or fur ; but ' lubrication ' is understood to refer
merely to the natural secretions of the mouth, in which the
tongue performs no part at all.

The salivary apparatus of snakes is peculiar to them, and
very complicated. Even the nasal and lachrymal glands
pour their superfluous secretions through small canals into
the mouth.^ These active and abundant glands are excited
by hunger or the sight of food, just as in mammals ; and
for the more common expression of the mouth ' watering '
that of * lubrication ' is here used, because over the rough-
coated prey these salivary secretions act as a great aid in
deglutition. The erroneous impressions that have obtained
on this subject are touched upon in describing the tongue
(chap. vi.).

A circumstance happened at the London Zoological Gardens
a few years ago, which, although familiar to many, may be
referred to as bearing on two of the above features — namely,
the dull sense of taste in a snake, and the abundant supply
of mucous secretions. It was in the case of a large
boa which swallowed her blanket. She was about to
change her skin, and, as usual on such occasions, was
partially blind, as also indifferent to food. The rabbits
given to her dodged her grasp, and her appreciation of
flavours was not sufficient to enable her to discriminate
between blanket and rabbit fur ; so, seizing a portion of

^ Essai sur la Physionomie des Serpents. Par Herman Schlegel. Paris, 1837.

36 SNAKES.

the rug, she with natural instinct constricted this, and pro-
ceeded to swallow it. She was, however, made to disgorge
it afterwards, when it was scarcely recognisable from the
thick and abundant coating of mucous in which it was
enveloped. Mr. F. Buckland described its appearance as
that of a * long flannel sausage.'

These highly-developed salivary glands are beneficent
provisions in the economy of the serpent race. The reptile
cannot, as we said, tear flesh from bones, and discard the
latter ; nor separate the food from the enveloping feathers or
fur ; nor reject whatever unsavoury portions other animals
might detach and leave uneaten. All must be swallowed
by a snake, and all digested ; and its digestion, sufficiently
powerful, is aided by the excessive flow of saliva, or the
insalivation of such food.

It is not difficult to make snakes disgorge their food.
They often do so on their own account, when, after swallow-
ing some bulky meal, they are alarmed or pursued, and
escape is less easy with that load to carry. The illustration
exhibiting the numerous ribs, which are all loosely articulated
with the spinal column, enables us to comprehend the capacity
for bulk, and the ease with which these fine ribs would
expand to accommodate a body even broader than the snake
itself. We comprehend, also, why it is that a creature
swallowed alive need not be injured or wounded by the
mere fact of being swallowed, but would die of suffocation
after all. A frog has been known to turn round and
escape from the body of the snake, if the latter indulge in
a prolonged yawn ; and yawning almost always does follow
as soon as the prey is swallowed, because the snake has

SEEING A SNAKE FEED. 37

for the time breathed less regularly, and now requires to
take in a fresh supply of air. In this act you see the two
jaws extended to an enormous degree, almost, indeed, to
form one straight line perpendicularly. In such condition
the teeth are well out of the way, and the adjustable ribs,
expansile covering, and loose head bones render them not
insurmountable obstacles to an escape when the prey is
uninjured.

One sometimes hears of the egg-stealing snakes, cobras,
etc., when surprised and pursued, first relieving themselves
of their plunder before they attempt to escape. Often it
may be observed, when two snakes are in a cage together,
and both get hold of the same frog or rat, that they each
advance upon it till their heads meet, when either the stronger
or the larger snake will gain the day, and finish his frog,
and then proceed to swallow his friend ; or else one will
relinquish his hold, when, even in those few minutes, the
half-swallowed prey will be completely disguised in the
mucous saliva which has already enveloped it.

Some snakes, though not quarrelsome at other times,
for some reason inexplicable to the looker-on, persistently
set their heart on the same bird or frog, though many are
presented for their choice. In a pair of Tropidonoti at the
Gardens this occurs almost every week ; and in such instances
the keeper keeps a sharp watch over them ; for as neither
snake will relinquish its capture, the one that begins first
comes in contact with the head of his comrade, who will
assuredly be swallowed too, were not a little moral, or rather
physical coercion in the shape of a good shaking adminis-
tered. Sometimes both get their ears boxed, figuratively;

38 . ■ SNAKES.

yet the discipline has no more than a passing effect, and
next week the same thing happens again.

Not many months ago a very vaUiable snake was thus
rescued literally from the jaws of death. A South American
rat snake {Geoptyas collaris) began to eat a rabbit that was
put in the cage for a python, which also began to eat it.
Collaris would not let it go, and so the python continued
to advance upon it until he came to his comrade, and pro-
ceeded with this prolonged repast. Collaris is a rather large
snake of some eight or ten feet long. When nearly the
whole of him had vanished, the keeper — who, of course,
had been occupied at each cage in turn — fortunately dis-
covered about a foot of tail fast disappearing in the mouth
of the python, the whole of Collaris, excepting this caudal
portion, having been swallowed. Just in time to rescue the
victim, the keeper, by his experienced manipulation, made
the python open his mouth, while the assistant helped to pull
at Collaris. At last they pulled back all the seven feet of
snake, which sustained no further injury than a slight scratch
or two against the python's teeth ; but he seemed none the
worse, and was no sooner free than he seized a rat, con-
stricted and ate it with a celerity which seemed to say he
would make sure of a meal this time.

On the following Friday the very same thing was about
to occur again. Collaris had begun to swallow the python's
rabbit, the latter having prior hold ; but the keeper was on
the watch, and administered a little practical reproof which
made the rat snake loosen his hold. Matters were further
complicated on this occasion by the python throwing some
coils around his intended feast, so that to get a purchase

SEEING A SNAKE FEED. 39

and manage these two constrictors was less easy than on
the previous occasion, though then the snake had been
swallowed. In the same cage were also two other pythons,
quite strong enough to strangle a person had they taken a
fancy to hug him round the neck. Both were aroused and
displeased at the commotion, and ready to 'fly' at the
men, who, on the whole, had an exciting time with the
four constrictors, all from eight to twelve feet long.

Cannibalism is very common in snakes, particularly among
the ElapidcB, which have small and narrow heads, and can
therefore more conveniently swallow a fellow-creature than
a bird or a quadruped. The keeper told me that often
a box arrives at the Gardens labelled 'Ten cobras,' or
' twelve,' as may be ; when, on opening the box, the number
falls short ; suggesting that cannibalism has diminished
the company. It is a curious fact, however, that snakes,
as a rule, seize prey whose bulk far exceeds their own,
even when a more manageable kind could be easily caught.
It is as if they were aware of the accommodating nature of
their multifold ribs ; as a snake longer than themselves
must be doubled up in their stomach, and those broader than
themselves must, one would imagine, be a most uncomfort-
able meal to dispose of Yet this is common. Mr. H. W.
Bates found in a jarraraca an amphisboena larger than itself,
and in another snake a lizard whose bulk exceeded its own.
My BraziHan correspondent, Dr. Arthur Stradling, wrote me
of a similar circumstance. He received a little Elaps lem-
Jiiscatus in Maceio, which presented a singularly bloated
appearance. It no doubt felt itself in a condition not
favourable to rapid escape ; or captivity impaired its diges-

40 SNAKES.

tion, for ' the next morning it disgorged an amphisbosna or
small serpent (it was half digested) actually longer than
itself, and weighing half as much again.'

Prodigious meals engender drowsiness, and thus the
Ophidia habitually repose a long while after taking food.

This habit of gorging enormous prey being one of the
most striking of ophidian characteristics, it has been intro-
duced thus early in my work, as affording opportunity for
a general glance at the anatomical structure. In the next
chapter we will enumerate a few other peculiar features, ere
proceeding to examine in detail some of the most important
organs.

CHAPTER II.

SNAKES OF FICTION AND OF FACT.

IN a celebrated lecture on * Snakes,' given by Mr. Ruskin
at the London Institution in March 1880, he intro-
duced his subject with the three considerations: 'What has
been thought about them ? ' * What is truly known about
them?' — extremely little, as he suggested; — and, 'What is
wisely asked about them, and what is desirable to know ? '

The three questions exactly agree with the object of my
work, this chapter especially ; and I will invite my readers
to seek in their own minds the answer to the first question,
which will also furnish a solution to the second, and, I
trust, incite some interest in the third.

The learned lecturer carried us through the realms of
fancy, to conjure up all the grotesque creatures which, under
the name of ' serpents,' have figured in heraldry and mytho-
logy. By these, and by the light of the poets of old, and
in later times through the naturalists of the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries, we learn what a ' serpent ' was to
them, and what it included. In remote antiquity it was
an embodiment of the hideous and the terrible ; and in

41

42 SNAKES.

spite of Aristotle (a comparatively recent authority), dragons
and such-like chimaerical creatures have pervaded the mind
both of the erudite and the ignorant, in association with
serpents, till within three hundred years, and are not ev^en
yet altogether discarded.

Nor am I inclined to believe that the terror-inspiring
representations of classic days are so unreal as might
be supposed. Palaeontology is continually bringing to
light new evidences of the presence of man on the earth
in ages far remote ; and we do not know for certain
what strange forms of animal life were his contemporaries,
or when the faculty of speech was so far developed
in him as to enable him to learn about his predecessors,
which were still more terrible. We do know that fossils
of mammoth creatures, passing strange, are coeval with
fossil humian remains, and to those early types of humanity
a knowledge of still stranger creatures of reptilian forms
may have been handed down from mouth to mouth ; for
there is generally a germ of truth at the root of a myth.
Fossil remains tell us of the gigantic forms of ancient
reptiles, or compound reptile - fish or reptile - birds, and
quadrupeds which have gradually diminished in size or
become altogether extinct as our own period has been
approached.

Said Professor Huxley, at the British Association in
1878, 'Within the last twenty years we have an astonishing
accumulation of evidence of the existence of man in ages
antecedent to those of which we have any historical record.
Beyond all question, man, and what is more to the purpose,
intelligent man, existed at a time when the whole physical

SNAKES OF FICTION AND OF FA CT. 43

conformation of the country was totally different from that
which now characterizes it.'

Did these intelligent beings know anything of the
Dinotheriimi (dreadful beast), or the Dinornis (dreadful bird),
or any other of those fearful forms which have furnished
historic ages with a dragon ?

Coming down to our own era, and the time when travel
and education first induced the observation and study of
animals with a view to learn their habits, and to arrange
them under some system of classification, we begin to see the
perplexities that presented themselves to naturalists, especi-
ally with regard to egg-producing creatures. To Topscll,
a writer of the seventeenth century, every creeping or crawl-
ing thing was 'a Serpente,' and many insects were included
in his category. To Lawson, on the contrary, every egg-
producing creature, if not a bird, was an 'Insect.' In
his History of Carolina, 1709, he describes, under 'Insects
of Carolina,' all the snakes he saw, also the alligators, lizards,
etc., and thus continues : ' The Reptiles or smaller Insects
are too numerous to relate here, the Country affording
innumerable quantities thereof; as the Flying Stags with
Horns, Beetles, Butterflies, Grasshoppers, Locusts, and several
hundred of uncouth Shapes.' Having thus gone through
the ' Insects,' except the * Eel-snake ' (which turns out to be
a ' Loach' or leech), he gets puzzled over a ' Tortois, vulgarly
called Turtle, which I have ranked among the Insects, because
they lay Eggs, and I did not know well where to put them.'
And Lawson was not alone in not knowing ' where to put '
a countless number of other creatures that go to form the
endless links in the long chain of living organisms ; even

44 SNAKES.

plants, which, to use Darwin's words, * with animals, though
most remote in the scale of nature, are bound together by
a web of complex relations.' You may place the dove at
one end of the chain and the crocodile at the other, without
one broken link. The earliest bird which palaeontology
has revealed had teeth in its bill, claws on the end of its
wings, and a long tail with feathers growing out of it, like a
pinnate leaf.

We see those strange forms reproduced in the gardens of
the Crystal Palace. Lizards with the head of a bird and
other combinations, the Pterosauria or w^inged - lizards,
Ichthyosauria or fish-lizards, of which some representative
types still exist in the African Lepidosiren and the Mexican
Axolotl, which have puzzled modern physiologists as much as
the Carolina tortoise puzzled Lawson ; for whether to call
them reptiles or fishes was long a disputed question. Dr.
Carpenter, in his Zoology, reckons fifty-eight of such links
among reptiles ; as, for instance, the transition from turtles
to crocodiles, from tortoises to lizards, in which latter we
find the legs growing shorter, till they are gone altogether
in the blindworms and amphisbaenas. These again branch
off to the cecilias, and the cecilias to worms on one side,
and to frogs on the other, having the form of a snake, but
the skin of the batrachian. There are the Ophiosaurians,
snake-lizards, and Saurophidians, lizard-snakes; there are
lizard-like frogs and frog-like lizards ; some of them begin-
ning life with gills, and becoming air-breathers afterwards,
others of saurian aspect retaining their gills through life ;
and from these, again, is the transition between reptiles and
fishes. There are diminutive snakes of worm-like aspect,

SNAKES OF FICTION AND OF FACT. 45

and gigantic worms which might be mistaken for snakes;
and among modern naturalists, that is to say within one
hundred years, worms have been classed with reptiles when
none such enormous species as those lately found in Africa
were dreamed of.

There is in no branch of zoology so much confusion as
in herpetology ; and if the reader will, with a sweep of the
imagination, embrace the innumerable forms that come
under the class Reptilia^ their various coverings, and their
close gradations, he will not wonder at this. Let us glance
at a few of the systems adopted by Linnaeus and others
of his time, who, we must remember, had to combat not
only inherited ideas of 'creeping things,' but the diffi-
culties presented by badly stuffed or bottled specimens ;
the latter often having been so long in alcohol that their
colours had flown, or their covering changed in texture.
The Atlantic was not crossed in a week in those days ; and
three months, instead of three weeks, barely sufficed to
reach India, to say nothing of inland journeys when you
got there. If foreign specimens came home after the mani-
pulations of a taxidermist, he had done his very best to
render them as hideous as tradition painted them. Some-
times a wooden head on a stuffed body ; teeth that might
furnish the jaws of the largest felines, and a tongue to
match ; while with external cleansings, scrapings, and polish-
ings, it were hard to discover what manner of skin had
originally clothed the creature.

Carefully chosen v/as Aristotle's name for reptiles, 'the
terrestrial, oviparous, sanguineous animals ; ' for those which
we are considering, breathe by lungs, and are therefore red-

46 SNAKES.

blooded. Cuvier divided the egg-producing animals into
oviparous quadrupeds (lizards, turtles, crocodiles, and frogs) ;
bipeds, the birds ; Insects and serpents. Linnaeus — who, by
the way, preceded Cuvier — called all reptiles ' amphibious
animals/ of which serpents were the second order, those
* without limbs.' He also divided them into orders, genera,
and species ; but in the Ophidia was guided too much by
the scales, which has caused confusion ever since, as both
poisonous and harmless snakes often present similar cha-
racters in this respect.

If the reader will turn to the illustration of scales (p. 193),
he will see an example of the large scutae or ventral plates
that are possessed by the majority of the true Ophidia.
The burrowing snakes, most of them small and allied to
lizards in their structure, are protected by a cuirass of hard,
close-set, polished scales, alike all round ; or else with a
thick, smooth skin arranged in rings. Some very poisonous
serpents, notably the sea-snakes, have also the scales alike
all round, because they do not require the hold which those
large ventral scales afford to land serpents in progression ;
but it will at once be seen that on so slight a
resemblance It would be unsuitable to arrange
such widely-differing families in the same group.
The majority of snakes have the scales under
the tail different from those under the body ;
and a very large number, both of venomous
and innocuous snakes, have broad ventral scales,
as far as the termination of the body, and then
a double row where the tail commences. The
accompanying illustration is sufficient to convey

SNAKES OF FICTION AND OF FACT. 47

a general idea of the arrangement of the scales before and
after the anus.

Linnaeus called all serpents with these two rows of sub-
caudal scales, Colubers^ including under this name many
both large and small, land and water, poisonous and harm-
less snakes. In respect for the great talent and vast work
accomplished by this eminent naturalist, as well as his then
paramount and diffusive knowledge, his systems prevailed
for a very long while. Cuvier, after Linnaeus, became also
a great authority for a time. He recognised distinctions in
the fangs of venomous snakes, and would reform some
previous errors regarding scales. ' Boa comprenaient
autrefois tous les serpens venimeux ou non, dont le dessous
du corps et de la queue est garni de bandes d'une seul
piece.' ^ It was equally unsuitable to mingle those with
the double rows, as it put a viper and a coluber together.
Cuvier also made closer distinctions between the lizard-like
snakes and the true Ophidia, * serpens propremejit dit! The
words Jieipetology (from the Greek), and serpents (from the
Latin serpo), formerly embraced a much larger variety ;
the former may include all reptiles, while the more
recently adopted one of opJdology comprises snakes only.
And the history of the word tells of the history of the
distinctions gradually adopted as above described, as the
true snakes or serpents, without external limbs, were sepa-
rated from the rest.

The various names for a snake — Anguis, Serpens, Coluber,
etc. — having been made generic distinctions by some of the
older naturalists, cause considerable puzzle to the student,

^ Regne Anitnal, p. 108. Paris.

48 SNAKES.

who finds these words applied alike to many varying
species in as many books, because a writer has often taken
one author for his guide, instead of comparing a number.
Many modern writers on ophiology give us a list of syno-
nymes, which in time are found to unravel the above
perplexities, but which are at first more puzzling than not,
because a single snake is presented to you under so many
different names. This will be apparent in the course of this
work, wherein much that is merely suggestive in the present
chapter will be treated more fully under various headings,
without, I trust, offering a too wearisome repetition. In-
deed, the whole study of the Ophidia presents so many
exceptions that recapitulations may be acceptable rather
than otherwise. An interlacing of subjects has not here
been avoided so much as contrived. In the hope of present-
ing the whole more clearly to the mind of the student.

Ruskin favoured his audience with printed lists of the
* names of the snake tribe in the great languages.' And
these I gladly reproduce for the benefit of my readers.

* Names of the Snake Tribe in the Great

Languages.'

1. Ophis (Greek), 'the seeing' (creature, understood).
Meaning especially one that sees all round it.

2. Dracon (Greek), Drachen (German), ' the beholding.'
Meaning one that looks well into a thing, or person.

3. Anguis (Latin), ' the strangling.'

4. Serpens (Latin), ' the winding.'

5. Coluber (Latin), Couleuvre (French), 'the coiling.'

. SNAKES OF FICTION AND OF FACT. 49

6. Adder (Saxon), ' the grovelling.'

7. Snake (Saxon), Schlange (German), ' the crawling '
(with sense of dragging, and of smoothness).

The first, and Ophidioii, a small serpent, Ophiodes, etc.,
have given the name Ophiology to the science ; the second
was also a ' serpente ' in days of yore. The third, Angids^ is
now applied to some of the smooth, burrowing snakes ; and
the rest speak for themselves.

Before quite taking leave of obsolete teachings, a few
lines from two very distinguished authors of the seventeenth
century must be quoted, the influence of both having no
doubt gone a great way towards diffusing beliefs. Lord
Bacon — in his book. Of the Proficience and AdiLancement of
Learning, Diidne and Humane . To the King. 1605 —
writes, ' It is not possible to join Serpentine Wisdom with
the Columbine Innocency, except men know exactly all
the conditions of the Serpent ; his Baseness and going upon
his Belly, his Volubility and Lubricity, his Envy and Sting ;
for without this. Virtue lyeth unfenced.'

What quality is to be understood by 'Volubility,' the
reader must decide. Of the other five offences, all except
that of crawling are simply imaginary. By * Lubricity,' a
supposed sliminess may be intended, or the old fable of ' lick-
ing ' the prey ; and the only reasonable interpretation of the
* Sting ' is that the old Saxon word styng did imply a wound
punctured or pierced with any fine, sharp instrument ; and the
venomous tooth is not so very unlike an insect's sting after
all.

The next is from Pepys' Diary, vol. i. 'p. 322. — Feb. 4th,

D

50 SNAKES,

1 66 1 : — ' Mr. Templer, an ingenious Man, discoursing of the
Nature of Serpents, told us that some in the waste Places of
Lincolnshire do grow to a Great Bigness, and do feed upon
Larkes which they take thus : — They observe when the Larke
is soared to the Highest, and do crawl till they come to be
just underneath them, and there they place themselves with
their mouth uppermost ; and there, as it is conceived, they
do eject Poyson upon the Bird ; for the Bird do suddenly
come down again in its course of a Circle, and falls directly
into the Mouth of the Snake.'

This story, founded on fact, is related by a beholder
who, to use the words of Dr. Andrew Wilson when dis-
coursing on ' Zoological Myths,' made * an unscientific use
of his imagination.' Our largest English snake has no
poison to ' eject, as it was conceived.' Quite possible that
it might have looked up towards the singing lark, and
with the swiftness of the bird in its descent, glided towards
the spot, ready to pounce upon it. The absurdity of poison
being ejected upwards through a needle-like fang, — had
the snake possessed such an instrument, — and to such a
height, is evident.

Having reduced a very large circle of anomalous rep-
tiles, till the Ophidia only are in possession of the en-
closure, let me endeavour to dispose of these according
to the present accepted methods — not of classification, or
this volume would be mere lists of names. In 1858, when
Dr. Gunther arranged and classified the collection in the
British Museum, there were 3100 colubrine snakes (those
with no viperine features) ; and when you think of
these three thousand odd having, on an average, a dozen

SNAKES OF FICTION AND OF FACT. 51

names each (the reason for which is deferred till the later
chapters), my readers will cheerfully dispense with much
in the way of classes and orders, especially as the present
methods are reckoned very defective, and there is a loud
cry for a new classification of the Reptilia. Already the
reader can surmise some of the difficulties, and they will
be more evident as we proceed.

The whole order of Ophidia may be divided into the
venomous and the non-venomous, or into other two
divisions, viz. those which approach the Saurians, having
scales alike all round, vestiges of shoulder bones and
hind limbs, and with ribs nearly encircling the body ; and
those which have the broad ventral plates, no rudimentary
limbs, and a tongue far more extensible than the previous
group.

It will not, I trust, be out of place to introduce a
table as presented to us at some of the ' Davis Lectures '
at the London Zoological Gardens ; for I think I am
safe in saying this arrangement is adopted by nearly
all our living authorities. To go back to the days of
our childhood and the game of 'Animal, Vegetable, or
Mineral } ' — the original three kingdoms of Nature, — the
first heads our table : Animal Kingdom. Next comes the
sub-kingdom, comprising five divisions, namely mammals,
birds, reptiles, frogs, and fishes, each of which is divided
into class, order, family, genus, species, with sometimes
a sub-class or a sub-order. Professor St. Georcfe Mivart
divides the whole of the reptiles into — (i) Chclonia, the
tortoises ; (2) OpJiidia, the snakes ; (3) Crocodilia, or Lori-
cata, the crocodiles ; (4) Saiin'a, the lizards. Batrachia,

52 SNAKES.

the frogs, he separates, because they begin life as a fish.
Originally there were nine orders of reptiles ; then for a
long while we were taught that there were four, — Chelonians,
Ophidians, Saurians, and Batrachians. Every one of the
above so merges into the others that many herpetologists
differ in drawing the lines between them.

If we were asked to define our little friend, the ring
snake, that ate a frog while we were studying his anatomy,
we would say that he belongs to the —

1. Animal Kingdom.

2. Sub-Kingdom, Vertehrata.

3. Class, Reptilia.

4. Order, Ophidia.

5. Family, Tropidonotus.

6. Genus, Coluber.

7. Species, Matrix.

He is most frequently known as Colicber natrix, though
as both words mean simply a snake, the name is inadequate.
In fact, our common English snake has been rather neglected
in the way of titles, the only generic name which is at all
descriptive being Tropidonotus, so called from the keel which
characterizes the scales. So he is Tropido7iotiis natrix, and
Natrix tropidonotiis, and Natrix torqnata of the different
authors, the last-named specific presumably given on
account of the collar which he wears, and which being
often yellow, has gained for him the name of ' ring snake.'
Cohcber natrix, having so few synonymes, they are all
given, in illustration of what has been already said of the
perplexity of names assigned by different naturalists. And,

SNAKES OF FICTION AND OF FACT. 53

by the way, this 'nng' or 'collar' is not an invariable
mark. Sometimes the yellow is wanting altogether, and
only a white collar is displayed. At the time of
writing 1 there is one of these snakes at the Zoological
Gardens with not the least tint of yellow on its neck ; and
I have before me in alcohol a very young and beautiful
little specimen in which the white collar is very bright
and large, and set off with deep black behind it, but there
is not an approach to yellow or to a ring, the throat being
pure white. His Latin specific is therefore more appro-
priate than his English one, the collar being always there,
but not always the ring.

Dr. Giinther divides the whole of the Ophidia into five
groups, and in briefly describing these I shall hope to con-
duct my readers towards a consideration of those remark-
able features which will be discussed under their various
heads, and which will exhibit the class as unique in their
marvellous organization and physical powers.
The five groups are —

1. Burrowing Snakes.

2. Ground Snakes.

3. Tree Snakes.

4. Fresh-Water Snakes.

5. Sea Snakes.

(i) The Burrowing Snakes live chiefly underground, some
of them working their way down like the worms ; and to
fit them for this life they are characterized by having short
stiff bodies covered with hard, firm, close scales, to form an

^ January 18S2,

54 SNAKES.

armour. Most of them have short and rather curious tails,
as described in chap. xi. ; but many that burrow and hide in
the ground live a good deal on the surface as well. Our
little native slow-worm {Angids fragilis) is allied to these.
Their heads are small and narrow, their muzzle smooth
and strong to help them to work their way. Their jaws do
not stretch apart, nor does their head get out oT shape in
eating, the bones being all more consolidated ; and their
food being chiefly insects, slugs, worms, etc., they seize upon
these, and hold them, and then with quick snaps get them
down their throats. Many of them have rudiments of a
sternum, and pelvic bones — vestiges, perhaps, is a more
correct term, as we shall find by and by, for their saurian
ancestors had perfect limbs. The group is large, perfectly
harmless, and has representatives in most countries where a
snake or a lizard is to be found. None are of great size.

(2) The Ground Snakes iVioXw^iQ by far the greatest number
and diversity, and though passing their time chiefly on the
surface like our ' ring snake,' can both climb trees and enjoy
the water. Some of the most venomous as well as the
harmless and gentle kinds, and some of the largest as well as
the smallest, live habitually on the ground. To fit them for
progression, they have the broad ventral scales described on
p. 46, wide dilatable jaws like Coluber natrix, and scales of
various patterns and colourings. Vipers, the cobras, the
coronellas, the boas, moccasins, 'carpet snakes,' and other
familiar names belong to this large group.

(3) Tree Snakes include both venomous and innocent
genera. They are none of them large, many of them of
a brilliant green, and some of them exquisitely beautiful.

SNAKES OF FICTION AND OF FACT. 55

Slender and active, the harmless kinds skim among the
branches, which scarcely bend beneath their weight. ]\Iany
of them have small and peculiarly arranged ventral shields,
not requiring to hold on in progression ; many also have
long prehensile tails, which wind and cling while the little
acrobats swing to and fro, or hang down to take a young
bird or an egg out of the nest. The poisonous kinds of tree
snakes abound in India, have a thick body, broad head, and
a dull, sluggish habit, but still are handsome as to colour,
and mostly green. They hide in the trunks of trees, or in
the hollow forks of the branches, and rarely venture upon
the ground. Some, however, live only in bushy foliage
low-er down, while other arboreal species frequent the highest
branches, where, moving with amazing celerity, they are as
much at home as the feathered inhabitants.

(4) Fresh- Water S?iakes are especially adapted for an
aquatic existence, and have their nostrils on the top of
the snout, to enable them to breathe easily when in the
water. Some of them can hold on to weeds or other things
by their tails. They swim and dive, and are as active as
eels. None are very large, and all are harmless. But a
good many of the second group that are poisonous, spend so
much of their time in the water that they are know^n as ' water
vipers,' ' water moccasins,' etc., though not truly water snakes.

(5) Sea Snakes. — All highly venomous. These, as also
the fresh-water snakes, are treated fully In chapters xiii.
and xiv. The five divisions assist the student towards
grasping an idea of the principal groups, but the whole
five pass into each other by intermediate forms and im-
perceptible degrees.

56 SNAKES.

Some other general characteristics of the Ophidia are that
all are carnivorous, catching their prey alive; all are ovipar-
ous ; and in organization and intelligence they rank between
birds and fishes, — higher than fishes in having lungs, and
lower than birds, which are warm-blooded animals. Theirheart
is so formed as to send only a portion of blood to the lungs
on each contraction of it ; their temperature, therefore, is that
of the surrounding atmosphere (see p. 142). Their normal
condition, particularly that of the venomous species, is one
of lethargic repose and indolence, with a disposition to
retreat and hide, rather than to obtrude themselves. On
this account, and also because so many of them are nocturnal
in their habits, less has been truly known of serpents than
of most other creatures, prejudice having added to a pre-
vailing indifference regarding them. The duration of their
lives is uncertain, or whether they have a stated period of
growth. Some naturalists think they grow all their lives ;
but this must not be taken literally, or that if a small snake
happened to escape dangers, and live a very long while,
it would acquire the dimensions of a python. Some think
that formerly the constrictors did attain more formidable
proportions than those of the present day.

Snakes have small brains, slight intelligence, and slow
sensations, amounting almost to insensibility to pain. They
can live a long while without their brains and without their
heart ; while the latter, if taken from the body, will con-
tinue its pulsations for a considerable time. Also if the
head be severed, the body will for a certain time continue
to move, coil, and even spring, and the head will try to
bite, and the tongue dart out as in life.

SNAKES OF FICTION AND OF FACT. 57

Persons who dislike snakes continually ask, * What is the
use of them ? ' That they are not without a use will, I
hope, appear in the course of this work, were it necessary to
preach that all things have their use. But In one habit
that offended Lord Baton, viz. of 'going on their belly,'
lies one of their greatest uses, because that, together with
their internal conformation and external covering, enables
them to penetrate where no larger carnivorous animal could
venture, into dense and noisome morasses, bogs, jungles,
swamps, amid the tangled vegetation of the tropics, where
swarms of the lesser reptiles, on which so many of them
feed, would otherwise outbalance the harmony of nature,
die, and produce pestilences. Wondrously and exquisitel}'
constmcted for their habitat, they are able to exist where
the higher animals could not ; and while they help to clear
those inaccessible places of the lesser vermin, they them-
selves supply food for a number of the smaller mammalia,
which, with many carnivorous birds, devour vast numbers
of young snakes. The hedgehog, weasel, ichneumon, rat,
peccary, badger, hog, goat, and an immense number of
birds keep snakes within due limits, while the latter per-
form their part among the grain-devouring and herbivorous
lesser creatures. Thus beautifully is the balance of nature
maintained.

Dr. Kirtland, an eminent naturalist of Ohio, who lived
at a time when that State was being very rapidly settled,
namely, during the early and middle part of the present
century, observed a great Increase of certain snakes as game
birds which fed on them decreased. The latter were, of
course, in request for the market, and the snakes, the ' black

58

SNAKES.

snake ' particularly, having fewer enemies to consume him,
flourished accordingly. It would be worth while to ascer-
tain whether the farmer in Ohio had reason to rejoice over
this redundancy of rat and vermin consumers. At the
present time, when so much of the land is under cultivation,
snakes have decreased again through human agency.

CHAPTER III.

OPHIDIAN TASTE FOR BIRDS' EGGS.

CAN we correctly say that snakes have a * taste ' for
eggs ? What flavour can there be in an egg-shell,
and what pleasure or gratification can a snake derive from
swallowing a hard, round, tasteless, apparently odourless,
and inconvenient mass like a large ^gg ?

That snakes do devour eggs and swallow them whole,
though the fact is often questioned in zoological journals, is
well known in countries where snakes abound. Therefore,
we are led to consider by what extraordinaiy insight or
perception a snake discovers that this uncompromising
solid contains suitable food } Avoiding, as snakes do as
a rule, all dead or even motionless food, it is the more
surprising that eggs should prove an exception. And not
merely the small and soft-shelled eggs of little birds, that
can be got easily into the mouth and swallowed, but the
eggs of poultry and the larger birds, which must in the first
place be difficult to grasp, and in the second place to
which the jaws so wonderfully adjust themselves that the
Qgg passes down entire into the stomach.

6o SNAKES.

Many snakes which do not habitually live in trees, will
climb them in search of birds' eggs ; and many others, not
so agile in climbing, consume vast numbers of eggs from the
nests of birds which build upon the ground. In countries
where snakes are numerous and population sparse, their
depredations in the poultry-yards of secluded residences
are of common occurrence. And it is a noteworthy fact
that the crawling culprits possess an excellent memory for
the localities of hens' nests, so that when once the eggs
have been missing, and the snake's tracks discovered, the
farm-hands well know that the offence will be repeated,
and watch for the thief, to whom no mercy is shown.
But between their virtues as mousers and their vices as
egg-thieves, an American farmer does sometimes hesitate in
destroying certain non-venomous snakes, and may occasion-
ally feel disposed to save his crops, to the sacrifice of his
wife's poultry-yard.

A gentleman, long a resident in India, informed me that
a cobra once got through a chink into his hen-house, and
ate so many eggs from under a sitting hen, that it could
not effect its exit through the same chink, and so remained
half in and half out, where the next morning it was dis-
covered in a very surfeited condition. It was immediately
killed and cut open, when, as the eggs were found to be
unbroken and still warm, the experiment was tried of
replacing them under the mother, who in due time hatched
the brood none the worse for this singular ' departure ' in
their process of incubation.

In another poultry-yard a cobra was found coiled in a
hen's nest, from which all the eggs were gone but two. In

OPHIDIAN TASTE FOR BIRDS' EGGS. 6i

this case, also, the snake had swallowed more than it could
conveniently manage, but either alarm, capture, or greediness
so impaired its digestion that all the eggs were ejected entire !

A similar incident was recorded in the Field newspaper,
in May 1867, the editor introducing the narrator as one of
undoubted intelligence and veracity.

His gardener informed him that a cobra had attacked a
guinea-fowl's nest in the compound. He took his gun and
repaired immediately to the spot, where he saw the cobra
making off, followed by a host of screaming fowls. The
gentleman shot the culprit through the head, and then
observed a tumour-like swelling, as of an ^^^ recently
swallowed. The gardener cut the reptile open, and took
out the Q^g^ safe and sound. The gentleman marked the
<^gg> and set it with fourteen others under a guinea-fowl.
In due time the young chick was hatched ; and this he also
marked, in order to observe whether it would grow up a
healthy bird, which it did.

Several other well-authenticated instances of this nature
micfht be related : but those who have friends or relatives
in India are no doubt sufficiently familiar with such stories
to dispense with them here.

Aware of a cobra's penchant for eggs, the snake-catchers,
or those who pack them for transportation to Europe,
sometimes place a supply in the cages, as convenient food
for the snakes during the voyage. The keeper of the
Ophidarium ^ at the London Zoological Gardens frequently

^ I have ventured lo coin this word for the cages and buildings likely to
be required in parks and gardens for pet snakes, so notably growing in
popularity.

62 SNAKES.

finds hens' eggs unbroken on opening a case containing the
newly-arrived cobras. How many eggs were originally in
the box, and how many had been eaten and digested, or
reproduced during the voyage, it would be interesting to
ascertain if possible.

Snakes are fastidious feeders and long fasters during
confinement. Those cobras may have fasted during the
whole journey, or they may have swallowed and disgorged
the eggs through terror, like their friends at home. Two
things are clear, viz. that the eggs were deposited in the
cage as a favourite delicacy, and that a hen's egg is not
a too cumbrous morsel for even the small-headed cobra to
manage.

A gentleman, accustomed to snakes, on hearing of this,
regarded the eggs found intact in the box as a proof against
their egg-eating propensities, and pointed to the Ophlophagus
which, for lack of his ordinary food one winter, had in vain
been tempted with both pigeons' and hens' eggs. * He
won't eat them, he won't notice them,' was the keeper's
testimony; but, then, other snakes often decline food, even
their habitual and favourite food, when In confinement ; and
so far as the Indian snakes are concerned, their egg-eating
habits are confirmed by many writers, including Sir Joseph
Fayrer, w^ho afiirms that ' they will eat and swallow the
eggs whole.' * Snakes are all carnivorous, existing on
animals and birds' eggs,' he again remarks.^ * Cobras rob
hen-roosts, and swallow the eggs whole.' ^

And does not the very fact of the eggs being placed in
the cages by the natives for their food during a journey,

1 Thanatcphidia of India, 1st ed. 1872. '^ Ih. 2d ed. p. 6. 1874.

OPHIDIAN TASTE FOR BIRDS' EGGS. 63

show that these latter knew what would be most likely to
tempt them ?

The Indian vernacular of the Ophiophagus is StinkercJior,
which means, as Fayrer tells us, ' a breaker of shells.' I
have taken some pains to ascertain a more definite reason
for this name being assigned to the Ophiophagus, or snake-
eater, but without success. Is it because he is an exception
to the rule of eggs being swallowed zvhole, he having for
his size a particularly small mouth and swallow ; and that
he, like his relatives the cobras, being unwilling to relinquish
the dainty, manages them clumsily, and breaks the shells .^
There must be some reason for his being known as the
' shell-breaker.*

Being a tree snake, it may be that ' Sunkerchor,' the
shell-breaker, attempts the smaller birds' eggs, which are
too tender to be swallowed without fracture.

The cobra-worshipping Hindus on their festivals place
eggs for their gods, that they also may partake of the feast.

But examples of egg-eating snakes are not confined to
India. America, the Cape colonies, and all snake countries
are prolific of them.

Mr. P. H. Gosse in Jamaica killed a yellow boa {Chilobothrus
inornahis)^ inside of which he found seven unbroken hen's
eggs. It had been caught in a rat trap.

Catesby, the early American naturalist, in describing the
corn-coloured snake, says ' it is harmless except as a robber
of hens' roosts.' Lawson, the still earlier traveller, in his
quaint description of the 'Racer,' or 'black snake' {Coluber
constrictor), says : — ' He is an excellent Egg Merchant, for he
does not suck the Eggs, but swallows them whole. He will

64 SNAKES.

often swallow all the Eggs from under a Hen that sits, and
coil himself under the Hen in the nest, where sometimes the
Housewife finds him.' Lawson, also, describes the ' Egg and
Chicken Snake' (a doubtful vernacular), 'so called because it is
frequent about the Hen-Yard, and eats Eggs and Chickens.'
The early American settlers guarded their poultry-yards
against snakes as vigilantly as against rats, foxes, and other
such predators. As for the * black snake,' though non-
venomous, all rearers of poultry visit him with vengeance.

Often in our rambles through the woods in Virginia we
saw these snakes, and the swiftness with which they would
vanish through the grass like a flash of steel, proved how
well they merited their name of ' Racer.' These are the
'black snakes' par excellence, in distinction to the black
water-viper and several other kinds which have more or
less black about them. Sometimes they lay basking in
our path, probably after a meal, when they become sleepy
and inactive. On one such occasion I had an excellent
opportunity of examining one of them, and of measuring it.
It was exactly six feet long, and in the largest part as thick
as a man's arm. Its scales were beautifully bright, like an
armour of steel, the white throat and pale under tints com-
pleting the resemblance of polished metal. It was sleeping
on a soft carpet of moss and grass which bordered our sandy
path, and which showed the Racer to great advantage. My
young companion, a Virginian boy to whom no sport came
amiss, espied it with delight, and ran to pick up a stout stick.
Knowing that it was harmless, and so excellent a mouser,
I pleaded for its life ; for in truth the nocturnal visitors in
the shape of rats at our country dwelling were so noisy

OPHIDIAN TASTE FOR BIRDS' EGGS. 65

and numerous, that I regarded the Racer as a friend rather
to be encouraged and domesticated than ruthlessly slain.
Its couch now, in its spring green and freshness, was
enamelled with the star-like partridge-berry {Mitchclla
repens), dotted here and there with twin coral berries
that had lingered through the winter; the bright-leaved,
white - flowered winter green {ChimapJiila macidata) ; the
Bluets {Oldenlandia purpurea), and other exquisite little flowers
too lovely to be crushed and tainted ; while a sunbeam glanc-
ing through the trees, and showing up the polished scales of
the unconscious Racer, all seemed eloquent with mercy.

It was the first time I had been close enough to touch so
large a snake ; and the whole scene is vividly before me now.
Culprit though it might be, it was splendid and beautiful ;
and I entreated Johnny to wait and wake it up, so that
we might watch its actions.

* All very fine ! ' cried the boy, not yet in his teens, * and
fourteen more eggs gone from the hen-house last night ! '

So he pounced upon a fallen bough, which he rapidly
trimmed to suit his purpose, then with one sharp blow
across the poor thing's back, disabled it. I think the
snake was quite killed by the blows the boy subsequently
dealt, for I do not remember that it moved at all.

* Now you can look at it as much as you please,' said the
juvenile sportsman as he straightened the reptile out to its
full length. Then I examined and measured it, and found
it was more than two lengths of my long-handled parasol.
Black creatures with two hands and two legs were far more
likely to be the egg-stealers than that poor Racer far oft" in
the woods.

E

66 SIVAKES.

This 'black snake' climbs trees with ease, and hangs
from a branch to reach a nest below him. * He is the
nimblest creature living/ says an old writer on Virginia,
for he not only has the credit of stealing hens' eggs, but
he 'even swallows the eggs of small birds, without
breaking them,' which again is a proof of the remarkable
control these creatures possess of regulating the pressure of
their powerful jaws.

Many of the African snakes climb trees, and also suspend
themselves from a branch while reaching into a bird's nest
lower down for the eggs it may contain. Both Livingstone
and Dr. Andrew Smith ^ make particular mention of some
of the egg-eating snakes of South Africa, the latter in his
general description of ophidians stating that ' many, perhaps
all snakes, devour eggs when they have an opportunity. A
few feed entirely on eggs,' notably some of the small tree
snakes, to which the name Oligodon (few teeth) has been
given, this family having no teeth on the palate, like all
other snakes. Their food, therefore, cannot be of a nature
to require a very strong grasp, though we have no authority
for stating that the Oligodons feed exclusively on eggs.

There is, however, one of the family with a dentition so
remarkable that it has been considered a distinct type, and
Dr. Andrew Smith, who was the first to observe its habits,
gave it the generic name of Anodon (toothless), the jaws
being merely roughened with the rudiments of teeth. This
little snake, of about two feet in length, is exclusively an
Ggg - feeder. ' Its business,' says Professor Owen in his
Odontography, 'is to restrain the undue increase of small

1 Zoology of Sottth Africa^ by Dr. A, Smith. 1849.

OPHIDIAN TASTE FOR BIRDS' EGGS. 67

birds by devouring their eggs.' Its remarkable organization
is favourable for the passage of these thin-shelled eggs
unbroken until far back in the throat or gullet, when the
egg comes in contact with certain ' gular teeth,' which
then break the shell without any loss of the contents to
the feeder. These gular teeth are a curious modification of
some of the spinal processes, presenting a singular anomaly
in the presence of points of enamel on the extremity of some
of them.

Professor Owen has very fully described this remarkable
development,^ and as his works have been the text-books
of many later physiologists, his words may here be quoted,
even at the risk of repetition.

* In the rough tree snake, Deirodon scaber, with 256 verte-
brae, a hypapophysis — from l^xh (Latin, s?ib), an offshoot from
beneath — projects from the 32 anterior ones, which are
directed backwards in the first ten, and incline forwards in
the last ten, where they are unusually long, and tipped with
a layer of hard cement (dentine). These perforate the
dorsal parietes of the oesophagus, and serve as teeth.

'Those who are acquainted with the habits and food of
this species have shown how admirably this apparent defect
— viz. the lack of teeth — is adapted to its well-being. Now,
if the teeth had existed of the ordinary form and proportions
in the maxillary and palatal regions, the Qgg must have
been broken as soon as it was seized, and much of the
nutritious contents would have escaped from the lipless
mouth ; but owing to the almost edentulous state of the
jaws, the egg glides along the expanded mouth unbroken,

^ Odontography^ by Richard Owen, 1840, and Anatovty of the Vertebrates, 1866.

68

SNAKES.

and not until it has reached the gullet, and the closed
mouth prevents the escape of any of the nutritious matter,
is it exposed to the instruments adapted to its perforation.
These instruments consist of the inferior spinous processes/
etc., already described. * They may be readily seen even
in very small subjects, in the interior of that tube in which
their points are directed backwards. The shell being sawed
open longitudinally by these vertebral teeth, the Qgg is
crushed by the contractions of the gullet, and is carried to
the stomach, where the shell is no doubt soon dissolved by
the acid gastric juice.'

Portion of spine of the Gular teeth penetrating

Deirodon, from Andrew Smith's into the gullet, ib.
Zoology 0/ South Africa.

Portion of spine from a
skeleton at the museum of
the R. C. S., natural size.

The two from Smith's Zoology must be much magnified ;
the third, from the skeleton, being the true size, excepting
that the ribs are broken short off, some entirely so. The
minute processes extend two or more inches.

As the learned professor has described the Deirodon (neck-
toothed) both under the head of teeth, and also of verte-
brated animals, the two accounts are blended, but given
verbatim as far as possible.

OPHIDIAN TASTE FOR BIRDS' EGGS. 69

The colour of the Deirodon is of a brightish or yellowish
brown, very minutely spotted with white. Such few true
teeth as some individuals may possess are extremely small
and conical, discovered only towards the angle of the mouth.

Dr. Andrew Smith first examined a specimen in 1829,
when he found that the gular teeth commence exactly 2\
inches behind the apex of the lower jaw, and penetrate the
cesophagal canal through small holes in its tunics, and that
each point is armed with enamel. He had observed that
the living specimens which he had in captivity always, when
feeding, retained the ^g'g stationary about two inches from
their head, and while there, used great efforts to crush it.
Dissecting a specimen in order to investigate this strange
action, he discovered the gular teeth just where the Q.g<g had
stopped, and which, he felt satisfied, had assisted in fixing
it there, and also in breaking the shell when subjected to
the muscular action of the surrounding parts. The gular
teeth are developed in very young Deirodons.

Dr. Smith saw that the broken shell was ejected, while
the fluid contents were conveyed onwards ; but this may
have been an exceptional case, because by a snake in
health egg-shells are easily digested. Probably those snakes
watched by Dr. A. Smith being captives, and presumably
not altogether as happy and healthy as in their sylvan
homes, found the shells too much for them, and so ejected
them ; as the cobras above described disgorged the stolen
eggs. This habit of disgorging food appears to be some-
times voluntary.

Snakes have been known to pass the (tg^ through their
body entire, but this also must be owing to an abnormal

70 SNAKES.

state of health or of habit, as the strong juices of the
stomach, which can convert even bones and horn to nutri-
ment, ordinarily dissolve an egg-shell.

Throughout nature we find that, whatever the habits of
the creature may be, its structure and capacities are adapted
to it. Every need is, as it were, anticipated in the process
of development ; and wherever, as in this harmless little
tree snake, we find a departure from general rules, it is
because some especial requirements are met, and in order
that the creature may be the better prepared for the struggle
for existence. In the present example we find a marvellous
adaptation of spine bones to dental purposes ; how many
ages it has taken to develop them we cannot conjecture.
All we know is that these spinal projections are just the
sort of teeth that the egg-swallower requires, and that
its natural teeth are gradually becoming obsolete from
disuse.

A writer who was quoted at some length in the Zoologist
for 1875, and in several other contemporary journals, stated
that some snakes ' suck out the contents of hen's eggs by
making a hole at the end.' '

We are not told with what instrument these evidently
scientific serpents punctured the shell. Some skill is required,
as schoolboys give us to understand, to prick an egg-shell
without breaking it ; and even when the hole is bored,
additional care is required to suck out the contents. How
a snake could first grasp firmly, and then puncture a fowl's
^gg, is incomprehensible; how the sucking process is achieved

^ Aa/ural Hisiory Notes from South Africa, by R. B. and J. D. S. Woodward.
Lend. 1874.

OPHIDIAN TASTE FOR BIRDS' EGGS, 'ji

is still more so. We can understand that a snake which
discovered a broken egg might seem to lap some of the
contents, because, as we shall by and by show, the tongue
habitually investigates, and is immediately in requisition under
all circumstances. But to lap up an egg would be a very
slow process for so slender an instrument. One is reminded
of the dinner which Sir Reynard invited his friend the
Stork to partake with him.

While still marvelling over these South African egg-
suckers, I watched some lizards with a broken egg in their
cage. Their tongues were long, thin, blade-like, and bifid,
much better adapted for the purpose of lapping than that
of a snake, yet stupidly slow and inefficient was this ribbon-
like tongue. The lizards threw it out, spatula-fashion, into
the midst of the pool of egg which was spreading itself over
the floor, and caught whatever of the fluid adhered to it.
Had the lizards possessed lips adapted for such a purpose,
and, in addition, intelligence enough to 'suck,' they might
have drawn some of the cohesive mass into their throats,
but they only obeyed their instinctive habit of lapping.
Snakes would do the same. Their habit is to moisten the
tongue in lapping ; and I fear we must not place too much
credence in the exceptional intelligence of that South African
egg-sucker, but rather regret the loose account which con-
veys so erroneous an impression. I watched those lizards
for many minutes, and decided that the egg would be dried
up long before it could be consumed by lizard-lapping.

The tongue of a snake is undoubtedly an important and
highly-developed organ. That its sensitiveness assists the
smell, we have reason to believe, and possibly it possesses

72 SNAKES.

other faculties of which we are at present ignorant. In the
case of an unbroken egg, for instance, the tongue has told
the snake that there is something good inside it ; and instinct
immediately leads the reptile to get the awkward mouthful
between its jaws, which expand just so far as to retain it
safely, yet just so lightly that not one of those row^s of long,
sharp teeth shall penetrate the shell or fracture it in the
slightest degree. How delicate must be the adjustment
whereby those six jaws, all bristling w^ith fine, needle-like
teeth, grasp and yet not break the delicate shell ! for, after
all, an Qgg is a fragile substance in proportion to the size of
the feeder and its muscular powder.

Snakes have been known to get choked in attempting to
swallow an cgg^ as they have also come to grief with other
impediments, such as horns of cattle ; but this w^e must
attribute to their not being able to estimate their own
swallowing capacities, or to some other untow-ard event.

The Messrs. Woodward's scientific snake would not have
crept into these pages had it not previously figured in the
Zoologist.dind thence copied in other prints, thereby misleading
many readers. It also proved a subject worth discussing by
thinking persons, and was alluded to very particularly by
an ophiological friend and publisher in a letter to myself,
which may be here usefully quoted. My friend, who has
long stimulated me by his kind encouragement of my
work, and by the assistance of his experience and judg-
ment, was pleased to express much interest in a little paper
on the Deirodon, which I had written for Aiuit Judys

^ See Aunt Judy's Magaziney Aug. 1S74, London, — 'The Deirodon, or neck-
toothed snake.'

OPHIDIAN TASTE FOR BIRDS' EGGS. 73

Magazine, he having read it shortly before the appearance
of the Messrs. Woodward's statement in the Zoologist,
April 1875 : —

' In this month's Zoologist^ wrote my friend, ' a writer
says that a certain snake makes havoc of the hen-house, b}-
boring a hole in the ^g'g and sucking its contents ! Can
this be true ? To a letter of mine to Mr. Newman (the then
editor of the Zoologist), on the subject, he replies, "With regard
to snakes eating eggs, it has been repeated so often that I
cannot help fearing Mr. Woodward may have imbibed tJic
notion from American sotirces. It is so common in the
United States to find snakes in holes in the bottoms of trees
made by woodpeckers, that it seems almost impossible to
resist the conviction that they enter these holes to get the
birds themselves, or their young, or their eggs. It must
be regretted that those witnesses who come into court with
such evidence are not, generally speaking, the kind of close
observers in whose dicta we can place implicit reliance."
This,' continues my correspondent, ' Mr. Newman writes
after I had suggested that some families of snakes have
triturating powers (learned from Annt Judy) in the throat,
independent altogether of palatal teeth. The subject seems
to be as much steeped in the unknown, as are the ways of
the beautiful creatures themselves.'

This from a well-known and highly-popular publisher,
a man of education, culture, and scientific attainments,
though snakes hitherto had not been his specialt)', any more
than that of the late editor of the Zoologist. The latter, how-
ever, admitting his doubts on the subject of ophidian egg-
feeders, would have done well to have added a note to that

74 SNAKES.

effect to the account given by Mr. Woodward, which,
simply from its appearance in a scientific journal, might be
received as authority.

A few more well-known proofs of ophidian taste for eggs
may conclude this chapter. Of our own green or ring
snake {Colnher nairir), Mr. Bell says, ' It feeds upon young
birds, eggs, and mice, but prefers frogs.' In Balfour's India,
on the subject of cobra-worship, mention is made of the
snakes getting into larders for eggs and milk, and being
protected as the good genius of the house on such occasions.

But the Hindu custom of placing eggs for snakes at their
serpent festivals must be too familiar to most of my readers
to need further comment.

CHAPTER IV.

DO SNAKES DRINK?

PERHAPS in no other branch of natural history has
such a degree of interest been awakened during
the last decade, and such an advance made as in ophiology.
The result of a spirit of inquiry thus set afloat is that
information is being continually elicited from travellers and
observers. Those who now entertain predilections for this
branch of science, will many of them admit that whatever
interest they feel in the subject has been of a comparatively
recent date ; that since they have at all studied snake nature,
they have repeatedly had to combat with preconceived
notions. Again and again they have been 'surprised to
learn that so-and-so ' — some now established fact, perhaps —
is the case, when they had ' akuays thought' — probably
something quite the contrary.

This has been frequently verified in my own experience
in my correspondence with really scholarly men, who have
generously admitted as much. Not a few, during my ten
years' study of the Ophidia, have traced their interest in
snakes to my own enthusiasm. Preconceived errors are not

75

76 SN-AKES.

to be wondered at when we consider that, apart from scientific
works, so much that has been related of serpents has been
mingled with prejudice, fable, and tradition, clouding our
intelligence at the very outset. Nor need we hesitate in
admitting our misconceptions, when we find scientific men
themselves devoting page after page to a mooted question,
and after all, sometimes venturing to sum up a given sub-
ject with a modest doubt only. (Would that the less scientific
writers were equally cautious in their statements!) Whether
snakes drink, and 7vhat they drink, have been among these
debated questions.

Those who possess a love for natural history are, of course,
acquainted with the works of the eminent naturalist. Dr.
Thomas Bell, on our native fauna ; and those who admit
their Interest in the much-maligned snakes have Included in
their studies his British Reptiles.^ In one portion of that
work, where science Is so charmingly blended with personal
observations, we are carried on to the heaths and commons
to watch our pretty little agile lizards skim across the grass,
and flit away with legs too fleet for us to follow them.

We linger on the banks of a stream where a ring snake
lies In wait for a frog ; and then we are conducted Into Mr.
Bell's study, where the same harmless creature, now tamed,
is nestling In his sleeve, or lapping milk from his hand.

Most of my readers also, whether naturalists or not, are
familiar with some of the numerous works on India, its
creeds, customs, and superstitions, where mention Is so
frequently made of cobra- worship, and of the natives
setting saucers of milk near Its hole to conciliate and pro-

^ British Reptiles, by Thomas Bell, F.L.S., etc. 1849.

DO SNAKES DRINKS 77

pitiate the serpent. Familiar to us all, too, is the picture

of a little child with a bowl of milk on its lap, and a snake

receiving a tap with the spoon to check the too greedy

intrusion of its head into the bowl, but into which, according

to the story, it had been accustomed and permitted to dip

its tongue. Some persons place that story in Wales ; others,

and with better reason, trace it to New England. The child

and its surroundings, the size of the snake, all justify this

latter belief, and that the intruder is the notorious milk-

stealer so common in the United States, the 'black snake,'

or Racer (introduced p. 64).

In the face of these well-known facts, it may seem strange

to propose the question, ' Do snakes ever drink } ' and still

stranger to affirm that this was lately a disputed point

among some of our scientific writers. ' On s'ignore,' says

Schlegel, 'si les serpents boivent, et s'il est juste d'opiner

pour la negative ; toutefois on n'a jamais apergu des fluides

dans ceux dont on a examine I'estomac' ^

O
Schlegel, when he wrote, had not the benefit of Mr. Bell's

experience, and as a foreigner, probably he had not read

Jesse's Gleanings nor White's Selborne ; nor, as a scientific

student, had he time to bestow on promiscuous works on

India, which, by the way, were not so numerous then as

now. But there are several well-known milk-drinking snakes

in America w^hich had been described by writers prior to

Schlegel. This learned author, however, puts down the

milk-loving snakes among the 'fables' and 'prejudices;'

and, as we have seen, dismissed the water-drinkers with

a doubt.

' Physiognoinie dcs serpents^ p. 97. Par H. Schlegel. Amsterdam, 1837.

78 SNAKES.

Mr. Bell's work has enjoyed upwards of thirty years'
popularity, and his milk-drinking pet has been quoted by
scores of writers of both adult and juvenile books. Thomas
Bell, F.L.S., F.G.S., was secretary to the Royal Society ;
Professor of Zoology of King's College, London ; and one
of the Council of the Zoological Society of London. He
was also a ' corresponding member ' of the learned societies
of Paris and Philadelphia, and of the Boston Society of
Natural History.

As a gentleman of widely recognised learning and veracity,
therefore, it may be considered that Mr. Bell, and with good
reason, entertained no doubt whatever as to snakes drinking,
and also drinking milk. Mr. Bell, moreover, had known of
the celebrated python at Paris (see chap, xxiv.), which in
1 84 1 evinced a thirstiness that has become historical in all
zoological annals. The circumstance was fully recorded by
M. Valenciennes at the time ; when a no less distinguished
ophiologist than M. Dumeril,^ Professeur d' Erpetologie an
Musce a Paris, was especially appointed to the management
of the reptile department there. That very distinguished
ophidian lady, the python, need be referred to here only as
regards the drinking question, the rest of her history coming
in its place in this book. It will be remembered that she laid
eggs, and to the surprise of all, coiled herself upon them to
hatch them. * Pendant tout le temps d'incubation la femelle
n'a pas voulu manger' (she began to incubate on the 6th
May) ; * mais le 25*^ de mai, apres vingt jours de couvaison, son
gardien, Vallee, homme tres soigneux et tres intelligent, la
voyant plus inquiete que de coutume, remeuee la tete, et lui

^ Annales des scieftces natttrelles, 2d Series, tome xvi. Paris, 1841.

DO SNAKES DRINK 1 79

presenta de I'eau dans un petit basin ; elle y plongea le bout
de son museau, et Tanimal en but avec avidite environs
de deux verres. Elle a ensuite bu quatre fois pendant le
reste du temps de sa couvaison : le 4 juin, 13, 19, 26.' (Her
eggs began to hatch early in July.)

The interesting invalid, ordinarily tame and gentle, had
latterly displayed anger and irritability on being disturbed,
pushing away the hand if touched ; but in her present state
the want of water was so great that she evinced uneasiness
to her guardian, and permitted him to move and turn her
head, so that she could dip the end of her muzzle into the
basin. The narrator argued, from this remarkable demonstra-
tion, that the incubation (in which a rise of temperature
was observable) produced a sort of feverishness which caused
her to decline solid food, though her thirst was so great
that she almost asked for drink.

When eight of the fifteen eggs were hatched, the little
pythons ate nothing until after their first moult (which
happened to them all within a fortnight), but during those
early days of their existence they * drank several tiuiesy and
also bathed themselves.'

This event perhaps established the fact beyond any doubt
that snakes do drink, so far as modern and scientific ophio-
logists had ventured to decide ; and M. Dumeril, from long
observation, is able to tell us how.

Speaking of the tongue of a snake, this experienced natu-
ralist informs us that 'cette langue fort longue sert-elle
comme on I'a observee quelque-fois a faire pen^trer un pcu
de liquide dans la bouche, car nous avons vu nous-mcmc dcs
couleuvres laper ainsi Teau, que nous avions placee auprcs

So SNAKES.

d'elles dans la cage, ou nous les tenions renfermees pour les
observer a loisir.' ^

But, as he goes on to describe, ^quelques serpents avalent
de I'eau sans se servir de la langue pour laper. Alors ils
tiennent la tete enfoncee sous I'eau au-dessous du niveau,
ils ecartent un peu les machoires, et font baisser le fond de
la gorge, dans laquelle I'eau descend par son propres poids.'
You can then perceive the slight movements of swallow-
ing, like a thirsty man gulping down a beverage {a la
rcgalade).

What follows affords an explanation of M. Schlegel's
statement that he had never discovered water in a snake
which he had dissected, this learned author not having gone
so thoroughly into the matter. ' Cette eau,' says M. Dumeril,
■* sert a laver les intestines ; car elle est rendue liquide avec
les feces, elle ne parait pas expulsde par les voies urinaires.'

M. Dumeril speaks very clearly on this point both in
his introductory preface, and again in vol. vi., under the
more detailed descriptions of each especial sense and organ.

Snakes rarely drink (that is, not every day, as most
animals do), most of them living in dry regions or forests,
where for long periods they are deprived of water. The
live prey upon which they subsist supplies them with
sufficient liquid. This may be known by the natural dis-
charges, which are usually of a liquid nature. Nevertheless,
a large number of serpents live close to water, and love
to plunge and to swim. These truly drink, — lapping with
the tongue, as above described ; at other times with the

^ Erpetologie general^ par MM. Dumeril et Bibron, tome i. p. 136. Paris,
1844.

DO SNAKES DRINKS 81

head under water, and the neck still lower, so that the
water falls into tJie mouth by its oiun iceight, and is then
swallowed. But this, he repeats, does not go into the
blood, or very little of it, car ils roideiit eii grand partie,
etc., as above, its function being principally to moisten the
intestines.

Lenz, a German ophiologist of still earlier date than
Schlegel, went very conscientiously into the subject of
whether snakes drink or not,^ having adopted various means
in order to test them. His personal experience was, how-
ever, of a more limited range.

It is worth while to bear in mind the dates of some of
these writings, both that we may watch the gradual advance
of ophidian knowledge, and also that we may the better
appreciate the vast amount of time, care, labour, and research
by which we are finally put in possession of facts of natural
history.

As a comparatively modern writer, Lcnz, without doubt,
made very valuable contributions to the science of ophio-
logy, and at a time when fact was only beginning to be
sifted from fable. It will be seen that, thouc^h writincr
several years before Schlegel, he had arrived at the same
conclusions.

' The numerous snakes and other animals which inhabit
arid mountains, or plains destitute of water, can only quench
their thirst with rain or dew. Snakes require but little
water as long as they live in the open air. It is an esta-
blished rule that no water is found in the maw, stomach,
or entrails of snakes killed in the open air, even when

^ Schlan^cn it)id Scldaii-^cji jietut^ jar II. O. Lenz. (lotha, 1S32.

K

82 SNAKES.

destroyed by or in a piece of water. Snakes are never seen
to go to drhik in any part of the world.'

This last clause is, as we have now seen, a too positive
assertion, and one not subsequently borne out by other
equally conscientious and intelligent writers. Livingstone,
who was a close observer of nature, informs us that he has
known some of the African snakes come a long zvay to pools
and 7'ivers to drink. Dr. Theodore Cantor, who is one of
the best authorities on the Indian sea snakes, and who was
a member of the Zoological Society, tells us that he has
seen snakes * both drink and also moisten the tongue ; two
distinct operations^ he explains.^ This conviction having
been stated prior to Dumeril's elaborate and much-prized
work, is valuable testimony. The majority of snakes in
India are partial to water, he tells us, with the exception
of the arboreal species, which probably obtain sufficient
moisture from the rain or dew upon the leaves ; and as it
is not in their nature to be on the ground, their organization
doubtless renders them independent of water.

We of late so often see it said of any particular snakes in
captivity that ' they neither ate nor drank at first ; ' or that
'they drank, though they would not eat,' that we almost
wonder their bibulous propensities were ever doubted ;
especially as the majority of snakes are fond of water, and
swim readily. We are surprised, therefore, that the second
edition of Mr. Lenz' really valuable work, published so
lately as 1870, should still retain the assertion that snakes
have never been seen to drink.

'^ Sea Snakes : Pelagic Serpents, by Dr. Theo. E. Cantor. London, 1842.
Zoological Society's TraJisactions, 1841.

DO SNAKES DRINKl 83

Mr. Frank Buckland saw his Coronella drink fre-
quently, though she ate nothing ; and as the discovery and
captivity of this interesting lady and her brood, born in
London in 1862,^ formed the subject of many papers in
the scientific journals at the time, one would suppose that
they would have been heard of in Germany, where the
species {C. Icevis) is well known.

' Though not to be tempted with food, they are very fond
of water,' says Mr. F. Buckland.

Lenz' experiments are, however, well worth noticing,
because subsequent observations have in many instances
confirmed this author's conclusions.

' In confinement,' he says, * snakes are more easily induced
to lick up drops sprinkled on grass than to drink from a
vessel.' Naturally so. In their native haunts they are not
accustomed to pans of water or saucers of milk, but they
are accustomed to moisten their tongues on the blades of
grass or the leaves of plants which hold the drops of rain
or dew. Lenz then mentions some experiments which he
himself made with snakes. He placed a ring snake and
an adder in an empty box, and kept them there without
food for a fortnight, at the end of which period he placed
them in a tub containing half an inch of water, and left
them there for half an hour. He then killed them both,
and on dissection found no water inside of them. This
led him to the conclusion that they had not drank at all ;
but, in the first place, had they occupied the whole half-
hour in lapping with their thread-like tongue, it may be
doubted whether any appreciable quantit)- could be imbibed

^ Sec /vV/t/ newspaper, September and October 1S62. London.

84 SNAKES.

during that time ; and in the second place, the sudden
transition and strange situation in which they found them^
selves would, through fright, entirely destroy whatever
inclination they might have had to appease hunger or thirst.

It will be seen that snakes are exceedingly capricious in
taking food ; and that when in an abnormal or strange
locality they rarely feed for a long while. Mr. Lenz himself
is of opinion that, had he left them longer in the water, or
placed them in a dry tub where liquid could be got at,
they would or might have drunk. Thus, the experiments
only go to corroborate what all keepers of snakes have
observed, viz. that captivity or strange surroundings render
them averse to feed.

M. Lenz placed his snakes among the cows in order
to test the foolish belief that obtains in some countries
that snakes will ^suck' the udders; but of course, and for
similar reasons, even could such an achievement be possible,
the snakes attempted no such thing.

His snakes were strict members of a temperance society
also, for not even wine could tempt them to drink, though
this and other liquids were placed within reach to entice
their taste. Not so Pliny's snakes, for he would have us
believe that they show *a great liking for wine,' whenever
an opportunity presented itself for their tasting it !

But how came the idea to obtain that snakes suck cows, —
a fact so frequently asserted by the older naturalists .'* One
old writer goes so far as to state that a certain American
snake ' causes cows to give forth bloody milk.' And yet, to
the thinking or observing person, the origin of the belief
may be easily accounted for. That snakes have partiality

DO SNAKES DRINK 1 ' 85

for milk no longer admits of a doubt ; that they like warmth
and shelter is an equally established fact. Therefore, they
find their way into cattle-sheds, and hide in the straw or
any snug corner, possibly even among the recumbent
cattle ; and, being there, their ever busy exploring tongues
discover a savour of milk, and the snake is led by this
intelligent tongue to the very fountain of their favourite
drop. The irritated cow would then naturally stir or kick,
and endeavour to shake off the strange intruder, who, in
its turn alarmed or angered, would bite the udder, and
fetch blood. This, in the dark ages of natural history, and
during the period when the serpent was invested with all
manner of cruel and revolting wilfulness, would suffice to
give rise' to the belief that has so long prevailed. The rat
snake {Ptyas vmcosics) and the ClotJionia of India are 'said*
to suck the teats of cows ; so also are the * hoop snake ' and
several other American species, which, with their climbing
propensities, may sometimes twine themselves about the
legs of cattle, and thus reach the udders, where persons
have discovered them. It is just possible that the snakes
may get the teat into their mouths, and advance upon it,
with the intention of swallowing it, not knowing that it
was only a teat, with a cow inconveniently attached to it,
and not some small and more manageable prey.

Among the American milk-drinking snakes is Coluber
eximius, known as the ' milk snake,' one of the dairy
frequenters, which is said to seek milk with avidity.
This snake is mentioned by De Kay,^ Emmons,^ and

1 Zoology of New York, by J. E. De Kay. Albany, 1844.
* Natural History of Nno York. 5 vols. New York, 1842,

86 SNAKES.

Holbrooke,! who all describe it as being very beautiful and

* innocent ' (except in the eyes of the farmers' wives). It is of a
pale, pearly white, sometimes tinged with pink, and with rich
chocolate spots on its back. The Racer, of egg-stealing
notoriety, is also a sad milk thief, and, like our own little
ring snake, has been known to retrace its way into dairies.
Such depredations were more frequent formerly when the
snakes were more numerous. Of the Racer, Lawson^ says,

* This Whipster haunts the Dairies of careless Housewives,
and never misses to skim the Milk clear of the Cream.'

The same love of warmth which takes the reptiles among
cattle, guides them into dwellings, particularly during the
night ; and in hot countries where nursing-women of the
poorer classes lie exposed, snakes have been found upon
their breasts, and absurd stories have been told of their
sucking the teats of women. In India, Australia, and
America, such stories are common.

After all, it does not seem surprising that snakes should
like milk. Being carnivorous by nature, they would at once
detect an animal flavour in the liquid by the agency of
their sensitive tongue.

Now turning to India, we find that the love of snakes for
milk is mentioned by numerous writers on the manners and
customs of the Hindus, as well as by travellers and naturalists.
Balfour' tells us 'when a snake discovers how to get at the
eggs and milk in a larder, no native w^ill on any account
kill it, because it is regarded as the good genius of the

^ North Afnerican Herpctology. Pliil., U. S., 1842.

2 History of Carolina^ by Jno. Lawson, 1 709.

^ Balfour's British India ; also the Cyclopedia of India.

DO SNAKES DRINK 1 87

house.' And again, * that the cobra is fed with milk in some
of the temples where it is worshipped.'

Dr. Shortt of Madras keeps a man to attend to his cobras,
and finds them thrive excellently on sour milk, which is
administered once in ten or twelve days.^ ' Snakes feed
on eggs and inilk] says Sir J. Fayrer.

When we read similar facts mentioned incidentally, and
with no especial object, we may give them credence even
more than if a prejudiced writer were endeavouring to prove
such or such a thing. For instance, during the visit of
H.R.H. the Prince of Wales to India, the exhibition of
snakes and snake-charming formed a not unimportant item
in the programme, and furnished many columns of cobra
performances and cobra traditions to the papers. More
than one of the journalists unintentionally corroborated
what Balfour and other writers tell us about the ' good luck '
of having a cobra in the chiippitr of the hut, the fearlessness
with which the children regard their * uncle,' as they call it,
and their care in placing milk and eggs for it each evening.

But I am reminded of a singular case which came to me
through a personal acquaintance from India who was present
at the time.

Four officers sitting in a bungalow in India were deep in
a game of whist. Suddenly one of them, turning deadly
pale, made signs that no one should move or speak. In
a hushed voice he exclaimed, ' Keep still, for God's sake !
I feel a cobra crawling about my legs ! ' He knew that
timidity was one of the strongest characteristics of this
snake, and that if not disturbed or alarmed, it would in due

1 See Medical Times, 1872, p. 730.

88 SNAKES.

time depart of its own accord. All present were accustomed
to the stealthy intruders, and did not, happily, lose their
presence of mind. They very noiselessly bent down so as
to take a survey beneath the table, when, sure enough,
there was the unwelcome visitor, a full-sized cobra, twining
and gliding about the legs of their hapless friend. Literally
death was at his feet I A movement, a noise, even an
agitated tremble might have been fatal.

Luckily one of the four was acquainted with the milk-
loving habit of the cobra, and rising from his seat with quiet
and cautious movements, not daring to hasten, yet dreading
delay, he managed to steal from the room, while he signed
the rest to remain motionless. Quickly he crept back with
a saucer of milk in his hand, and still with noiseless move-
ments set the saucer under the table as close to the terrible
reptile as it was safe to venture.

That fearful strain on their nerves was happily of not
long duration, for presently they were relieved by seeing the
creature gradually untwine itself and go to the milk.

Never before or since did that officer leap from his seat
as he did then, the moment he felt himself free from the
coils of the cobra, and read in the faces of his comrades that
he was saved. Short thrift, however, had Mr. Cobra, for
sticks and whip-handles were freely administered, even before
the saucer w^as reached.

The enemy got rid of, the game was resumed ; and it is
worth the while of those in India to bear this narrow escape
in mind, and bring milk to the rescue in case of similar
danger.

That snakes drink, and occasionally drink milk, is suffi-

DO SNAKES DRINK 1 89

ciently established. Modern authorities now affirm it
decidedly. Says Dr. Giinther in his great work, published
by the Ray Society ,1 ' All snakes drink, and die when
deprived of water.' Dr. Edward Nicholson, another of
our practical ophiologists, speaking of one of his pet
snakes, a TropidonoUts, says ' the offer of a drink of water
will at once gain its heart.' In watching snakes drinking,
he has frequently counted one hundred gulps before the
drinker is satisfied.- If Anguis fragilis, the common blind-
worm, from its snake-like form, may be cited here, I ma}-
mention one of my own, which, after being shut up in a
box for safety during my absence from home for some days,
drank for such a long while when first released from cap-
tivity, that I was really tired of waiting to watch her. She
almost immediately went to a flower-pot saucer of water, with
which she was familiar, and which I placed near her. For
some time I watched the tongue thrown out and withdrawn,
till I began to wonder how much longer she would remain
dipping that little bifid organ. I then began to count, and
she dipped it seventy-five times more, after drinking at least
as long as that previously. Then she moved away, and ex-
plored among the books on the table, but soon returned to
the saucer and dipped her tongue again upwards of seventy
times. How much more I cannot affirm, as I could not
remain any longer waiting for her, and left her still drinking.
(' Lizzie,' thus named from her lizard nature, must claim
a chapter to herself in this book, for she greatly distinguished
herself in laccrtine doings.)

1 Reptiles of British India, by Dr. A. Giinther, F.R.S. London, 1864.

2 Indian Snakes, by E. Nicholson, Madras Army. Madras, 1870.

90 SNAKES.

While puzzling over this drinking question, I find a
favourite author, P. H. Gosse, affirm, ' Snakes drink by
suction, not by lapping,' and that 'serpents are said to
lap up fluids with their forked tongue, which, however,
seems to be ill suited to such an operation.' ^

Then one naturally turns to the encyclopedias, where we
grow still more perplexed, for no two agree precisely on
all points.

* The use of the tongue in serpents is not exactly known.' ^
And again, ' It is believed that serpents never drink.' ^ It is
true that the compiler of the article Reptilia quotes Schlegel
a good deal; but unfortunately that is the very point on
which Schlegel speaks doubtfully. Nor do we presume to
include the learned Schlegel as one of the inaccurately
informed individuals, though he does discredit the milk-
drinkers. Of him Dumeril thus writes, or of his work rather,
which he pronounced to be ' le plus detaille et le plus complet
qui ait paru jusqu'ici (1844), et auquel nous serons sans cesse
oblige d'avoir recours.' Schlegel is also quoted by Cantor,
1 841 ; by Dr. J. E. Gray, 1849; by Dr. A. Giinther, 1864;
and, in fact, by most scientific ophiologists. Natural history
is an ever-advancing science, more so, perhaps, than any
other. Linnseus and Cuvier were great in their day, but
their systems obtain no longer.

Unfortunately, a dozen book-makers and a thousand
journalists seek no farther than encyclopedias when they are
' reading up ' a subject ; and not until too late, if at all, or after

1 Natural History of Reptiles^ by P. H. Gosse, 1S50.

2 Encyclopedia Britatwica, 1 859, see art. * Reptilia,' p. 47.
^ Ibid. p. 47.

DO SNAKES DRINK 1 91

long searchings and a realization of the importance of dates,
do these wide spreaders of information discover the error.
Compilers of articles for encyclopedias are always limited as to
space, and often as to time; and life would not be long enough
to wade through Zoological Records covering fifty years, or
Aiinales des sciences nature lies which date from 1824 to the
present time. Only, the compilers of articles on the Rcptilia
should surely have known of Mr. Bell's Cohtbe^' natrix, and
of the Paris python, and of the Aniphisbcena of the Zoological
Gardens, all ophidian celebrities in their day.

The mention of the Zoological Gardens reminds me of my
promise to conduct my readers thither as an agreeable change
from the book-shelves. Therefore, without further wearying
them with the conflicting statements of fifty writers, let us
repair thither, and see what Holland, the keeper, tells us
about his thirsty snakes.

First, we observe that most of the cages are furnished
with a tank or a pan of water, and this not for the water-
snakes only. Many of the others, also, are lying in their
bath, coiled up in apparent enjoyment. Questioning the
intelligent keeper, he tells us that when fresh ophidian
inmates arrive, they almost invariably go to the water,
and though for a time they refuse food, they alzuays drink.
On several occasions some have drunk so eagerly that the
water has visibly sunk in the tank. These were the larger
snakes, of course. He does ' not believe they would live
without water.' He then tells us the story of the Aniphis-
bcsna over again, the snake that lived for six months on
milk only, and which was chronicled in the zoological
magazines of the day, and has figured in books ever since.

92 SNAKES.

Mr. Mann confirmed all these facts in his own ophidian
pets, and going to see these interesting individuals, we felt
no doubt about it when a saucer of water was in the way.

But I do feel inclined to doubt whether the use of the
tongue in 'lapping,' as it has been called, is not rather to
moisten that organ than to quench the thirst. We shall see
in the following chapter what it does for its owner, and we
shall see the necessity for this delicate organ to be well
lubricated. Both it and its sheath require to be constantly
moistened ; how else could it glide in and out with that
wonderful activity ? how in a dry and parched condition could
it retain its exceeding flexibility and delicacy of perception ?

Unfortunately, the position of the tanks in the cages at
the London Zoological Gardens, and the stone ledge in
front of them, prevent the visitors from watching the actions
of the snakes in the water, either when swimming or drinking.
Occasionally one of the inmates of the larger cages may be
seen in a pan of water, though their motions are necessarily
restricted there. One day, however, the yellow Jamaica
boa, when drinking from the pan, afforded an excellent
opportunity for observation. And he was a long time
imbibing. There was no perceptible action of the lips,
which were barely parted. The snake kept its mouth
just below the level of the water, and the only action or
movement seen was at the back of the head, or on each
side of the neck, like a pulsation, as the water passed down
in short gulps. This is the * suction ' which writers describe,
a drawing in of the liquid ; but the lips do not take part in
the act. When, therefore, we read that snakes drink both
by lapping and also by suction, we may surmise that the former

DO SNAKES DRINK i 93

Is for the benefit of the tongue, the latter of the body ; and a
large quantity of liquid is often drawn in by this sort of
suction, very distinct from ' sucking,' the reputed way of en-
joying milk from the living fountain, and a process impossible
to creatures that have not soft lips and a broad tongue.
The Jamaica boa drew in those perceptible gulps for a long
time, then raised his head, and rested awhile, and presently
drank again, and this several times while we were watching.
It was what Dumeril described a la regalade.

Mr. Sam Lockwood of New Jersey, writing in the American
Naturalist, vol. ix. 1875, describes the pine snake drinking.
'It lays its head flat upon the water, letting the lov/er jaw
just sink a little below the surface, when with a very uniform
movement the water is drawn up into the mouth and passed
into the throat. It is true drinking, like that of a horse.'
One that he watched drank five minutes by the clock with-
out taking breath. Then it paused, looked about for three
minutes, and then drank again for five minutes more. * In
all, it drank a little over a gill. Previously it has been
without water for four weeks.'

In size this pine snake dift"ers not much from the Jamaica
boa {CJulobothrus inornatiis), that we watched at the Gardens,
and the manner and time were very similar. True, we did
not time him by a watch, nor could we tell exactly how
much he drank, nor how long previously he had been with-
out drinking ; but, at a guess, he could not have been much
less than five minutes without taking breath. Aiiguis
fragilis, that lapped seventy times, and stopped, and lapped
again, must also have been some minutes without breathing,
because hers was the most leisurely lapping I ever saw.

CHAPTER V.

THE TONGUE OF A SNAKE.

PART I.— WHAT IT IS NOT.

GOSSIP from the Zoological Gardens to confirm what
has been so often said, namely, that nine out of
every ten of the visitors to the Ophidarium will point to the
tongue of a snake and exclaim, * Look at its sting ! ' seems
too trivial and too defiantly challenging the credulity of my
readers, to introduce here. Nevertheless, that it is necessary
emphatically to state not only that the tongue of a snake
is not its sting, but that a snake has no sting at all, you
will admit the very next time you go there. You will hear
not only the Monday, but the Stuiday visitors — well dressed,
and apparently well educated persons— say to each other
when watching a snake, * That's its sting ! ' I must be per-
mitted, therefore, to 'gossip' a moment in confirmation.

One Friday, in April 1881, just before the time w^hen the
public w'ere excluded at feeding hours, we were watching
the movements of a pretty little harmless snake, the rapid
quivering of whose tongue denoted excitement of some

94

THE TONGUE OF A SNAKE. 95

kind. Probably it was anticipating the frog in store for it,
as this was feeding day. Its tongue was unusually active,
and was exserted to its extreme length, its motions being
almost invisible in their rapidity.

Two gentlemen drew near, and also stopped before this
cage. One of them, a tall, dark man, looked like a foreigner ;
but he was talking pure English to his friend, and had been
talking a good deal about the snakes, as if he were familiar
with their habits. * From the Tropics,' observed my com-
panion, sotto voce, and looking as if we might hear something
worth knowing from this large, loud-voiced visitor.

* See that ? ' he presently exclaimed to his friend. * Look
there ! '

' That thing it keeps putting out of its mouth } '

'Yes. That's its sting. One touch of that, just one little
touch, and you're a dead man. There's no cure for it ! '

No less than four different parties made similar remarks
in our hearing during our short visit to the reptile house
that day, and these not of the common crowd either.

First, two lads who looked as if they ought to have known
better. Next, a party of several persons, of whom the one
more particularly addressed when his friend informed him,
'That's the sting that it jerks out so,' replied, 'Ah, but
they extract it ! ' Thirdly, a young gentleman remarked to
his lady companion, * See how it keeps darting out its sting ! '
to whom she ejaculated, ' Oh, the fearful creature ! ' Fourthly,
the tall man. And all this of poor little innocent Tropi-
donotus (our common ring snake), with not even a fang to
injure you !

Like many other of the zoological myths not yet extinct,

96 SNAKES.

this * stinging tongue' has its origin in mystery. Long
before a deadly serpent was examined by an intelligent
reasoner, and the nature of its fatal stroke comprehended,
the mysterious * dart ' was seen to play ; this, to the ignorant,
being the only visible and possible instrument of such
fatality. But that the fable should still obtain is amazing.
Even some learned men of the present century, if they do
not happen to have included natural history in their studies,
assist in disseminating the error. Can they, however, be
acquainted with classical writers .'* - Pliny, to whom many of
the old-time errors in natural history have been traced, must
be acquitted as regards the poisonous tongue ; for though
he speaks of the ' sting ' of a serpent, I do not recall that he
once attributed the injury to the tongue. Aristotle, whose
reputation as a naturalist ranks far higher, distinctly and
frequently speaks of the bite, and the degrees of injury
inflicted by the various kinds of serpent bites. It is possible
that some classical writers may have supposed the tongue
to be an instrument of death, as it is certain that some of
the sacred writers did. But our inherited faith in Bible
history has, until recently, checked all doubt and even
inquiry. Now, however, that a new version of Holy Writ
has been deemed essential, it is to be hoped that an efficient
naturalist is included in the Council.

In justification of the above criticism I may be permitted
to quote just one of the many unquestioning writers. The
author of the History of Egypt, W. Holt Yates, M.R.C.P. of
London, President of the Royal Medical Society of Edin-
burgh, Physician to the General Dispensary, etc., says in a
foot-note (vol. i. p. 322), 'It is a mistake to suppose that

THE TONGUE OF A SNAKE. 97

snakes hurt onlv with their teeth. Some have no teeth,
but only hard gums. Others only attack with their tongue
— the same end is attained in either case by the insertion
of the poison.'

Now were you to ask that writer, as I have several times
asked persons who were under the same impression, ' What
reason have you to suppose that the snake's tongue is
poisonous .? ' he would very likely reply, * Oh ! well — it is
venomous. I always thought so.' Then, reflectively, he
might add, * Poisonous-tongued } — " whose tongue out-
venoms" — "with deadlier tongue than thine, thou serpent" '
— or some such familiar words, proving that his idea was
poetical, imaginative, and acquired he can scarcely explain
how.

What very little he knew about snakes, then, was learned
from Shakspeare — we say Shakspeare, for what other author
has been read and re-read, and committed to memory, and
quoted during the last three centuries like the Bard of Avon }
The bard, genius though he was, and wide his field of in-
formation, was certainly not a naturalist. Nor did he make
any pretensions to be one. He was as unconscious of the
errors in natural history which he was handing down to pos-
terity, as he was unconscious of his own enduring fame ; or
that he would be ' the immortal bard ' three hundred years
later, with every probability of ever living in the human
mind as such.

His idea of the poisonous tongue of a snake was the
prevalent one of his day. It was an inherited prejudice,
which he had never stopped to question, any more than
nine hundred and ninety-nine out of every thousand of his

98 SNAKES.

readers have ever stopped to question the fact of an adder's
tongiie being poisonous, Shakspeare having affirmed that
it is so.

People do not read Shakspeare to learn natural history,
you say. True ; but his poetry, his similes, take hold of
the mind, fix themselves in the memory, and take root ;
and an assertion, as in the case of the gentle little
' blindworm,' takes very deep root, as it seems, and thrives
for three hundred years ; or naturalists of the present day
would not feel called upon to explain that it is neither
'blind,' nor 'deaf,' nor 'venomous.'

Still you reject the idea that Shakspeare through his
immense and universal popularity is responsible for a
ridiculous error. Not Shakspeare alone, then, or cul-
pably so. But since the idea has prevailed for thousands
of years, even to the present time, and since persons are
more likely to quote Shakspeare on the subject than any
other author, let us glance at the literature of Shakspeare's
time, and endeavour to account for his fixed impression as
to a serpent's tongue being poisonous. Let us also try to
recall from any one of the writers of the same era, or those
who wrote in English previously, any single line on the
present subject that has become so engrafted on the mind,
so incorporated with our education, as those, for example,
above quoted. There was a host of other play-writers in
Shakspeare's time, but very few naturalists.

Poetry, plays, and Protestantism characterized the litera-
ture of the period. But familiar to us by name as are his
contemporaries, it will be as easy to find one educated
person who has read the whole of their works, as it

THE TONGUE OF A SNAKE. 99

would be to find one educated person who has not read
Shakspeare.

There were travels and histories written, the great mari-
time discoveries of the age giving birth to this new class
of literature. Hakluyt's voyages were printed when Shaks-
peare was only twenty-five years of age, and even if he
read them he would not have learned much about serpents
there. Nor in Sir Walter Raleigh's histories either, which
were written chiefly during his prison life, he being liberated
the same year that saw the death of Shakspeare, 16 16.

Many other well-known authors will occur to the reader,
to say nothing of the writers of the previous eras, the great
divines and scholars who wrote in Latin, and the many
English ballad-writers more likely to be perused by 'the
Bard.'

As for natural history, it found no place on those shelves,
for as a science it did not as yet exist in England. Lord
Bacon, Shakspeare's celebrated contemporary, did make
some pretensions to be a naturalist ; but his Novum
Orgamivi was written in Latin, and we are not led to
believe that the poet enjoyed any very great educational
and classical advantages, having had

'Small Latin and less Greek,'

according to his friend and eulogist, Ben Jonson.

And even if Shakspeare did read what was then the
Book of the period, Lord Bacon unfortunately fell into some
of the popular errors, or made very hazardous conjectures,
so far as natural history was understood ; and of him Dr.
Carpenter says, ' So far from contributing to our knowledge

loo SNAKES.

of natural history, he often gave additional force to error
by the weight of his authority.'

In recalling some lines from Shakspeare, the reader
will find how very familiar to the mind are the serpent
similes. Some of them prove that the poet was cognizant
of a tooth being also a source of evil ; but it is evident that
he thought the tongue was so also, especially the tongue of
the ' blindworm.'

For a few out of the many in which Shakspeare's plays
abound, vide Timon of Athens, Act iv. Scene 3: 'The
gilded newt and eyeless venomed worm.'

Midsummer Nighfs Dream, Act iii. Scene 2. When
Hermia thinks that Demetrius has killed Lysander while
sleeping, she scathingly ejaculates : ' O brave touch ! Could
not a worm, an adder do so much ? An adder did it ; for
with deadlier tongue than thine, thou serpent, never adder
stung ! '

In Cymbeline, Act iii. Scene 2, Pisanio says : * What false
Italian, as poisonous tongued as handed, hath prevailed on
thy too ready hearing,?' Again, in Scene 4 of the same
Act, Pisanio would not hear evil of his mistress, and cries :
' No, 'tis slander ; whose edge is sharper than the sword,
whose tongue outvenoms all the worms.'

Henry VL, Act ii. Scene 2, Clifford says to the King : ' Who
'scapes the lurking serpent's mortal sting ! ' Act iii. Scene 2 :
' Their touch affrights me as a serpent's sting. . . . What !
art thou like the adder waxen deaf ? Be poisonous too ! '

Muck Ado about Nothing, Act v. Scene i, Antonio
says : ' As I dare take a serpent by the tongue.'

And in King John, Act ii. Scene i, Randolph says to

THE TONGUE OF A SNAKE. loi

King Philip, 'France, thou may*st hold a serpent by the
tongue ! '

Not snakes only, but toads, lizards, spiders, and other
' creeping things,' were thought venomous in Shakspeare's
time.

Song in Midsummer Nighfs Dream : * You spotted
snakes, with double tongue/ Then, in appeal to the
' serpents ' not to injure the Fairy Queen : * Newts and
blindworms, do no wrong.'

The nearest approach to a scientific work on natural
history written in English at that time was a curious
volume published in 1608, in whose folio pages may be seen
most astonishing ' Serpentes,' combinations of worms and
feathered fowls, saurian, ophidian, and batrachian, wonder-
fully adorned with horns, gills, wings, spear-shaped or forked
tongues, and arrow-shaped tails. The zoological illus-
trations of that work give us some idea of what a snake
was supposed to be. Among them is one with a human
head, and another with a crown, because he is * the King of
Serpentes for his Magnitude or Greatnesse.' There is also a
' Dragon ' with horns, wings, scales, claws, two rows of robust
teeth, and an arrow-headed tongue. Mingled fable and
fancy with some few facts, these anomalies are solemnly
described as * The Naturall Historie of Serpentes,' the said
serpents including bees, wasps, * frogges,' toads, earthworms,
lizards, spiders, etc., and a 'cockatrice.'

The author, E. Topsell, addresses the 'gentle and pious
Reader ' on the ' publishing of this Treatise of Venomous
Beasts,' and more particularly of ' Serpentes, Divine, Morall,
and Naturell, their Poyson and Bitings, since the gentle and

102 SNAKES.

pious Reader will see how that the Historie of Serpentes
begineth at the Creation.'

Thus we see that the ideal snake was a religious principle,
carried out in illustrations and architec-
tural embellishments, where 'that old
serpent the devil' was depicted as a

. J M 1 • • , • 11 Fabulous tongues.

creature as terrible as imagmation could

conceive it ; and of course with a highly-developed tongue

in the form of a dart or a spear, more or less alarming.

Far in advance of Topsell, and far in advance of England,
were the naturalists of Southern Europe. Gesner, professor
of philosophy at Zurich, published his Historia Animalium
in 155 1 ; and Aldrovanus, professor of philosophy and physic
at Bologna, wrote thirteen folio volumes of natural history,
four only of which were published during his lifetime, and
the rest after his death, which was in 1605. These two
authors, though out of date at the present day, have left
their names perpetuated in plants and animals examined
by them.

As one of the objects of this work is to trace the origin
of some of the many errors that have obtained regarding
the serpent race, and to note the gradual enlightenment
observable in successive writers, it is a part of our duty to
quote the Bible ; and this we do with reverence, emboldened
by the fact that the present state of knowledge has demanded
a new translation to satisfy the intellect of the age.

Shakspeare himself might have had the Bible devoutly
in his mind when he talked of the adder's ' sting.'

Among the many commentators and exponents of Holy
Writ, Cruden (a.d. 1794) says, * Some place the venom of

THE TONGUE OE A SNAKE. 103

the serpent in its gall, others in its tongue, and others in its
teeth.' David seems to place it in its tongue : — Ps. cxl. 3,
' They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent' So
also Job, XX. 16, 'The viper's tongue shall slay him.'

The sacred writers, however, quite understood that serpents
did bite as well as ' sting.' Solomon made the same distinc-
tion that is observable in Shakspeare, ' biteth like a serpent,
stingeth like an adder.'

In fact, the tongue of an adder, whether in allusion to ' the
worm of the Nile,' or to our own pretty little * deaf-adder,'
seems still to bear the evil character which it has borne
from time immemorial.

Superstition, prejudice, and ignorance are still rampant
whenever a snake is thought of Inherited and educated
antipathies regarding them are still so strong that some
persons will not even allow themselves to //;/learn their mis-
conceptions ; others by misrepresentations do their best to
prevent a true comprehension of their habits from being
better understood ; and, again, there are those who know
better, and who are even engaged in instructing others by
their pen, but who fall into the habit of encouraging horror
and hatred, instead of reason, truth, and a tolerance towards
a creature wisely produced to fulfil its part and to perform
its duties in the great balance of organized beings.

Some journalists religiously keep up the delusion about
the tongue of a snake, by using a prejudicial prefix. From
a pile of newspaper cuttings and other printed matter rela-
tive to snakes, I transcribe a few sentences at random, to
illustrate what is meant : — ' Its horrid forked tongue.' ' Its
slithering tongue.' * Its villanous poisonous tongue,' etc.

I04 SNAKES,

And if sensationalism seem to demand still more forcible
language, as, for instance, in describing an injury or an
escape, our journalist tells us of the 'forked tongue darting
defiance.' 'The wicked-looking serpent tongue protruded
with lightning-like swiftness.' 'To see the reptile run its
devilish tongue out at you.' ' Its horrid lancinating tongue
protruded,' etc. These are only a few of such sentences
copied verbatim, but they are unfortunately too common,
even with the better-informed writers.

The idea of a snake being sufficiently intelligent, reason-
ing, and reflective to deliberately ' run its tongue out at
you,' as if conscious of its own moral power and your moral
weakness, is too ludicrous. If the snake could truly inflict
injury with those soft, flexible, delicate filaments, — if it
could, with one rapid touch, insert poison, as the tall talker
at the Zoological Gardens affirmed, the threatening quiver
could only be in friendly warning. Let the poor reptile
at least be thanked for that.

Our lamented friend, Frank Buckland, fell into the same
error (or inadvertency, since he quite understood that the
tongue could do no harm) when he wrote thus of the
tongue in his Cttriosities of Natural History : — * The tongue
is generally protruded in order to intimidate the bystanders;'
and, ' The tongue acts as a sort of intimidation to its aggres-
sors ; ' thus giving the snake the credit of a waggish sort
of intelligence, far more complimentary to the reptile than
to the bystander. In imagination we behold a solemn
Convention of snakes, held in ages long ago, and
a resolution to this effect passed unanimously : — ' Now
these poor ignorant mortals think we can kill them

THE TONGUE OE A SNAKE. 105

with our soft and tender tongues. Though so tall, and
powerful, and terrible to us, they look dreadfully frightened
whenever we use our tongues in our own service. There-
fore, whenever any of these two-legged creatures come near
us, we will put out our tongues at them, and frighten them
off/ — a resolution which has answered admirably well down
to the present time. ' Down to the present time ' is written
and repeated in all seriousness.

Let me be pardoned for introducing a little more gossip
here, as it is the fashion to relate what is seen and heard
at the Zoological Gardens. And so much is related, and
has been related, and even printed, to mislead the public,
that, in the earnest hope and aspiration of assisting \\\
correcting false impressions, I claim to repeat what was
heard as well as the rest. Besides, when persons talk as
loudly as if they were delivering a lecture, and apparently
with the benevolent intention of instructing the public
generally, one feels justified in quoting them.

Eight years ago, when first contemplating this work,
and anxiously seeking to ascertain precisely what could
be learned, and what was already understood about
snakes, so far as the reptile house at the Zoological
Gardens was a means of instruction, I made very careful
notes of what I saw there, and occasionally of what I
heard there.

In the summer of 1874 some well-dressed children, ac-
companied by their parents, were watching the pythons in
the largest cage, when one of the little ones asked, * Papa,
what is that thing that the snake keeps putting out of its
mouth } ' ' Oh, that is its poisonous sting,' replied the

Jo6 SNAKES.

father. The eldest girl (in her teens), with an affected
shudder, cried ' Ugh ! ' and a boy exclaimed, * I am glad
it can't put it through the glass at tis ! '

August 3, 1877. — A gentleman, to all appearance well-bred
and intelligent, told his two boys, * That's the sting,' as they
were watching the play of a snake's tongue in one of the
cages. The boys looked wonderingly at the terrible instru-
ment, and were evidently anxious to know more about it,
and turned to ask their father. But he had passed on, and
was then calling to them to look at something else.

July 1880, — A lady, apparently the governess of two girls
of about twelve and fourteen, and of a boy of about eight,
who were with her, was conscientiously endeavouring to
blend instruction with amusement, and was telling them
some strange and hitherto unheard-of facts about the
snakes ; as, for instance, that the rattlesnake was now
going to * crush a guinea-pig by winding itself round it ; '
for it was feeding-day, and the keeper had just put poor
piggy into the cage. But the children got tired of waiting
to see what did not occur ; the rattlesnake was merely
investigating matters by means of its useful tongue. 'Now,
watch it ! ' cried the lady eagerly, * and you'll see it lick
the guinea-pig with its poisonous tongue.'

Neither was this feat performed by the Crotalus, and as
the children got tired of waiting, and were impatient to
' see something else,' the party moved on.

But the reader will be weary of hearing what the tongue
of a snake is 7iot, and be desirous of knowing what it is ; and
to this purpose we will devote another chapter.

CHAPTER VI.

THE TONGUE OF A SNAKE.

PART II.— WHAT IT IS.

IF only by the law of compensation, another chapter
must be devoted to the innocent tongue of a snake.
It has been an object of hatred and aversion for untold
ages, and the misrepresentation of it, and the abuse of it,
would fill many chapters. Were it endowed with speech,
and the words of St. James applied to it, — ' the tongue is
a fire, a world of iniquity,' — no stronger animosity could be
displayed.

Happily, this animosity is by degrees dying away ; but
only by degrees, as we have seen, some writers during the
last twenty years having been undergoing a sort of transition
state with regard to the use of the tongue, inasmuch as,
while they have arrived at the conviction that it does not
' sting,' they are not yet quite clear as to what it does do.
Some few have even clung to the lubrication theory.
Popular writers, to speak more correctly, not scientific
ones. Still, it is the popular writers who most influence

107

io8 SNAKES.

the casual reader. To satisfy a passing interest, we turn
to these, to the books they quote, and next to encyclo-
pedias, and not to scientific text-books, where we are
beset by technicalities which are in themselves a study
to be first mastered. Otherwise, from scientific works a
good deal might have been learned long ago about this
exceedingly wonderful organ, the tongue of a snake.

It is evident, however, that a good many of our drawing-
room naturalists have not thought it necessary to first devote
themselves to the scientific study of a snake's tongue before
they ventured to write about it ; therefore they remained
only partially enlightened. To such an extent has the
supposed ' lubrication ' prevailed, that ophiologists of the
day have not thought it too trivial to speak of and to
refute. The same visitors to the Zoological Gardens who
tell their friends or children to look at the snake's 'sting,'
also wait to ' see the snake lick the rabbit all over before it
begins to swallow it.'

Were a painter to set to work to paint a house, or a
mason to whitewash the ceiling, with a camel's-hair pencil,
it would not be a more tedious and impossible process than
that of a snake * licking all over with its tongue ' the body
of the animal it is about to devour. Illustrations, in order
to be as startling as possible, and to feed the educated
horror of snakes, often represent a boa or an anaconda coiled
round a bull or some other equally large and rough-coated
animal, which, as the writer informs us, ' it was seen to lick
all over and cover with its mucus.'

Let the reader reflect a moment, and he will perceive
what supply of moisture this degree of lubrication would

THE TONGUE OF A SNAKE. 109

demand. Even were the snake's whole body furnished
with salivary glands, and were it provided with a broad,
flat tongue to work with, what must the rate of secretion
be to enable the snake to go through such a task, and to
enable it to perform it in a period of time in which a
spectator (supposing he had sufficient powers of endurance)
could stand by and watch the process !

Snakes are, it is true, supplied very abundantly with a
mucous saliva. Describing the mode of swallowing. Dr.
Giinther says : * But for the quantity of saliva discharged
over the body of the prey, deglutition would be slow.'
Slow in comparison with the feeding of other animals it is,
under any circumstances, and it would be painfully tedious,
almost impossible, for the unfortunate reptile to feed at all,
were its difficulties not relieved by this ' abundant supply ' of
saliva. But this is not saying that the tongue performs any
office in systematic lubrication. It simply means that the
mouth of the hungry snake 'waters ' over its food, and waters
far more freely than is the usual case with other animals.
We ourselves know something of this stimulation of the
salivary glands at the sight or smell of food when we are
hungry ; but snakes are beneficently provided with the
salivary apparatus (described in the first chapter), and the
mouth waters over its prey, as much when the tongue is in
its sheath as when the tongue is engaged in its own peculiar
and distinct functions. What the spectator does see is this
tongue fulfilling its office of feeling, examining, exploring,
investigating, ascertaining whether the prey is thoroughly
dead, and the best way of setting to work on the great task
of swallowing the huge, rough mass. All this work the

no SNAKES.

tongue does for its owner ; and we shall, as I hope, see
before we have done with it, that so far from exciting our
hatred and disgust, there is perhaps no other feature or
organ belonging to the helpless snake so important to it,
so worthy of our own observation and admiration, as this
much-abused tongue.

We have an admirable opportunity for study in our visits
to the Zoological Gardens, and there the lover of nature
can decide for himself. Hours and hours has one watched,
and I admit (in the early days of my studies) waited, to see
this lubrication which, as the books told me, was performed
by the tongue. Often and often one has heard visitors say
to each other when they have seen the prey about to be
devoured, ' Now we shall see, or you will see ' (as the case
might be) * the snake lick it all over before he swallows it.'

An observation to this effect was once made in our hearing
while I was on the point of asking the keeper if he had ever
observed anything of the kind, and was telling him how
often it had been so stated in print.

* Snakes never did, and never will, lick their prey,
ma'am,' returned Holland emphatically; 'but I have seen
the saliva flow, it is so plentiful.' And so have I, and so
may you, patient reader, if you are sufficiently interested in
the subject. You will soon become convinced that such a
process as 'licking' is impossible, and you will soon decide
that if the reptile did this instinctively, its tongue would
have developed into something more like that of a cat,
strong and rough with tiny spines, or some organ better
adapted to the performance than a thin pencil or fork of
tender flesh.

THE TONGUE OF A SNAKE. in

It is much to be regretted that a number of anecdotes
which describe this 'lubrication' have been retained and
quoted over and over again in books on snakes. Writers
who are conscientiously instructing us, and who are even
telling us ' snakes do 7iot lick their prey/ quote the anecdotes
which tell us that they do, and thus appear to favour the
assumed mistake.

Space will not permit of the numerous examples which
might be here introduced in proof of this. Nor is it necessary
to name more than two or three of these misleading anec-
dotes ; the reader will at once recognise them, for they
appear everywhere.

First comes the M'Leod narrative, which has found favour
with popular writers for no less than sixty-three years ! The
first edition of the Voyage of the Alceste, by Dr. M'Leod, the
surgeon on board, was published in London in 1817, a second
edition in 1818, and a third (so popular was the work) in
1 8 19. His account of feeding the boa constrictor was not
the least popular part of the little book ; for in those days
there were few who knew what to believe where a snake was
concerned. The account of a goat being swallowed fills
several pages, written in a style to exaggerate horrors, and
apparently deny to the reptile any right to obey nature's
laws. 'The python fixed a deadly and malignant eye on
the goat : ' . . . ' first operation was to dart out its forked
tongue:' . . . 'continued to grasp with its fangs:' . . . 'began
to prepare for swallowing : ' and ' commenced by lubricating
with its saliva : ' . . . 'commission of this murder,' etc.

Maunder, in his Treasury of Natural History, quotes this,
having previously stated (under the head Boa Constrictor) :

1 1 2 SNAKES.

' The prey is then prepared for being swallowed, which the
creature accomplished by pushing the limbs into the most
convenient position, and then covering the surface with a
glutinous saliva! Though not positively asserted that the
tongue is the agent in this * covering,' the reader naturally
jumps to this conclusion. The 'Penny' and several other
encyclopedias quote the M'Leod story, among them the
Encyclopedia Britafinica, ed. 1856, notwithstanding the
compiler of the article * Reptilia ' affirms, ' The use of the
tongue is not exactly known.' Surely this licking over
an enormous mass of fur or wool, each time the reptile
partakes of food, would be a very important use indeed
of the tongue, did such a process take place.

Mr. Philip Henry Gosse, in his Natural History of Reptiles,
i860, repeats the M'Leod story; but he follows it up by
also quoting a writer, Broderip, who carefully considered the
subject, and who doubted the possibility of such a tongue
performing this office.

Mr. Gosse is one of the most popular of our 'drawing-
room' naturalists. A careful and conscientious writer, he
has contributed in his various works a great deal of valu-
able information, and has done as much, if not more, towards
inducing a taste for natural history than any other author
of his day and class.

Another popular anecdote much used is that of Sir R.
Ker Porter, who {cir. 1820-24) sent an anaconda to the United
Service Museum, accompanied by an account of its seizing
its prey. * In an instant every bone is broken, and the long,
fleshy tongue passes over the entire form of the lifeless beast,
leaving on it a sort of glutinous saliva which greatly facilitates

THE TONGUE OF A SNAKE. 113

deglutition.' This last clause was particularly striking, and
you find those three words, 'greatly facilitates deglutition,'
used ever since by more writers than one can enumerate.

A third of the many well-worn anecdotes in which the
Mubrication ' is conspicuous, is taken from a German journal,
the EphemerideSy in which a combat between a boa constrictor
and a buffalo is described in the approved sensational style,
and this sentence occurs : — ' In order to make the body slip
down the throat more glibly, it (the snake) was seen to lick
the whole body over, and thus cover it with its mucus.'

Perhaps these three anecdotes, copied from book to book
for, say, only fifty years, have done as much to mislead
regarding the second reputed use of the tongue, as Shaks-
peare and his predecessors did regarding the stinging theory.

Sir Robert Ker Porter published two very handsome quarto
volumes (illustrated) of his Travels in Georgia, Persia, and
the East, during the years 18 17 to 1821. Such a work from
a distinguished traveller in that day would soon grow into
popularity ; but, like Dr. M'Leod, he does not describe
his snake by the cool light of science.

In a very able article, * Boa ' in the good old Penu)/
Cyclopedia, dated 1835, the writer, quoted by Mr. Philip
Henry Gosse, mildly criticises the lubrication theory, and
gives at length an excellent paper on the subject, contributed
to the Zoological Joicrnal in 1826 by the distinguished
naturalist, W. J. Broderip, F.L.S., etc.^ Very courteously
Mr. Broderip discusses Dr. M'Leod's description, and in
giving an account of what he himself witnessed in
the manner of a boa feeding, speaks of ' the secretion

1 Author of Zoological Researches, and Leaves from the Notebook of a Naturalist.

H

114 SNAKES.

of lubricating mucus being excessive,' and that ' the jaws
dripped with the mucus which had lubricated the parts,'
but not once mentioning the tongue as having any part
in this function. The writer in the Penny Cyclopedia con-
cludes by saying that he had himself frequently watched
the snakes while feeding, and they * never covered the victim ;
the tongue was thrust forth, but only,' etc. And yet so many
book-makers who must have read this have copied the
anecdotes without the comment, and have thus popularized
the lingual lubrication !

ot

jEjitmaiB^M fe?^

CHAPTER VII.

7i¥^ TONGUE OF A SNAKE.

PART 111.-/7;? USES,

ONE more function in which the tongue has no part it
is important first to mention. ' It is supposed to be
concerned in the function of voice, that is, hissing,' says Mr.
Frank Buckland in his Curiosities of Natural History, i860.
Now, as this is an extremely popular book, and as Mr.
Buckland was a very popular writer, and much quoted and
believed in from his pleasant and genial style, and his many
opportunities, it is necessary to explain that the tongue is
often or generally in its sheath while the snake hisses, and
therefore has no part ivhatever in the ' function of voice.'

More recently still, a writer in 1876 is under the same
impression. It is well known that the contributors to that
excellent magazine, the Leisure Hour, are for the most part
persons of good literary standing. However, in the matter
of snakes we are all only learners.

There are in the magazine referred to, three chapters * On
Snakes,' occupying, with the illustrations, about eight pages,
in which the general subject is treated.

115

ii6 SNAKES.

' It is a very general belief that the sting of a poisonous
snake is in its tongue,' says this writer, ' and to any one who
has seen an adder ready for attack, with its body coiled, its
head and neck reared aloft, and its long, narrow tongue,
split for a considerable distance from the point inwards,
and thus resembling a two-pronged fork, vibrating rapidly,
accompanied by a hissing sound, the needle-like points of
the tongue have a decidedly stinging aspect. It need hardly
be said that the tongue is only responsible for the hissing.'
The hissing is from the lungs (see chap, ix.), and, as may be
repeated, often while the tongue is within its sheath, the
opening of which is forward in the mouth.

The tongue of a snake occupies much the same place in
the lower jaw as that of other animals ; only being, while
passive, within its sheath, which opens at the tip, the tongue
can move but in one direction, nd.vi\t\y,forwai'ds.

The illustration in the Leisure Hour which accompanies^
the above writer's explanation, displays a rattlesnake with
widely-extended jaws, and a tongue which, by comparison,
must be from root to tip half a foot in length, and repre-
sented as coming from far back in the throat, as if no sheath
existed.

The tongue of a snake not being so planted, and not by
any possibility intercepting the breath, it is needless to
repeat that it can never be any agent of the voice, i.e,
* hissing,' nor is it every snake that does hiss (see chap. ix.).
Illustrations conveying an entirely erroneous impression
are very much to be regretted, and unfortunately this mis-
placing of the snake's tongue is an extremely common error,
and we recognise the familiar woodcut again and again in a

THE TONGUE OF A SNAKE. 117

number of different publications, misconceptions thus being
seriously multiplied. Bad illustrations, even more than
printed errors, are responsible, because more persons turn
the leaves of a book to look at these, than those who
read the page, and a glance either instructs or misinforms
the eye.

The hissing of a snake, as we may here add, is merely an
escape or expulsion of air from the lungs, more or less quick
or 'loud/ as the reptile is more or less alarmed or angry.
Conjecturally, one may suppose this hissing to correspond
with the agitated breathing or panting of other animals, or
of an excited person.

In the seventeenth century, when travellers were visiting
for the first time the newly-settled colonies in America and
Africa, and when the early explorers in various parts of the
world were sending home stuffed specimens of animals (in
the days when taxidermy, like other sciences, was in its
infancy), a stuffed snake was furnished with a huge, broad,
fleshy tongue, big enough to crowd its entire mouth, minus
teeth and gums.^ Whether this broad tongue was to favour
the delusion of ' licking,' or whether the licking was presup-
posed from the look of the tongue, we cannot say, but that
the stuffed specimens did encourage the delusion is clear.

Our Philosophical Society, founded about the middle of
that century, and the * Philosophical Transactions ' of those
days record the first arrival of tropical serpents in England,
and the marvellous beliefs concerning them. From them
we learn, nevertheless, that many things said to be ' new to

1 In the 'Laidley Worm,' exhibited at the Grosvenor Galleiy in 1881, the
artist must have copied one of these.

ii8 SNAKES.

science ' in our own time, were not unknown two centuries
ago.

Passing by a large number of writers on snakes, who,
being convinced that the tongue neither 'stings ' nor ' licks'
nor ' aids in hissing,' and who, therefore, cursorily dismiss it
with, ' the use of the tongue is not known,' let us thoroughly
examine for ourselves this mysterious organ ; and this we
can do with the assistance of those who have devoted care-
ful attention to the subject.

Quoting first our English authorities, Dr. J. E. Gray tells
us : ' Tongue very long, retractile into a sheath at its base.
Apex forked, very long, slender, and tapering.'

Says Dr. Giinther : ' Tongue long, vermiform, forked ; an
organ of touch ; frequently and rapidly exserted to examine
an object. The slightest provocation brings the tongue
into play.'

Rymer Jones, in his Organization of the Animal Kingdom y
tells us that 'in snakes the bulk of the tongue is reduced to
the utmost extent. The whole organ seems converted into
a slender, bifid instrument of touch, and is covered with a
delicate membrane.' Again, in Todd's Cyclopedia of Anatomy^
the same writer says that ' the tongue of a snake seems
to perform functions, the nature of which is not so obvious '
(as that of some other reptiles).

Der Hceven (Clark's translation) tells us ' the tongue of a
snake is an organ of feeling or tact, and much used, as the
antennae of insects.'

It will be observed that while no two of the above writers
use precisely the same words, each helps us to picture the
tongue more accurately, and we glean from each some new

THE TONGUE OF A SNAKE. 119

particular. The Encyclopedia Britannica, after telling us * the
use of the tongue is not exactly known/ adds, ' they (the
snakes) are continually lancing it into the air, and may
possibly in this way gather moisture from grass or herbage '
(alluding to the question of ' drinking,' see chap. iv.).

Professor Owen still further defines it as a pair of muscles,
or a double muscle partly connected and partly free. The
reader will prefer the learned Professor's own words, not-
withstanding the slight repetition.

In his Anatomy of the Vertebrates, p. 463, after describing
the prehensile character of the tongue in some reptiles,
notably the toad and the chameleon, he says : * In serpents
the tongue takes no other share in the prehension of food
than by the degree in which it may assist in the art of
drinking. It is very long, slender, cylindrical, protractile,
consisting of a pair of muscular cylinders in close connection
along the two basal thirds, but liberated from each other,
and tapering each to a point at the anterior third ; these
are in constant vibration when the tongue is protruded, and
are in great part withdrawn with the undivided body of the
tongue into a sheath when the organ is retracted.' The
pair of parallel muscles can be distinguished in the largest
of the accompanying illustrations, viz. the tongue of a
Jamaica boa of about 8 feet long. It was cut out and given
me immediately after the death of the reptile, and while soft
and flexible was carefully copied. The hair-like points
diminish to an almost invisible fineness impossible to repre-
sent with pen or pencil. The slender little tongue is that of
the young Jai'-araca ; and the shortest is that of the African
vipcrling. I have drawn only as much as is usually ex-

I20

SNAKES.

serted when in use. The entire tongues are much longer, of
a pale flesh tint, and somewhat thicker towards the root. It
is observable that the organs, like their possessors, are either
shorter and stouter, or longer and more slender.

Three tongues from nature (exact size).

The reader will concur with Mr. P. H. Gosse and the Penny
Cyclopedia, that ' no instrument is less adapted for licking.'

There is yet one more of our English scientific writers
who must be quoted, and who, though he wrote so far
back as 1834, shows us that even then this tongue was
far better understood by the French and German zoologists
than ourselves. Roget, in his Animal Physiology (one of
the Bridgewater Treatises), says : * Hellmann has shown us
that the slender, bifurcated tongue of snakes is used for
the purposes of touch.'

It is to be regretted that we have no translation of this
and of several other German ophiologists of whom mention
is made by Roget and others. Lenz gives us to understand
that in .1817 Hellmann had decided that a snake uses its
tongue as an insect does its antennae. And in watching
with unprejudiced eyes the varying play of the organ, the
similarity of action will at once be recognised.

After all, how little can we ever know of these organs
beyond conjecture ! Who shall say whether each or both
may not possess a sense of which we ourselves have no
true perception } Close observers arc convinced that the

THE TONGUE OF A SNAKE. 121

tongue of a snake is endowed with peculiar sensibilities ;
and it is the more astonishing, therefore, that reason and
observation have so long been blinded and enslaved by
prejudice regarding it.

Some naturalists think that the sense of smell lies in
antennae. The sense of smell itself is dull in snakes ; yet
they have means of ascertaining what other animals learn
by smell. Says Huxley, ' The great majority of the sensa-
tions we call taste are in reality complex sensations, into
which smell and even touch largely enter.' ^ It is certain
that the snake's tongue is in constant use for some purpose
or other, though beyond what we see of its form and actions
we can only speculate, or, at best, draw conclusions from
observation.

Both Dumeril and Lenz give the result of their own
observations. The former, however, devotes so many pages to
the tongue and its functions under the various headings of
* touch,' ' nutrition,' * the senses,' etc., that it will be necessary
to curtail a good deal, particularly as this great author has
been quoted by those other physiologists whose words were
given above. Of the sheath into which the tongue is received
he says : — ' Une gaine cylindrique, charnue ; mais I'extrcmitc
de cette langue est fourchue, ou divisee en deux pointes
mobiles, vibrantes, susceptible dc se mouvoir independam-
ment I'une de I'autre, de s'ecarter et d'etre lancces, pour
ainsi dire : ce que la fait regarder par le vulgaire comme une
sorte de darte, auquel meme quelques peintres ont donnc
dans leurs tableaux la forme d'un fer dc flechc. Le vrai est
que cette langue est moUe, humidc, trcs faiblc, et que Ton a

^ Elementary Lessons in P/iysiofogy. London, 1S75.

122 SNAKES.

fait des conjectures, plutot sur les usages auquels on I'a cm
destinee, que sur I'utilite reelle dont elle peut etre aux
serpents dans Facte de la deglutition ; car les serpents ne
machcnt jamais leurs alimens.' i ' Ouoiqu'on ignore le
veritable usage de la langue humide et charnue que les
serpents brandissent et font continuellement sortir de la
bouche et vibrer dans Fair, il est facile de concevoir qu'a
cause de la forme cylindrique et de son etroitesse elle
ne pourrait faciliter la mastication, quand meme les dents
seraient propres de cet usage.' ^

This first volume of Erpetologie gMrale treats of all
reptiles inclusively ; but in the sixth volume, where the
opJddia particularly are introduced, the tongue is, with
the rest of the organs, more minutely described. Some
repetition necessarily occurs ; but there is still a good deal
that will repay perusal.

After stating that in serpents the sense of touch is dull,
on account of the integument, and the absence of what may
be regarded as tactile organs, and that the sense of smell is
dull, the nostrils being feebly developed, Dumeril adds : ' The
tongue, though fleshy, very mobile, and constantly moist, is
rather an especial instrument for touch, for the action of
lapping, and for other functions, than to perceive the nature
of liquids ; ' in other words, than as an organ of taste. * It
is, however, very remarkable ; though smooth and even
above, it is furnished with little fringes or papillae along the
sides. Notwithstanding its length and narrowness, it is
singularly protractile and retractile; and in its exceedingly
rapid vibrations has impressed the vulgar with the idea

^ Tome i. p. 126 o{ Erpetologie gcncrale. •^ Ibid. p. 135.

THE TONGUE OF A SNAKE. 123

that it is formed with the two spear-like points. It is
clothed with a delicate skin.' ^

Lenz made many interesting experiments. In his
work he gives us the result of these, and also what
some other German ophiologists had seen and done. He
observed how entirely the snake trusted to its tongue in
any unusual circumstances ; the all-important member was
then in ceaseless activity. Confined in a glass jar con-
taining wine or any liquid that the snake did not like,
the tongue was ever agitated. Crawling up the side, the
tongue was in constant request to feel the glass (as may
be often seen at the Zoological Gardens) ; and on arriving
at the top, the head was turned this way and that, and
then bent over the edge, as if to make certain that no
further obstacle existed ; the tongue not for one instant
quiet, but exse-ted sometimes as far forward as the whole
length of the head, telling to its owner all that the other
senses could not discover.

Permitting it to touch his hand, he felt it like the sweep
of a thread, so light and delicate. Too fine and flexible
to injure any surface, the slightest touch of one or both
the tips suffices for intelligence. Nay, sometimes without
even touching — that is, without positive contact, but by
some subtle sense, it seems to act as guide.

When the snake is excited by fear or alarm, or when in
a strange place, the activity of the tongue is so great, the
vibrations are so rapid, that the eye cannot follow them.
It is like the play of electricity.

So far from participating in deglutition, the snake with-

' Tome vi. p. lOO q{ Erpctologie gcnerale.

124 SNAKES.

draws the slender instrument into its sheath, which, while
feeding, is safely closed. For this highly-endowed organ
is so guarded against injury, that the reptile has not only
a place of safety provided, but power to close the mouth of
its scabbard, lest dust or other irritating particles should
enter.

We have only to reflect upon and to observe the habits of
snakes to perceive the importance of their tongue to them.
For the most part nocturnal, winding their way under tangled
masses of vegetation, often in dark caves, holes, crevices, and
obscure retreats, with their eyes so placed that they can see
neither before nor under them, and with other senses only
feebly developed, the tongue with its sensitive papillae feels
its way, and conveys impressions to its owner.

Cats have their whiskers to help them in the dark ; moles
and mice have their quick sense of smell to guide them ;
all nocturnal animals are gifted in some manner or another,
but snakes have only their tongue.

We can now imagine the helpless condition of the reptile
if deprived of the tongue ! Rudolph Efifeldt, of whom Lenz
speaks as the ' most eminent observer of living snakes,'
found that when deprived of the tongue, they would neither
eat nor drink, and, of course, died after a while. But Lenz
had some snakes sent him which had been deprived of
their tongues, and he observed that though for a time dull
and declining, they did recover, and by and by ate as
usual. From which we can only conclude that snakes,
like other animals, differ in their powers of endurance.
Some survive mutilation and suffering, some do not.

Another error in illustrations is to represent the tongue

THE TONGUE OE A SNAKE. 125

far extended while the mouth is wide open. Snakes very
rarely open their mouths and use their tongues at the
same time. Indeed, excepting to gape, the snake does not
generally open its mouth ; nor invariably keep it open while
advancing on its prey, as illustrations often represent.

Nature has further provided for the safety of the tongue
by leaving a small opening in the upper lip, or at the point
of the muzzle, just where no teeth are in the way, so that
the snake can use its tongue without exposing the sheath
and mouth to injury. This ' chink in the rostral shield,'
to use technical language, permits the free exit of the
tongue and the independent actions of the two muscles
of which it is formed, enabling the reptile to hold the two
fine tips close together as one tip, while passing the tongue
through the narrow chink, and to expand them afterwards.

Lenz never observed any dust or small particles adher-
ing to the tongue ; but Mr. Arthur Nicols, the author of
Zoological Notes, informs me that he Jias noticed little
fragments of rubbish cling to the tongue and carried into
the mouth. Dr. Cantor also says : ' Sea snakes make no
use of the tongue while in the water, but considerable use
of it as a feeler when out of the water.' He has noticed
* several Indian land snakes use it to bring into the mouth
various small bodies, as stones, sand, twigs, which they
swallow to stimulate digestion.'

This is curious and noteworthy. The power or volition
which can control the sheath and close the valve can, no
doubt, exclude these foreign particles ; as, while lapping,
the mouth must be moistened as well as the interior of the
sheath, both it and the tongue requiring frequent lubrication.

126 SNAKES.

But we have now reached the confines of speculation.
There is enough of real fact about this ' horrid forked
tongue ' to interest and astonish us. We find it guarded,
aided, especially provided for, and especially constructed
and endowed ; especially harmless also. To the owner its
importance ranks not second even to the eyes.

The importance of the antennae to insects is evident to
all who have ever watched the play of those active and
beautifully-elaborate organs, their infinitely varying forms
(often many times the length of the insect itself), their cease-
less play and independent action. Constantly waving, they
lightly touch every contiguous object; investigating on all
sides, they convey to insect intelligence all it requires to
know regarding its environments. Like a herald or a scout,
they literally * spy out the land,' and thus become a guide
and a guard to the tiny feeble creature which possesses
them. Throucrh them the owner learns all that is needful
for its well-being.

Much as an insect uses these exquisitely - constructed
antennae, so does a snake its long, slender, pliant, bifurcate,
and highly-sensitive tongue. Ever busy, ever vigilant, ex-
ploring while barely touching each surface within reach,
yet by night and by day conveying with that slight contact
all necessary information to its owner. Sent out with the
speed of a flash, it telegraphs back with like quickness the
result of its discoveries.

If we may assign intelligence to any single organ, we
might affirm that there is more of what we consider rational
intelligence in the tongue of a snake than in any other
of its perceptive faculties. Probably the most important

THE TONGUE OF A SNAKE. 127

knowledge demanded by the reptile is conveyed, or, at
least, confirmed by this organ.

' Coloreel says Dumeril of the tongue, as botanists say
of the part of a plant ordinarily green, as, for instance, a
calyx ; ' coloured,' but not what colour. This is precisely
as we may describe the colour of a snake's tongue. My
attention was first drawn to this on reading one of Dr.
Arthur Stradling's communications to Land and Water,
April 2, 1 88 1. * It would be interesting to know why
some snakes have red tongues and others black,' he
writes. * Here beside me, in a glass case, are two little
snakes, both belonging to the same genus {Tropidonotus)
— a seven-banded (T. leberis), and a moccasin {T. fasciatiis),
both hailing from the United States, and both alike in
their habits and choice of food ; yet it is a case of ronge
et noir with their lingual appendages.'

After reading this, I noticed the varieties of colour in
all the ' forked tongues ' that exhibited themselves at the
Zoological Gardens. Black or very dark tongues, I think,
predominate ; and next to black, brownish or olive tints,
resembling those of the snake itself But not as a rule ; for
some very light snakes have dark tongues, and the converse.
In two small green tree snakes of distinct genera, one had
a pale pink or flesh-coloured tongue, and the other a black
one. Some tongues are almost white, while a few are red.
There seems to be as much caprice as in the colour of the
human hair and eyes ; and as physiologists have traced
some sort of connection or relationship with complexions
and constitutions in these, so ophiologists may, after a time,
discover a similar relation or sympathy between the colour of

128

SNAKES.

a snake's tongue and its integument or eyes. At present, I
have observed only so far as that two entirely black and two
entirely green snakes may present four distinct colours as
regards their four tongues, and that many tints of brown,
black, and pink may be seen in the tongues of as many
snakes.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE GLOTTIS.

ONE Friday in August 1873, while watching a large
python, at the Zoological Gardens, swallowing a
duck which it had just killed, I was struck by a singular
something projecting or hanging from the side of the snake's
mouth. It looked like a kind of tube or pipe, about one
inch and a half or two inches of which were visible. The
python had rather an awkward hold of the duck, having
begun at the breast with the neck doubled back, the head
forming some temporary impediment to the progress of the
jaws upon the prey. So the strange protuberance gave one
a * sort of turn,' and a shudder. It looked as if it might be
some part of the crushed bird, and then again it had the
appearance of some internal arrangement ; and another
shudder crept over one as the idea suggested itself that the
poor snake had ruptured its throat in some way. What
could this queer thing be, hanging on one side, as you see
the tongue of a horse or dog sometimes lolling sideways
over its lower jaw } While intently pondering and observing
this strange tube-like object, in size somewhat as big as the

130 SNAKES.

edge of a thimble, I saw the end of it moving of itself, an
orifice contracting and closing tight, by the loose skin
puckering up, so to speak. Presently it opened, and by
and by again closed tight, as you see the breathing orifice
of the octopus contract and expand, open and close, at
regular intervals, only in the present case the intervals were
not regular. This strange tube, then, had life and volition
in it ! What could it be }

Suddenly a certain day of one's childhood flashed into
my mind, and a certain scene of home. One Michaelmas
Day it was, when, having stolen surreptitiously into the
kitchen to coax the cook to ' let me see the goose ! ' I found
her busy preparing the bird, and clambered into a chair to
watch her. * What's that ? ' I demanded, seeing part of a
long, pipe-like looking thing lying there.

* Oh, that's the windpipe. That's like what you've got
in your throat ; and that's where the crumbs get to make
you choke so,' in allusion to a recent occurrence.

I gazed with awe and interest at that very strange thing,
and wondered if it really could be like anything in my own
throat, and where it began and ended, and so on. And
that goose's windpipe was indelibly stamped on my
memory.

And now that scene came vividly back to me, for there
was a windpipe sort of look about this appendage to the
snake's jaw, only it did not appear to be bruised or injured,
in any way. Nor from the position of the duck (by this
time half swallowed) could it belong to the bird. And,
again, it moved with an independent motion !

And now the snake threw up its head, to free the legs of

THE GLOTTIS. 131

the duck from its folds where it had been held, and as you
see horses toss up their heads to get the grain in the bag
hung on their noses, and I saw the tube-like object still
more plainly. Then, with a strange, awe-struck feeling,
came a conviction that this could be nothing less than the
poor snake's windpipe, and that something must be very
wrong with it.

I beckoned to the keeper, and pointed to it, telling him,
' I do think that must be its windpipe. Is it hurt } '

The keeper said, ' No, the snake was not hurt. That he
had often seen it like that when the snakes were feeding ;
and that he also thought it must be the windpipe, to enable
the snake to breathe while feeding.'

Next day, with eager steps and excited curiosity, I hurried
to the British Museum reading-room, thinking I had made
a wonderful discovery, for I had never heard this strange
phenomenon alluded to, and the keeper evidently knew very
little about it.

With this great secret on my mind, I flew to the well-
known shelves, to secure those books which would certainly
enlighten me if information were to be had. Alas ! for my
wonderful discovery, though it really had been a portion of
the windpipe which was thus extended from the mouth, it
was what had been known long ago by those physiologists
who had studied the anatomy of the ophidia, and it was as
coolly described as if it were the commonest occurrence in
the world for creatures to do what they pleased with their
windpipe !

Says Professor Owen in his Anatomy of the Vertebrates,
vol. 1. p. 525 : 'The glottis of serpents can be drawn forward

1.^2 SNAKES.

and protruded from the mouth by the action of (certain
surrounding) ' muscles. In marine serpents the glottis is
situated very near the fore part of the mouth, and the air
can be inspired at the surface of the water without exposure
of the jaws.'

The lungs of snakes, then, are supplied with air through
that moveable tube, and the ' glottis,' which is the mouth or
opening of what may here be called the air-tube, not to
venture on scientific terms, was what I had seen ' puckered
up,' as it appeared.

We may briefly remind the reader that our own throats
contain two passages, one to the lungs, the other to the
stomach ; and in order that the air passage may be safely
guarded from the entrance of any foreign particles, there
are various parts, valves, and muscles which come into play
with the action of swallowing, each and all having technical
names, larynx, pharynx, glottis, epiglottis, etc., which need
not be here described. But in the adaptive development of
those wonderful creatures, snakes, the entrance or mouth
of the windpipe — which begins i7i their mouth — can not only
be closed at will, but still further to protect the passage,
and also to enable the reptiles to breathe during the long
process of swallowing, they can absolutely bring the appa-
ratus forward, even beyond their mouths ; and this was what
had so surprised me on witnessing it.

The glottis, being the soft, membranous end or aperture,
was what opened and closed, expanded and contracted, by
that sort of puckering up and loosening again that was
observable, and which here was rounded, but in the higher
animals is a narrow, lip-like slit.

THE GLOTTIS, 133

Some physiologists, in describing this * air-tube ' of ser-
pents, speak of it as the laiynx, which is what we unscientific
folk would call the entrance to, or the upper portion of, the
true windpipe or trachea. Others, again, affirm that they
saw the ' windpipe ' projecting. After all, much less has
been said about it than one could wish ; and what is said is
somewhat conflicting, perhaps on account of the obscurity
connected with this surprising adaptation of means to
necessities. A thorough examination of the position of the
trachea of snakes while feeding, and a perfect realization of
its functions, could only be obtained were it possible to
arrest the process of feeding by the instantaneous death of
the feeder, and while every muscle of the snake's mouth
remained in position. Even then, one could not be positive,
as snakes are endowed with the astonishing power of carry-
ing out their intentions, or, in common language, ' going on
with their business,' even after death. That is to say, owing
to the irritability of their muscles, the action which they
were about to perform (as, for instance, springing at a foe)
continues should the head be shot off at the moment of
making the attempt. In p. 56 and chap. xxi. some remark-
able elucidations of this are given.

The general appearance of a windpipe is familiar to
every one. It is formed of a series of rings or hoops,
partially cartilaginous in mammals ; that is to say, they
are incomplete behind, where their ends are united by
muscle and membrane, and come in contact with the
gullet ; but in serpents the rings are entire, the ends of
each being joined together by an elastic substance. The
rings themselves are also connected with each other by

134 SNAKES.

elastic membranes, so that the windpipe is capable of
being extended like an india-rubber tube, and of regaining
its former position.

The length of it naturally varies according to the size
and species of serpent ; but as a rule it is always
much longer comparatively than in man. In a full-sized
rattlesnake, the trachea is about tw^enty inches long. In
a boa constrictor, also, though a much larger snake, it
measures about the same. In smaller snakes it is, of
course, much shorter ; but there is the same singular
diversity in this as we find in other serpent anomalies,
viz. a great variation in the length in snakes of equal
size, and without any very apparent reason.

Bingley, in his Animal Biography^ 1820, describes the
appearance of a large snake (M'Leod's celebrated boa)
when gorging a goat ; but the account, like those of that
time, is more sensational than scientific. * His cheeks were
immensely dilated, and appeared to be bursting, and his
wijidpipe projected three inches beyond his jaws.'

Broderip, a few years later, 1825, more lucidly and dis-
passionately describes what he had observed. ' I have
uniformly found that the larynx is, during the operation
of swallowing, protruded sometimes as much as a quarter
of an inch beyond the edge of the dilated lower jaw. I
have seen, in company with others, the valves of the glottis
open and shut, and the dead rabbit's fur immediately before
the aperture stirred, apparently by the serpent's breath,
when his jaws and throat were stiff, and stretched to excess '
{^Zoological Journal, \\. 1826). This account is quoted from
the paper entitled, ' Some Account of the Mode in which

THE GLOTTIS. 135

the Boa Constrictor takes its Prey, and of the Adaptation
of its Organization to its Habits,' by W. J. Broderip, Esq.,
F.L.S. The paper was written as a criticism of the M'Leod
story.

I, also, on several occasions, saw the fur or feathers stirred
by air when the mouth or valve opened of what we may safely
call the air-tube, whether larynx or trachea.

Though so rarely mentioned in popular books on snakes,
this surprising modification of the breathing apparatus was
described by the indefatigable Dr. Edward Tyson, on his
dissection of the first rattlesnake that fell into the hands
of the Royal Society, 1683, and whose paper on the Vipera
caiidiso7ia, as he named it, is quoted in chapters xvi. and xx.
* Over the tongue did lye the larynx, not formed with that
variety of cartilages as is usual in other animals, but so as
to make a rime or slit for receiving or conveying out the
air. Nor was there any epiglottis for preventing other
bodies from slipping in, this being sufficiently provided for
by the strict closure of it.' 1

Dr. Tyson examined only a dead specimen, and could
not therefore witness the action observable in life ; but his
remarkable accuracy in describing the parts will be evident
in comparing what he said with Dumeril, who did observe
the living reptiles. The confusion which sometimes occurs
in distinguishing the parts may be also explained by the
less complicated structure of the tube, which in higher
animals presents the nicer distinctions of the parts, glottis,
epiglottis, larynx, etc.

'II n'y a pas de veritable larynx, une petite languette

^ Philosophical Transactions, vol. xiii. p. 25. 16S4.

136 SNAKES.

mobile qui s'ajuste, surl'ouvcrture lin^aire ; c'est la glotte. . . .
La glotte, situee au-dessous de la victime, se porte en avant,
et Tacte de respiration ne se trouve point empeche. C'est
que nous avons indique a I'article de la deglutition ; car on
voit distinctement alors la glotte se fermer et se d^later.' ^

This petite langnette became a new object of curiosity,
and soon came fresh opportunities for observation, namely,
when some of the larger snakes were engaged in yawning. On
account of its extreme mobility, you do not always detect
the form of this little point on the upper lip, which as often
as not presents a rounded opening ; but occasionally the
little tongue — which can be nothing but an apology for an
epiglottis — is very distinct, and may be compared with the
moveable, pointed snout of some of the large pachyderms,
or, still better, with an exactly similar formation at the end
of the elephant's trunk, and which, though for a different
purpose, moves similarly.

As to the exact position of this glottis when at rest, a word
or two must be said ; for a number of prepositions have been
used to describe it. One writer says ' beneath ' the tongue
sheath, others say ' beyond,' others again ' before ; ' ' over,'
'above,' ' behind,' 'in front of,' have been variously used, and
all depending on which way the snake is viewed ; but without
drawing upon half a score of prepositions to puzzle the
reader, as I myself was sorely puzzled until a yawning
snake was so kind as to afford me an ocular scrutiny of its
lingual arrangements, we can easily comprehend where a
passage to the windpipe and lungs must necessarily be, and
which, it is clear, is not under the tongue. When a snake's

^ Erpitologie generak, tome vi. p. \']'j et scq.

THE GLOTTIS. 137

head is raised, as in crawling up a wall or a tree, the glottis
may be said to be 'beneath' or 'under;' but the general
position of a snake being horizontal, the mouth then opened
would show you the opening of the tongue sheath nearest to
you and to the front ; and beyond that, behind, over, or upon
the tongue sheath, is another aperture, which is the glottis or
entrance to the larynx and trachea or windpipe.

So there are in fact two sheaths or tubes lying one upon
the other, viz. the tongue sheath, and upon this and parallel
with it, the windpipe.

After becoming better acquainted with the nature of that
tube which had impressed me so strangely, I lost no oppor-
tunity of making further observations, and on the following
feeding day at the Gardens I saw the air-tubes of several
snakes plainly. In September of that year, a new ' Horse-
shoe ' snake {Zanienis Jiippocrepis) arrived from Morocco. It
was a small and very pretty snake, and while enjoying the
privilege of a private inspection, the keeper got its mouth
open for me, enabling me to see the glottis, as well as to
both see and /^^/ the four upper rows of its beautiful little
teeth, closely placed, and as sharp as the finest pins. But
the action of the air-tube was very distinct. Probably little
Zanienis was breathrng harder and nervously under the
detention, but no word better describes the formation of the
aperture of the perfectly rounded tube, and the movement
of it, than iho. petite languette.

Subsequently, there were opportunities of observing the
air-tube in two of the large African vipers, the ' River Jack '
or ' Nose-horned ' vipers ( Vipera rJdnosceros) occupying the
same cage. Each struck a guinea-pig and held it. One of

138 SNAKES.

them began to eat his before it was quite dead, and had
finished it before his friend had begun. In his case, the air-
pipe was at the side of his distended jaws. In the other, it
projected more than half an inch beneath, nearly in the
centre.

This happened on a mild, damp day in November 1873,
and after that I saw the tube in ' several snakes,' but I
regret the names were not entered in my notebook at the
time. In the smaller non-venomous snakes, or in the lacer-
tines — of which there were then a large number — I do not
remember to have observed it. They despatch their frog
or mouse so quickly that they would scarcely need a fresh
supply of air meanwhile. In the larger vipers, rattlesnakes,
and constrictors, the air-tube was undoubtedly witnessed.
Winter then terminated my observations, and afterwards a
prolonged absence from town. Unfortunately, when ob-
servations were about to be resumed, the change of the plans
at the Zoological Gardens, and the exclusion of the public,
defeated my intentions, though on one occasion I did see
the windpipe of little Matrix torquata very distinctly ; and
this was the smallest snake in which I had ever observed it.
Natrix had nearly disposed of a large frog. The whole of
it was in his mouth, which was widely expanded, and the
air-tube was protruded sideways, not oict of the mouth, but
sufficiently forward to enable one to distinguish its form, and
the action of the petite languette. The prey being unusually
large, the snake had needed air while swallowing it.

On several occasions in snakes recently dead, and of
various sizes, one has been able to notice how admirably
this tube, which lies along the mouth like a soft cushion,

THE GLOTTIS. 139

somewhat in the form of a parrot's tongue, is supplied with
space in the roof, arched to fit it, the palate teeth enclosing it
on each side, w^hile the opening, or glottis, exactly meets the
nostrils, les arrieres 7tez, bringing it into communication with
the outer air.

In a little Coluber, just dead, I again had an oppor-
tunity of making observations. The membranous coating
was so thin and transparent that the rings of the windpipe
could be very distinctly traced from a quite forward position
in the mouth, and beginning on and over the tongue sheath.
The surrounding skin or membrane was also loose and
abundant, so that with the point of a needle the upper part
of the windpipe could be easily drawn forward beyond the
lips. In life the little snake could thus have voluntarily
protruded it as occasion required.

Another day the large reticulated python seemed to
intentionally gratify my curiosity by affording me a most
leisurely and excellent opportunity for observation. His
head was raised, and so close to the glass that the process
of swallowing could be watched conveniently. The final
swallow, or successive efforts at the last were, as usual,
attended with frequent yawns. The glottis, as could on
these occasions be distinctly seen, was repeatedly opened
and closed, and after being extended beyond the mouth, it
gradually resumed its natural position. While the prey
occupied the entire space between the gaping jaws, one
could see the air-tube pushed forward be7ieath ; but as by
degrees the duck disappeared down the throat, the interior
of the mouth could be better and better observed. In this
large snake the membrane or skin was too thick to enable

140 SNAKES.

one to discern rings as in the little Coluber ; but as the
larynx is merely the upper part of the trachea, and as the
glottis is the mere membranous opening to the larynx, it
seems evident that the windpipe itself is also extensible, the
windpipe being, indeed, the only portion of the air-tube
sufficiently firm and resisting to aid the purpose of respira-
tion under such conditions.

The exact distance which the tube is extended cannot
be accurately stated. It would not be equally protruded
in snakes of different sizes nor under different conditions.
Broderip saw it ' as much as a quarter of an inch.' Bingley, an
earlier and a less safe authority, says 'the windpipe projected
thi'ce inches beyond his jaws.' The keeper at the Gardens
thought he had sometimes seen it 'as much as two inches in the
largest snakes ; ' and my own impression was, one inch, at
least, in the python, and almost that in the large vipers.

It is undoubtedly one of those interesting features worthy
of further investigation, and one is surprised that more
accurate information regarding it has not appeared in our
later encyclopedias and in the ' Proceedings of the Zoologi-
cal Societies.'

So long ago as 1826, it was observed and confirmed by
the distinguished author of Zoological Researches, and Leaves
from the Notebook of a Naturalist. The author of British
Reptiles, who conducted the Zoological fotirnal when Mr.
Broderip contributed the valuable paper above quoted,
added a note by special request, stating that his own 'not
unfrequent observations have on every point been completely
confirmatory of those above recorded ' by W. J. Broderip,
Esq.

THE GLOTTIS. 141

A very good account of the whole is quoted in the
Pe?iny Magazine, 1836, and we are^therein further enlightened
by reading that Joseph Henry Green, Esq., F.R.S., in one
of his lectures at the Royal College of Surgeons, alluded to
Broderip's paper ' On the Mode in which Constrictors swallow
their Prey,' and which had drawn his attention to the state-
ment about the larynx, and led him to examine the mouth
of a snake.

In process of dissection, he detected two muscles in the
lower jaw, evidently intended for the purpose of bringing
the larynx forward ; how far forward and how much of the
true windpipe was also brought forward, he did not say.
But this in a dead specimen could scarcely be affirmed with
certainty.

From the large size of their prey, and the jaws being
stretched open and gorged to their utmost capacity, it is
plain that snakes cannot breathe freely in the ordinary
manner while feeding, a process sometimes of an hour or
more. Owing to the construction of their lungs and their
capability to contain a large volume of air, they do not
require to breathe frequently ; still they do occasionally
take a fresh inspiration, and their needs are met by this
wonderful arrangement of the breathing apparatus.

CHAPTER IX.

BREATHING AND HISSING OF SNAKES.

FOLLOWING on the subject of the last chapter comes
that of respiration ; and in connection with breathing
is the * voice/ so far as this class of animals can be said to
possess a voice.

As already seen in the description of the glottis, serpents
do not breathe in the ordinary way, with short and regular
inspirations, but when they do respire, they take in a supply
of air to last them for some time. Their lungs, instead of
occupying one particular portion of the body corresponding
with the chest of the higher animals, are less developed.
One lung — or what Professor Owen calls the long pulmonary
bag — of snakes extends along more than half of their body ;
in some species nearly to the anus. Only one lung is
normal, the other is rudimentary. The circulation is so
arranged that on each contraction of the heart only a part
of the blood is exposed to the influence of the air and
becomes oxygenated, the rest returning to the parts without
having undergone the action of respiration at all. The
blood is, in consequence, poor in red corpuscles, its circula-

142

BREATHING AND HISSING OF SNAKES. 143

tion is comparatively languid, the reptile becomes easily
torpid, and its temperature is influenced by the surrounding
atmosphere more than by the vigour of its own functions.
This is why, when not excited to activity by external
warmth, reptiles can pass a long time without food. Having
no fixed temperature to maintain, one important source of
demand for food is withdrawn.

The air enters their lungs chiefly in a direct course from
the nostrils, only by the mouth when open. If you observe
the flatness of the head, and the very short space that can
exist between the nose and the mouth of snakes, you will
readily trace the communication between the entrance to
the trachea and the outer air through the nostrils when the
glottis is not closed. Professor Owen, in his Anatomy of
the Vertebrates, vol. i. p. 528, describes this process fully.
In the foregoing description I have borrowed from him,
as well as from Dr. Carpenter, Todd, and others ; but as
there is nothing like ' seeing for oneself,' I would persuade
my readers to watch a snake for a few minutes. An in-
spiration at intervals will be easily discerned by the expan-
sion of the body. You will also perceive partial or slighter
breathings, and the trunk dilating and expanding gently
through a sort of internal respiration which is going on ;
every now and then comes the deeper, fuller breath.

You may perceive that sometimes one short portion of
the body expands, as if the lung in that part only were
at work. This is more easily seen in the larger snakes.
I have watched these for a quarter of an hour or more at
a time, during which period only a comparatively short
portion of the body showed any signs of breathing.

144 SNAKES.

Schlegel, who carefully studied this action, observed some-
times as many as thirty such partial dilatations of the trunk
and lung between two full inspirations.

In the large reticulated python I once saw that about
two feet of the body, viz. four to six feet from the head,
dilated with occasional and irregular inspirations, and no
other part. By and by slight indications of breathing were
observable much lower down, many feet apart from the
previous action, while during the whole time I was watch-
ing I saw not one full and entire inflation of the lungs.
This was on a rather chilly September afternoon, and
the python had partaken of a couple of ducks for dinner
the previous day, and it was a time when inactivity is
usual. In a rattlesnake, on the same day, similar partial
and irregular respirations were observable, this serpent
having caused four rats to disappear at his last night's
supper.

Sometimes you can discern no indication whatever of
breathing for a very long time. When the reptiles are not
in health, when they are about to cast their skin, or when
in a half-torpid condition, you may observe this.

When a snake yawns — a long and leisurely proceeding —
the lungs are doubtless greatly refreshed ; otherwise these
reptiles do not rest with their mouths open, and the
only possible access of outer air by the lips being through
the chink appropriated to the service of the tongue (and
which is as exactly opposite the opening of the tongue-
sheath as the nostrils are opposite to the glottis), they must
breathe almost entirely through the nose, except zuheu
yawning.

BREATHING AND HISSING OF SNAKES. 145

From the elongated form of the puhnonary bag, and
the large volume of air which it contains, we can under-
stand not only how a temporary suspension of respiration
can be supported, but we comprehend how it is that these
reptiles can remain under water for long periods, as they
often do, — not because they breathe in the water, but
because they can for a while do without breathing.

Snakes have been seen to remain perfectly quiet at the
bottom of a clear stream for half an hour or more. Some-
times in this totally quiescent state one has been supposed
to be dead, until, on a stone being thrown, it has darted
away like a fish. None of the aquatic birds or the cetaceous
mammalia can remain so long under water without coming
to the surface to breathe as serpents can.

At the Zoological Gardens they remain for hours at a
time in their tanks. Often you will see a head peeping
out — which, unfortunately, is all we can see — while the bath
is being enjoyed, but as often the head is also immersed,
though, of course, for a shorter interval, the snake lifting it
to breathe occasionally.

We can imagine also the great assistance in swimming
which this long air-receptacle must be, these reptiles deriv-
ing from it the same advantage, says Professor Owen, ' as
an eel from its swim-bladder.' In chap. xii. is described
the almost swimming motion of the more active snakes
when gliding through long grass, or effecting progress over
a very smooth surface. In the water the action is similar
— that is, the progression is by lateral undulations, the tail
being the chief propelling power. Whether through the
resisting medium of water, or beating the air, so to speak.

K

146 SJVAKES.

when skimming over smooth or unresisting surfaces, this
swimming motion is ever easy and graceful. In the chapter
on Tails, we shall see what an important agent in progression
is this limb, whether by pressure, as in the burrowing
snakes, or by its oar-like or paddle -like use in rapid
motion.

To recapitulate the above in a few words — first, respira-
tion warms the blood ; snakes are cold-blooded because
only a portion of the blood passes through the lungs to
become oxygenated, and in proportion to the diminution
of the quantity of blood transmitted to the lungs, so does
respiration become weaker ; therefore reptiles are less de-
pendent on breathing.

Regarding the ' voice; ' of serpents, so surprising are the
qualities attributed to it, that one would imagine the exist-
ence of varieties of snakes of widely differing organizations.
If we were to believe all we read of the sounds they produce.
'Hissing loudly,' or 'whistling,' Is the rule. No ordinary
writer or traveller who says a word about a snake ever
heard it hiss anything but 'loudly,' a statement traceable
to the same sentiment which causes persons to talk of the
Miorrid forked tongue.' A benevolently -disposed snake
who would warn you away with that terrible tongue would
also strengthen his argument by a prolonged hiss, and the
louder the better.

But let us turn to the hard, cold, unpoetical, unimagin-
ative language of science, and see what a snake can really
do in the vocal expression of its feelings.

Says Dr. Carpenter: 'In all air-breathing vertebrata the
production of sound depends upon the passage of air through

BREATHING AND HISSING OF SNAKES. 147

a certain portion of the respiratory tube, which is so con-
structed as to set the air in vibration. In reptiles and
mammals it is at the point where the windpipe opens into
the front of the pharynx, that this vibrating apparatus is
situated. Few of the animals of the former class, however,
can produce any other sound than a Jiiss, occasioned by the
passage of air through the narrow chink by which the
trachea communicates with the pharynx ; but this sound,
owing to the great capacity of their lungs, is often very
much prolonged' {Animal Physiology), — prolonged, but not
powerful, be it observed.

Says Professor Owen: 'The true ^' cJiordce vocales'' are
absent in serpents, and the voice is reduced to a hissing
sound, produced by the action of the expired air upon
the margins of the glottis' {Anatomy of the Vertebrates).

Speaking of the escape of air from the lungs, Dumeril
says : ' Lorsqu'il est passe plus vivement il laisse entendre
une sorte de vibration, qui le plus souvent, ne consiste que
dans le bruit d'un soufflement.' ^

Sometimes, according to the position of a snake, or when
the passage is well open and uninterrupted, the hiss par-
takes somewhat of a whistling sound, like the blowing
through a quill. I observed this particularly in a ' tree
boa ' {Epicratis cenchris), which hissed at me angrily one
day because I took the liberty of touching it when the
keeper opened its cage to arrange its blanket. The 'hiss,'
not loud, or by any means musical, differed from the
ordinary blowing only as a current of air passing through
a round tube would differ from the same current passing

^ E7-petologie gaierale, tome i. p. I So.

148 SNAKES.

through a narrow sHt. A true ' hiss,' such as we produce
with closed teeth in prolonging the sound of s, a serpent
can never express. The nearest approach to it in the
human voice is when the tongue is in the position as if
we are about to say ye or he, and then prolong the breath ;
that is to say, breathe out while the tongue is so placed
before the word is uttered.

Naturally the larger the snake the stronger the ' hiss ; '
the more rapid the expiration, the more powerful will be
the volume of air with its attendant soufflejnent.

The sound and action, as well as degree, are easily seen
in the 'puff adder' {Clotho,ov Vipera arietans). When angry
or alarmed, it draws in a full breath, and its body swells
perceptibly ; then you hear the escaping air like a prolonged
sigh or blowing till the lungs are empty. This process is
repeated as long as the provocation lasts.

These alternate inspirations and expirations, with their
accompanying movements, the swelling and then diminishing
of the trunk and the regular soiLfflants, are so precisely like
those of a pair of bellows, that excepting in shape, we require
no more complete comparison. The degree or strength of
hiss is in this reptile very perceptible. When recently
imported and easily excited, its violent ' puffing ' corresponds
with a very large pair of bellows ; but in time it grows less
alarmed at the appearance of the human beings who un-
ceremoniously stare at it ; and at length the puffing is very
slight, ceasing altogether after the snake becomes accus-
tomed to its surroundings. But if molested and alarmed,
you then see the full play of the lungs, and the whole body
alternately expanding and contracting as before.

BREATHING AND HISSING OF SNAKES. 149

We may almost compare this pulmonary action to the
panting or full breathings of ourselves under alarm or
agitation. Only, in comparison as the lung of snakes is
elongated, and there is so much of it to fill with air, so is
the sound prolonged, and the breathing a slower process.

There is another viper, the small Cape adder {Vipera
atropos), a most deadly little reptile, in which a similar sound
to that of the ' puff adder ' may be heard. When this crea-
ture is disturbed, it draws in a long breath which expands
its whole body in the same manner, and then in expelling
the air, a long sort of wheeze or blowing is audible. Even
in drawing the breath in, a slight sound is heard (as it also
is in our native viper and some others) ; but instead of the
prolonged hiss by which most snakes display their agitation,
this little adder expresses itself in long successive blowings,
like its larger relative ariefans, only a little less regularly.
In the present instance, I saw the lung inflated with an
agitated undulating motion, as if the fluid air were entering
in little waves. I do not state positively that this is in-
variably the case from having witnessed it in one specimen.
This might be the normal process, or this viper's lungs and
health may have been impaired. I am thus precise because
it is unsafe to establish as an invariable fact in natural
history what may have been seen only occasionally, a habit
which has so often led to the promulgation of erroneous
impressions.

The prolonged sound of the hiss in snakes is due to the
size of the lung, they having a large supply of air to draw
upon. Some serpents expand their bodies under excitement
without any perceptible hiss : the cobra both hisses and

150 SNAKES.

expands, so do some others ; but all these movements are,
no doubt, connected with respiration in some way, just as
in human beings, sighing, sobbing, panting, etc., in which
the ribs take part, are only modifications of the ordinary
movements of respiration, and chiefly emotional.

Very similar also to the manner of the puff adder is that
of Vipera rhinosceros, one of the largest African poisonous
serpents, known as the * River Jack,' being fond of water.
One of these was in the London collection for several years,
and I observed that whenever disturbed, its body swelled
considerably, while the 'hissing,' or expulsion of breath,
alternated with this expansion.

Snakes, like other animals, probably differ in temper or
in nervousness ; for while some are noted hissers, others
hiss only on great provocation, and others, again, not at
all. One remarkable example of a non -hissing snake,
though from no amiability of temper, is the little carpet
viper of India {Echis carinafa). Unless you were positively
assured by learned authorities that this exceedingly irritable
little viper never hisses, you would scarcely believe your
ears, so sibilant is the sound it causes by rustling its scales
together.

Sir Joseph Fayrer, in the Thanatophidia, describes this as a
very fierce and aggressive little viper, always ready to attack
and be on the defensive. It throws itself into a double coil,
and its agitated motion causes the rough, carinated scales
to rub against each other, and make a sound like hissing,
but ' it does not hissj

This rustling is very much like the sound of the crotalus
rattle, and the dry scales must be raised in a sort of way, or

BREATHING AND HISSING OF SNAKES. 151

ruffled, as an alarmed hen ruffles her feathers. * The outer
scales are prominent, and at a different angle to the rest,'
says Fayrer. It generally lies coiled in a compact form,
often like a ' w,' as may be seen in the frontispiece, with its
head in the centre, but always towards the point of supposed
danger, which in a cage is facing the spectator.

Curious and wonderful is the agitation into which this
carpet snake throws itself when disturbed, every inch of it,
excepting the head, in motion. The head retains its fixed
position, the eyes intently keeping guard, while the body
moves in every conceivable curve, like wheels within wheels,
yet retaining the same outline, or occupying the same place
and space, though every muscle must be in activity.

One can liken this behaviour only to what is seen in the
blending of liquids of different densities. As you look
down into a glass containing one fluid while drop after drop
of another is falling, you perceive fresh currents and curves
in every direction. Watching one of these, it has changed
places with another, you lose trace of it, each drop is lost in
the commingling of the whole. So it is with this wonderful
little echis. It is almost impossible to follow with the eye
any one portion or coil of its moving length ; but each inch
changes places and mingles with the rest, like blending
fluids.

Speaking of an American snake {Pitnop/iis vic/anoleuats),
in which a similar excitement is observable, Mr. Samuel
Lockwood ^ likens it to a ' mystic wheel.' ' The movement
consists of numberless units of individual activities,' he says,
* and all regulated by and under the perfect control of one

^ American Nahiralist, vol. ix.

152 SNAKES.

will that is felt in every curved line.' There is some likeness
to the 'thousand personal activities of a regiment of soldiers
on their winding way.* He has watched the creature
' melting into movements so intricate and delicate that the
lithe and limbless thing looks like gossamer incarnate.'

This Pine snake is very smooth, and in the excited actions
thus graphically described, it makes no noise like the little
Indian viper ; but Mr. Lockwood's words are so appropriate
to both snakes that the reader has only to add in imagina-
tion the rustling noise that accompanies the quivering echis.

Among other of the ophidians remarkable for their hissing
is Psauwphis sibilans, the ' hissing sand snake,' a very slender
little creature. Several mentioned by the earlier naturalists
as ' the hissing snake,' are evidently Heterodons. Catesby,
Lawson, and others mention one as the ' blowing viper ; '
Blmiser of the Dutch, also the ' chequered ' or ' spreading-
adder,' which leaves no difficulty in identifying Heterodon
platyrJiiiws. An American writer indulges in a figure of
speech while describing this little Coluber by saying, ' It
emits a succession of hisses, "'sibilant sounds," similar to
letting off steam from a small steam engine.' He at the
same time admits that it is ' harmless and inoffensive in
spite of its threatening aspect when flattening its head.'
This is the ' spread head ' alluded to in chap, xxii., an
unfortunate demonstration of alarm which has gained for
it its venomous titles. Several of this species have from
time to time been added to the collection at the Zoological
Gardens, and the chief drawback to their anticipated attrac-
tions is that they so soon become tame and peaceful that
you can scarcely provoke them to exhibit their reputed

BREATHING AND HISSING OF SNAKES. 153

power. I have seen one flatten its head so slightly as to be
barely noticeable, but I never heard it ' hiss.'

' Its spots become visibly brighter through rage,' wrote
Carver in 1796, 'and at the same time it blows from its
mouth with great force a subtle wind that is reported to be
of a nauseous smell.' Chateaubriand, of course, had some-
thing to say of ' the hissing snake,' frequent in the warmer
States of America. 'When approached it becomes flat,
appears of different colours, and opens its mouth hissing.
Great caution is necessary not to enter the atmosphere
which surrounds it. It decomposes the air, which, im-
prudently inhaled, induces languor. The person wastes
away, the lungs are affected, and in the course of four
months he dies of consumption ! ' Of another snake this
author says, ' He hisses like a mountain eagle, he bellows
like a bull ! '

It may be objected, 'Why occupy space by quoting such
old wives' fables } ' I reply, because they have already been
so abundantly quoted ; and to such fables are in great part
due the erroneous impressions which exist to the present
day. Several members of the Heterodon family have from
time to time been in our London collection. Friends of
mine have had Heterodons in their keeping as pets ;
I have often handled them, and found them gentle and
inoffensive in every way. They are indeed so popularly
and peculiarly interesting that they will claim a page pre-
sently, the present chapter being devoted exclusively to
ophidian lungs, not human lungs, supposed to be destroyed
by them !

While admitting various degrees and qualities of hissing,

154 SA^AKES.

we may give a passing mention to Du Chaillu's snakes, all
of which appear to be of the whistling, as well as of the
* springing ' kind. He saw ' an enormous black shining
snake, loathsome and horrid.' ... ' Then the fellow gave
a spring, and whistled in a most horrid manner.' And when
he was wounded, he again 'gave a sharp whistle.' On
another occasion, while a Goree man was playing with a
large Naja, 'the air around seemed to be filled with the
whistling sound of the creature,' and so on.

Another African snake, the ' Green Mamba,' has such
very bad manners that it not only hisses, but spits and darts
at you. In this instance my informant was a young lady,
who had ' seen it ! '

Somewhat more perplexing, because more deserving of
notice, is what Livingstone tells us of a serpent called Nega-
piit-sane, or ' serpent of a kid,' which ' utters a cry by night
exactly like the bleating of that animal,' and that he had
' heard one at a spot where no kid could possibly have
been,' ^

^ II canta como un gallo! said Albert Seba of an astonishing
snake in Hayti and St. Domingo once.

* Beyond a hissing and often a peculiar drumming noise,
snakes emit no sound,' says Krefift, one of our very able
authorities.^ This experienced writer does not positively
affirm that the ' drumming' is produced by the voice, and it
is more likely to proceed from the beating of an agitated
tail, an action which may be frequently witnessed in excited
snakes.

^ Missionary Travels in South Africa, by David Livingstone.
^ Snakes of Australia, by Gerard Krefift.

BREATHING AND HISSING OF SNAKES. 155

Dr. Otto Wuchcrer saw this in a South American snake,
Xenodon colttbrimis. ' It has the habit of striking the ground
rapidly with the tail wlien irritated' {Zoo. Sac. Proc. 1861).

So do Spilotes variabilis, and some others. So also does
the Pine snake, whose tail ends in a horny tip, ' like a four-
sided spike,' and which vibrates like a crotalus in rudiment,
or strikes the ground.

Several American naturalists have contributed interesting
accounts of this last species, known as the ' Bull ' or * Pine
snake,' or ' Pilot snake,' the largest of the N. American Colu-
bers. It was this species {Pituophis vielanoleiiaLs) whose
actions Mr. Sam. Lockwood described as mystic circles, and
its activity as almost equal to that of the ' Racer' {American
Naturalist, vol. ix. 1875). But it is called the Bull snake
because it 'roars like a bull.' Bartram went so far as to
say like thunder ! * Said to hiss like thunder,' or ' resembling
distant thunder,' is the cautious testimony of Holbrooke,
who adds, 'but I never heard it, though well acquainted
with it'

Mr. Lockwood minutely described one in his possession. In
reading his account we can but notice the similarity of action
between this ' Bull snake ' and the African vipers in * puffing,'
though regarding the nature of the sound, the writer posi-
tively affirms that ' there is nothing sibilant in this blowing,
not the slightest hiss about it' Mr. Lockwood records his
experience of several that he had seen and heard, and of
a fight between one and a rat. ' Now began that fearful
blowing. The snake slowly fills its lungs with air, and
then expels it with a bellowing sound that is really
formidable.' And again, in the same volume, in reference

156 SNAKES.

to the former account, he says: *As there noted, the
PituopJiis, when alarmed or enraged, slowly Inflates itself
with air, thus nearly doubling its normal size along its
entire length, except the tail. It then slowly expels the
air with its own peculiar sound.' He recalls his boyish
terror on once hearing this sound, which came upon him
suddenly in a field, 'like the restrained roaring of a bull.'
This was in New Jersey ; but the PituopJds family extends
to the Western States, and to the Rocky Mountains, where
'Bull snakes' are frequently seen. In the reports of the
United States Exploring Expeditions, mention has been
made of the prairie Bull snake, and of others in Nebraska
and as far west as California.

Some attain to seven feet in length ; Holbrooke mentions
one of nine feet, and ' as thick as your arm,' in common
parlance. An angry snake of this size could, of course,
blow with considerable force, and the term ' bellowing ' might
not unreasonably be applied to the sound ; as it is also
applied to the croaking of the ' bull frog ' {Rajia vmgiens),
the sound of which is really so like the lowing of cattle,
that, on hearing one for the first time in the woods
of Virginia, I looked round, quite expecting to see a
young heifer in close proximity.^ Probably, had the
bovine lungs sounded at the same moment, the reptilian
' bellow ' would have proved but a feeble imitation. A
sound out of place, so to speak, or unanticipated, strikes
upon the ear more forcibly than when expected. But if
one reptile, and that a very small one, can so well imitate
a bull as it is universally known the bull frog does, why

' Life in the South, vol. i. p. 260. By Catherine C. liopley. Loncl. 1862.

BREATHING AND HISSING OF SNAKES. 157

may not another do the same ? — an argument which I
venture to use notwithstanding many herpetologists accept
doubtfully the possibility of a snake producing such a
sound. * II est difficile a concevoir comment les serpents
auraient la faculte de siffler, comme on pretend que peuvent
le faire certaines esp^ces de couleuvres, et comme les poetes
se plaiscnt a nous les representer. Jamais nous n'avons pu
entendre qu'un soufflement tres sourd, provenant de I'air
qui sortait avec plus ou moins de rapidite de I'interieur de
leur poumon que Ton voyait s'affaisser en trouvant une
issue par la glotte, a travers les trous des narines ou
directement par la bouche dont la machoirc superieure est
naturellement echanchrde. Alors la bruit ctait seulement
comparable a celui qui resulterait du passage rapide et
continue de I'air dans un tube ou par un tuyau sec et
etroit, comme serait celui d'une plume.' ^

This no doubt answers to the ordinary ' hissing ' of the
majority of snakes ; but that the sound varies under certain
conditions, and in the same serpent, cannot be denied.
A. R. Wallace relates an incident which may well be
introduced here, as affording both a proof of the length
of time snakes can sustain a sort of half suffocation, and
also the expression or power of ' voice ' in breathing. A
young boa was caught, and in order to prevent its escape,
its captors, while preparing a box in which to convey
it away, tied it tightly round the neck to a thick stick,
which not only fettered its movements, but appeared to
early stop its respiration. It lay writhing in much dis-
comfort, sometimes opening its mouth with a suspicious

' Dumeril ct 13ibron's Erp'-tologie gciitralc, tome vi. p. 186.

158

SNAKES.

yawn, as if trying hard to breathe. By and by, when
reh'eved from its clog and safely consigned to a box with
bars on the top, it began to make up for loss of time by
breathing violently, 'the expirations sounding like high-
pressure steam escaping from a locomotive. This continued
for some hours, of four and a half respirations a minute,'
when the breathing — in this case we may say panting —
gradually subsided, and then the poor thing settled down
into silence.^

The expression of feelings by the tail in so many snakes,
producing a sibilant sound in rustling dead leaves, and in
some which are supposed never to hiss, is a subject well
worth the attention of scientific naturalists. It would be
interesting to ascertain if any peculiarity of trachea or
of glottis exist in these.

^ Travels hi the Amazons, p. 47. By A. R. Wallace. London, 1853.

CHAPTER X.

HIB E RNA TION.

THE periodical torpor known as the winter sleep of
reptiles is intimately connected with respiration, and
a chapter must now be devoted to this subject.

'Reptiles are obedient to the external atmosphere,' has
been aptly said of them. Thus, they obey the sun ; for if
exposed to his rays, they warm into life and activity. They
obey the frost ; for when exposed to its influence, their
functions grow feeble or fail altogether, and they succumb
to within a verge of lifelessness. They obey all the inter-
mediate variations of temperature during the changing year,
by displaying degrees of animation and activity responsive
to the degree of warmth externally which they do not
possess in themselves.

Bell speaks of hibernation as ' amongst the most
remarkable and interesting phenomena which occur in the
history of animals.' It is not a state of suffering, like that
of a warm-blooded creature that is frozen to death ; but
with one common impulse, reptiles all retire, and remain
in an almost lifeless repose, with every function so nearly

159

i6o SNAKES.

suspended, that no external signs of existence are visible.
For them it is a sort of rest, and we may cease to wonder
at their longevity since they live only half their lives. It
is, indeed, a convenient mode of getting through life, re-
minding us of a theory or proposal ventilated not long
since, by which convicts were to be economically provided
for by submitting them to a certain freezing process, and
disposing them neatly on rows of shelves until the expira-
tion of their term of punishment ; all to be done then was
to dust them thoroughly — perhaps scrub them a little — and
restore them to the world and life again. And they were
promised to be none the worse, not even to have lost their
memory or to have acquired the rheumatism. Unfortun-
ately the wonderful process has never been made clear to
anxious inquirers, or some others of us, who are not con-
victs, might gladly resort to this method of rest occasionally,
and of freezing out the worries of existence.

On the principle of political economy, this would be all
very well, and in the great routine of nature there is bene-
ficence in the hibernation of creatures, whether reptiles or
other animals, that are sent to sleep at the very time when
food fails them. The smaller members of the class have
no longer insects and molluscs ; the larger ones feed chiefly
on rodents and birds which have also retired or migrated,
or on their lesser kinsfolk, that no longer abound where
most wanted by them. Therefore, this going to sleep every
winter, and doing without food when there is no food to
be had, is most convenient for a considerable section of
animated nature.

There is something strangely analogous in the almost

EIBERNATION, i6i

total suspension of vital forces in reptiles to that which
vegetation undergoes. Circulation stops, the juices become
stagnant, whether in a tree or in a snake, and it is sometimes
difficult to decide in either case whether life is extinct or
not. But with returning warmth comes renewed vitality ;
the fluids, whether of the animal or the vegetable organism,
are thawed by the revivifying solar rays, which set them
circulating and start the pulsation; and the animal machinery,
like a watch wound up, is set in working order again.

It is owing to this lack of warmth in themselves that
snakes can live only in hot countries, or in cooler latitudes,
during the warmer weather, and not at all in the frigid
zones. In speaking of them, Dumeril says Linnaeus was
right in calling them cold animals in hot countries. * Aussi
la plupart des Ophidiens habitent-ils les climats chauds,
et c'est en parlant d'eux que Linne a pu dire avec raison :
" Frigida a^stuantium animalia." ' ^

Dumeril describes their respiration as arbitrary, suspended,
retarded, or accelerated at will. ' La respiration ctant volon-
tairement acceleree ou retardee, les actions chimiques et
vitales qui en resultent doivent etre naturellement excitees
ou ralenties par cette cause.' ^ ' The electric fluid,' says
Latreillc, ' is one of the great agents in animating living
beings ; and upon reptiles it operates in conjunction with
warmth in rousing them from their inactivity.'

The periodical torpor and insensibility which reptiles
undergo cannot, however, be always associated with extremes
of cold, nor in all cases called strictly a ^luiutcr' sleep;

^ Erpetologie genci-aIe,\.OTtit\\. p. 1 84.
^ Ibid, tome i. p. I So.

L

t62 snakes.

because it is during the hottest seasons in the tropics that
they resign themselves similarly to an almost death-like
repose and temporary tomb, burying themselves in the
mud, which is hard-baked around and over them, almost
hermetically sealed until the rainy season loosens the soil,
and frees them from this literal sarcophagus. In this case
the so-called * hibernation ' is the result of drought. It is
moisture now which revivifies them, rain which restores
their vital functions, and like the chrysalis bursting its
shell and emerging a new and brilliant creature, the reptile
lives anew, doffs his muddy coat, and re-appears in all his
resplendent colouring.

The prairie rattlesnake {Crotahis confliientus) is known to
undergo this species of torpor, which is, in fact, estivation.
It is described as having been found in this 'stupid condi-
tion' in the dry caiions of the Rocky Mountains during
the droughts of July and August. American naturalists
who accompany the Exploring Expeditions affirm that this
partial torpor is common to many species of snakes, and
analogous to hibernation. They are 'sluggish, stupid,
blind, striking wildly,' says one of the official Reports.

Snakes remain torpid on an average half the year. It
is a winter sleep in colder and temperate climates, and a
summer sleep in hot ones. The green garter-snake of the
United States hibernates eight months out of the twelve.
So do some of the Australian snakes, others being under-
ground five months in the year, Krefft tells us. The dura-
tion of insensibility varies, of course, with the climate and
season.

Snakes in mcnaq;eries have been known to manifest in-

HIBERNA TION. 163

activity and disinclination for food as early as September
if the season be unusually cold, at other times in October ;
but, on the contrary, during a milder season they keep
active until November, while some do not hibernate
at all. Their habits there can, however, scarcely
be cited as normal, since the artificial heat regularly
maintained in the Ophidarium never permits the rigours
of an out-door winter to affect them. Nevertheless they
manifest the disposition for repose ; and if it could be
so arranged that the tropical snakes could be submitted
to tropical heat and drought, and those of cooler countries
to frosty air, as in a state of nature, we might witness
both estivation and hibernation under the same roof.

A partial hibernation is observable in reptiles in captivity
when, though not absolutely inactive, they decline food. For
twenty-two weeks a python at the Zoological Gardens fasted
during one winter ; at another time, twenty weeks. The large
python {reticidatus) fasted for one year- and eleven months,
covering two winters, but fed well and retained its health
after this. Meanwhile, during this prolonged fast, should a
gleam of sunshine penetrate the foggy atmosphere of our
London winters, and shine through the glass roof upon a
constrictor's coverlet, he may slowly emerge therefrom, dis-
playing a few feet of his lazy length for an hour or so, thus
verifying the words, ' obedient to the external atmosphere.'
No creatures are so susceptible of the changes of temperature ;
and the same degree which caused them to seek a retreat
will, on the return of spring, reanimate them. And warmth —
in them almost another word for vitality — equally affects their
appetite. In the very height of summer, should their feeding-

1 64 SNAKES,

day prove a chilly one, a much lighter drain on the larder
is observable, while a warm, bright day will show a heavy
poulterer's bill /// I'c OpJiidariinn. Dr. A. Stradling, a
practical ophiologist, found that the common English snakes
* thrive exceedingly by reason of their increased appetites,'
when taken to the tropics. 'It is impossible to say what
degree of heat a reptile will not stand and enjoy,' says this
writer {Field, July 28, 1881). 'On the hottest days in the
hottest places on earth, one surprises snakes and lizards
basking in the blazing sun-glare, on sands and rocks which
it would almost blister the hand to touch.' Florida is the
most southern extreme of my own experience ; but during a
summer there one could not rest the hand on the almost
burning stones and walls on which the reptiles delightedly
reposed ; and even in England, during a hot August, my
little Bournemouth lizards were positively hot to the touch
when basking in the full power of a bright noon sun. Dumeril
corroborates these facts when he says some reptiles can endure
a temperature higher than blood-heat. Sometimes in early
spring he found a snake seeming to be asleep under a very
hot wall w^hich had been exposed to the mid-day sun, but
which had been several hours in shadow. So tenaciously
had the reptile retained the heat it had then absorbed, that
though the air now felt cold, the snake imparted tine chaleiir
ires notable when he touched it. Many times, in taking up
a lizard from a sunny rock in summer, it really has briile les
doigts} The old fable about salamanders living m fire
no doubt originates in the fact of reptiles loving heat
as they do. ]\Iany pages might be filled with instances

^ Dumeril et Dibron, tome vi. p. 1S4.

HIBERNA TIOiV. 1 6 5

of this, and of their approaching fire to a suicidal
extent.

Equally strange is the degree of cold to which they can
sometimes submit, and yet recover. But we must conclude
that this is Avhen they are overcome gradually, not suddenly^
by it, and not exposed to the outer air so that the tissues
would be injured. Dr. Carpenter mentions reptiles having
been kept three years in an ice-house, and recovering on
being gradually restored to warmth. Too recklessly acting
upon this, I deposited my pet lizards in a small, shallow
box containing moss, sand, and soft rubbish, and left them
outside a window to hibernate. They buried themselves as
deeply as they could go, — only a few inches, alas ! — but a
sudden and severe frost set in, and the poor little victims
were frozen stiff at the bottom of their prison-house. It was
in a bleak north-eastern aspect, and the sharp frost easily
striking through the wood, that slight box must have proved
a very different sort of nest to what they would have chosen
on their native heath, — far down, and well protected from
the icy winds. In a strong, deep box, or an earthenware jar,
Avith sufficient earth and rubbish in it, they might have
survived.

In the Museum of Paris in 1875-76, sixteen rattlesnakes

»

are said to have died of cold. The heating apparatus at
the Jardin des Plantes is less effective than our own in
London, where very few of the snakes have been known
to suffer from lowered temperature.

Snakes are abundantly supplied with oily fat ; thick layers
of it line their intestines in autumn, and this is gradually
absorbed during their torpor. They therefore lose weight,

1 66 SNAKES.

and awake In an enfeebled condition, only gradually recover-
ing their normal strength after some days.

The power of endurance in serpents, and their independ-
ence of a large supply of oxygen, render them important
agents in the economy of nature. In the swamps and
morasses where malaria abounds, reptiles are most numerous.
Many such places under canopies of pestilential vapours,
swarm with insects, molluscs, worms, caterpillars, and
the smaller reptiles on which snakes mostly feed. They
are, therefore, the scavengers of such localities ; they fulfil a
great law by keeping up the balance of nature even to the
extent of rendering certain countries habitable.

Those ophidian families which prefer higher lands, sandy
or rocky districts, select the sunny hill-sides when the frost
sets in, and hide themselves under stones or in caves where,
as described in the chapter on rattlesnakes, they congregate
in vast numbers. Piles and convolutions of serpents in this
condition have often been discovered, and as often described.
It is as if the small degree of animal warmth each one pos-
sessed were harvested for their mutual good, and to the
benefit of the whole community. Nor are these assemblages
at all exclusive as to kind, but are dens of discordant
materials, where, as an American wrote, 'the liberal terms of
admission seemed only to require the evidence of snakeship.'
Lizards, too, though of widely - branching kinship, are
guided by the same instinct, and sometimes share the
retreat.

A few years ago, near Hayward's Heath in Sussex, some
men who were levelling the ground for building, dug out of
a bank at a depth of from four to five feet, upwards of one

HIBERNA TION. 1 6 7

hundred slow worms and as many small lizards, all in a
torpid state. It v/as during February.

At the end of September more recently, a farmer in
Wales, who with his labourers was removing a heap of
manure, came upon an extraordinary bed of snakes and
slow worms, and no less than 352 were killed, together
with an enormous quantity of eggs ; ' thousands in clusters
were destroyed.' 'Three of the snakes were of immense
size, and one hundred of them nine to twelve inches long.'
These latter were probably slow worms, and the three
'immense' ones ring snakes. One feels curious to know
whether judgment for this act of wanton cruelty visited
that farmer in a destruction of his crops next year by the
mice and insects from which these harmless reptiles would
have saved them !

The general reptilian instincts are the same in all climates
where the temperature is similar. In Australia, as Krefft
tells us, this is a grand time among schoolboys for 'snake-
hunting.' They lay traps of large flat stones on open sunny
ridges where the reptiles are likely to resort. Six to ten
specimens of different species are often taken under one
such stone. Even the venomous kinds may be easily cap-
tured and transferred to a bag In their half-dormant con-
dition. Sometimes in lifting a stone, a dozen or more
handsome and beautiful lizards are found among their
ophidian cousins. The Wallaby hunters generally provide
themselves with a collecting-bag, and thousands of snakes
have thus been transferred to museums. So expert do
the hunters become, that in eight years, the same author
affirms, not one accident has occurred from a venomous

i68 SiYAKES.

species. From May to September in Australia, timid
persons need be in no fear of snakes in the 'scrub.' The
larger and more dangerous species retire deep into the
ground, and only the young ones under stones. Warm
days entice them out for an hour or two, and they retire
again at night, just as is the case with those of the United
States.

The ancients Avere aware of this hibernation of reptiles ;
and Pliny, who, having sometimes a foundation of fact to
build upon, is all the more dangerous from his fabulous
superstructure, writes, * The viper is the only serpent that
conceals itself in the earth. It can live there without taking
food for a whole year. They are not venoinoiLS when they are
asleep! he sagely adds. Vipers can live without food for even
more than a year, and so can other snakes ; but this often is
irrespective of hibernation, and of this more will be said
presently.

A still stronger evidence of vitality or suspended animation
is witnessed in the extraordinary custom of packing the
poor wretched snakes in air-tight bottles, which some bar-
barous (the word here in both senses may be used) people
adopt. A Cerastes arrived in England in a bottle, which
had been hermetically closed for six wrecks, and it revived.
It was so crowded into the bottle as to look quite dead,
but revived directly it was released, and struck a fowl, which
died instantly! Sometimes a bottle or jar is literally crowded
with ophidian captives, that are certainly out of harm's way
so far as others are concerned, and travel in a compact com-
pass ; but it stands to reason that even when they survive
this close imprisonment, they are not in a very lively con-

HIBERNATION. 169

ditlon, and the large mortality which is found In most
collections may be imputed to a great extent to the un-
healthy condition in which they arrive after injudicious
packing. Nailed up in air-tight boxes, is a very ordinary
mode of transportation, a species of cruelty which would
raise a cry of horror were the captive any other than a
despised * reptile ! ' In connection with breathing or not
breathing, and powers of endurance, silcJl packing receives
only a passing mention here, but is one that should be
thoroughly exposed in the Animal IVojId a.nd similar papers.
One more singular example of periodical repose, but
which can scarcely be called either hibernation or estiva-
tion, is seen in the sea snakes, the HydropJiidce of the Eastern
Ocean. Of these Dr. Cantor affirms that they are seen so
soundly asleep on the surface of the water, that a ship
passing among them does not awaken them. This is the
more remarkable because the eyes of sea snakes are organ-
ized to endure the glare of light only when modified or
subdued through water, and are easily affected when out
of it, the reptiles becoming dazzled, and even blinded, by
bright sunshine. So that we must suppose some peculiar
insensibility of nerve in these, or a cessation of active
functions during their repose analogous to the hibernation
of land snakes. Another Interesting Inquiry suggests itself :
viz. How does one ascertain that an open-eyed snake is
* asleep ' f We called that Racer (p. 64) ' asleep,' as it
appeared to be quite unconscious of interruption, and did
not move at our approach.

CHAPTER XL

THE TAIL OF A SNAKE.

SETTING aside for the present the true death-dealing
powers of the ophidians, viz. the fangs of the poison-
ous famih'es and the constricting powers of the larger
non-venomous kinds, another supposed medium of mischief,
second only to the tongue, is the tail !

The old-time fables of the ' stin2:incr tails ' have alwavs
obtained credence, and do so still among the ignorant classes
in many countries. Nor is the belief without some apparent
reason, for the tail of a large number of snakes, both of the
poisonous and the non-poisonous families, terminates in a
horny spine more or less hard and pointed. In a few, this
sharp spine is curved with an undeniably weapon-like aspect.
Some of these thorn-like tips might even be capable of
inflicting a slight wound were the owners conscious of this,
and had they a disposition to avail themselves of it. But, as
a weapon, snakes do not instinctively use their pointed tails ;
they are chiefly assistants in locomotion. As a fulcrum, and
sometimes a propeller, certain species make constant and
important use of them. You may observe that when in a

170

THE TAIL OF A SNAKE. 171

position of clanger, many snakes trust greatly to the pressure
of their tails, whether pointed or not, as a balance or even a
support. This pressure, which is forcible, but not aggres-
sive, no doubt gave rise in the first instance to the behef
that the snake was intentionally endeavouring to inflict a
wound — a myth which, like all the other ophidian myths, is
so hard to eradicate.

Sir Thomas Browne, in his Pseudoxia, more than two
hundred years ago, mentioned this as one of the 'Vulgar
Errours.' As very little was known of foreign snakes at
that time, 1672, excepting through classic writers, one must
suppose that our poor little native Anguis fragilis \\7k?> in-
cluded among the weapon-tailed snakes, ' that worm with
venomed tongue ' which does really in a remarkable manner
make important though innocent use of its very blunt tail as
a means of progression. He says, * That Snakes and Vipers
do sting, or transmit their Mischief by the Tail, is a common
Expression, not easy to be Justified. . . . The Poison lying
about their Teeth and communicated by Bite in such as are
destructive. And Bitings mentioned in Scripture are dift"er-
entially set down from such as Mischief by Stings.' ^ ' God
commanded Moses to take up the Serpent by the Tail,' Sir
Thomas Browne reminds us, as if in proof that the caudal
extremity was perfectly harmless. ' Nor are all Snakes of
such empoisoning Qualities as common Opinion presumeth,'
the author endeavours to impress upon his readers, because
there are several histories of domestic snakes from ' Ophio-
phagous Nations and such as feed on Serpents.' Then follows
an opinion equally wise and witty. ' Surely the destructive

^ Fsatdoxia ; or. Vulgar Errotns, Rook iii. p. 207. By Sir Thomas Browne.

172

SNAKES.

Delusion of Satan in this Shape hath much enlarged the
Opinion of their Mischief. Which was not so high with the
Heathens, in whom the Devil had wrought a better Opinion of
this Animal, it being sacred unto the Egyptians, Greeks, and
Romans, and the comxmon symbol of Sanity.'

But, alas ! many spiny-tailed snakes have sprung to light
in various countries, long since Sir Thomas Browne so wisely
instructed his
readers ; and even
now, the * death
adder of Australia
{Acanthophis ant-
arcticd) is much
dreaded on account
of its thorn-like
tail; Krefft's ^

description of the repulsive aspect of this snake is suffi-
ciently terrifying, apart altogether from its looks alone, its
ragged-looking head, with its loose scales, thick body, and
its short, rough, unmistakeable tail, terminating in a sus-
picious-looking point, as if one sharp spine had taken root
there, and was capable of inflicting a wound. The tail spine
hardens only in age, he tells us, and ' is really not a
weapon either of attack or defence.'

Another tail of evil repute belongs to the Water Viper
of the United States, vernacularly known as the 'Thorn-tail'
snake, TrigoiiocepJiahis piscivorus of American herpetologists.

John Lawson, in his History of Carolina^ published in 1707,
was one of the first to describe it. After him we hear of it

^ Snakes of Australia, by Gerard Krefft..

Death Adder (from Krefft's Snikes of Aiistralui).

THE TAIL OF A SNAKE. 173

from Catesby. The quaint descriptions of each of these
early travellers are amusing ; and from such accounts the
progress of science Is traced.

'Of the Horn Snake,' says Lawson, *I never saw but two
that I remember. They are like the Rattlesnake In Colour,
but rather lighter. They hiss exactly like a Goose when any-
thing approaches them. They strike at their Enemy with
their Tail, and kill whatsoever they wound with It, which Is
armed at the End with a Horny Substance like a Cock's Spur.
This is their Weapon. I have heard It credibly reported by
those who said they were Eye-WItnesses, that a small Locust
Tree, about the Thickness of a Man's Arm, being struck by
one of these Snakes at Ten o'clock in the Morning, then ver-
dant and flourishing, at Four in the Afternoon was dead, and
the Leaves dead and withered.' (Probably the tree had
been struck by lightning during the interval, a very frequent
occurrence In those parts.) ' Doubtless, be It how It will,
they are very venomous. I think the Indians do not pre-
tend to cure their wound.'

When Lawson travelled, setting out in December 1700,
as an appointed * Surveyor-General ' of the newly settled
colony of North Carolina, very little was known of the natural
history and productions of those parts, and he relied on the
native tribes for much of his Information.

His work was dedicated ' To His Excellency, William
Lord Craven, Palatine ; The Most Noble Henry, Duke of
Beaufort ; The Right Hon. John Lord Carteret ; and the rest
of the True and Absolute Lords, Proprietors of the Province
of Carolina in America.'

' As a Debt of Gratitude the Sheets were laid at their Lord-

174 SNAKES.

ships' Feet, having nothing to recommend them but Truth,
a Gift which every Author may be Master of If he will.'

With ever so praiseworthy an intention of telling 'the
Truth,' Lawson did not possess the scientific knowledge to
enable him to guard against error. Neither did Colonel
Beverley, who wrote a History of Virginia, published in
London in 1722, and who perpetuated the 'stinging tail.'
' There Is likewise a Horn Snake, so called from a Sharp Horn
it carries in Its Tail, with which it assaults anything that
offends It, with that Force that, as It Is said, it will strike its
Tail into the Butt End of a Musket, from whence it Is not
able to disenq;a2re itself.'

A few years later, Catesby went over the same ground
as a professed naturalist, and afforded a more rational
account of this ' horn snake,' to which he assigned the name
of Vipera aquatica, 'Water viper,' or 'Water rattlesnake.'
' Not that it hath a Rattle. The Tail of this Viper is small
towards the End, and terminates in a blunt, horny Point,
about half an Inch long. This harmless little Thing has
given a dreadful Character to its Owner, imposing a Belief on
the Credulous that he is the terrible Horn Snake armed with
Death at both Ends, thus attributing to him another Instru-
ment of Death besides that he had before, though in reality
of equal Truth with that of the Two-headed Amphlsbasna.
Yet we are told that this fatal Horn, by a Jerk of the
Tail, not only mortally wounds Men and other Animals
but if by Chance struck into a young Tree, whose Bark is
more easily penetrated than an old one, the Tree Instantly
withers, and turns black and dies ' ^

^ The Natural History of Carolina, by Mark Catesby. London, 1731.

THE TAIL OF A SNAKE. 175

Unfortunately, in mentioning the ' Horn snake,' many
subsequent writers, seizing on the marvellous rather than
the rational, have omitted the qualifying ^it is said to inflict
a wound,' and Catesby's exposition of the absurdity ; thus
handing down as a fact that the tail was truly a terrible
weapon !

It was probably this water viper which Chateaubriand
had in his mind when, towards the end of that century, he
described the * Prickly snake, short and thick. It has a
sting in its tail, the wound of which is mortal ! ' Chateau-
briand was much quoted for a long period.

Dr. J. E. Holbrooke, in his North American Herpetology^
published at New York in 1842, corroborates all Catesby
further said regarding the fish-loving tastes of the ' Thorn-
tail ' snake, and which obtained for it the specific name
piscivoriis. It frequents damp and swampy places, and is
never seen far from water. In the summer (during Catesby's
time), great numbers might be seen lying on the low boughs
of trees overhanging a river, whence they would drop into
the water and pursue the fish with great swiftness. Few
fish exceed its velocity in swimming. Cenchris or Tri-
gonocephahis piscivoncs is the name by which American
herpetologists now recognise it. It is becoming rare where
formerly it abounded, but is still found in the wilder
districts of the less settled States, and in the hot weather
may be seen lying motionless on the low branches, and
often so like a pQrtion of the bough as not to be
observed till the sudden plunge tells that a deadly snake
was close at hand. It is a cannibal besides, and other snakes
are afraid of it and give it a wide berth. The horny spine

176 SNAKES.

(which is a mere hardening and consohdatiori of the terminal
scales) and another feature, namely the ' pit ' in its cheeks,
described in chap, xxi., prove it to be allied to the rattle-
snake. It is therefore included among the Crotalidce, of
which more hereafter.^

A number of the ' Pit vipers ' and Trigonoccphall are
furnished with hard-pointed tails, and when they vibrate
them rapidly, as many snakes do under excitement, the
rustling against the dead leaves produces a sound very similar
to the sibilation of the true Crotaliis tail.

TrigonoccpJialus contortrix, the ' Copper-head,' Is another
of these. Also the renowned ' Bushmaster ' of Guiana and
Brazil {LacJiesis inutus, or CrotaliLs mutus), of which latter
Darwin wrote, confirming Cuvier's reasons for making it a sub-
genus of the rattlesnake : — ' I observed a fact which appears
to me very curious, as showing how every character, even
though it may be independent of
structure, has a tendency to vary
by slow degrees. The extremity of
the tail of this snake is terminated
by a horny point, which is slightly

Tail of Z.aMt'^/j ;«M2'7^s (exact size).

enlarged, and as the anmial glides

along, it constantly vibrates the last inch or so ; and this part,

striking against the dry grass and brushwood, produces a

^ The vipers in the London Gardens labelled Ctuchris piscivonis have not the
thorny tail, nor are they fish eaters. Nor can the spectator form any idea of
their swimming capacities, their dark, narrow tank barely enabling them to
extend themselves full length. Herpetologists differ in assigning the above name,
and in deciding which is really the ' Thoni-tail ' or ' Horn snake ' of Lawson and.
Catesby. Those at the Zoological Gardens, notwithstanding their specific name,
are never regaled on fish.

THE TAIL OF A SXAKE. 177

rattling noise which can be distinctly heard at the distance
of six feet. As often as the animal was irritated or surprised,
its tail was shaken, and its vibrations were extremely rapid.
This TrigonocepJialus has, therefore, in some respects the
structure of a viper with the habits of a rattlesnake.'

Dr. Gijnther and Sir Joseph Fayrer both mention a
peculiarity of this kind in some of the Eastern representatives
of the (7r^/^///j", viz. the Trijncj-esuj'i^ Indian tree snakes. The
former writes : ' Some have prehensile tails, which, when not
so occupied, vibrate rapidly, producing a rustling sound
among the leaves.' ^ Others of the family have horny
tails.

Dr. Andrew Smith, in his Zoology of South Africa,
mentions Vipera caiidalis especially, as having a 'tail distinctly
recognised, at the termination of his very thick body, and
which is not often seen.' In the vipers, however, more than
others, tails are distinguishable, those of many of them being
short as well as suddenly tapering to a point. The deadly
Puff adder is called BracJiyiira on this account, its tail
being extremely short for the size of the snake. One
exceedingly dangerous kind in St. Lucia is known as the
' Rat-tailed snake.' For climbing, and as a propelling power,
this slender tail can be of little service. In St. Lucia is also
a ' Rat snake,' Crcbo or Cribo in vernacular {Spilotes
variabilis), one of the active non-venomous kinds which, not
content with rats and mice for food, wages war on its most
venomous fellow-reptiles; as the 'Racer' and the 'King
snake' do against the rattlesnake of the United States.
This Crcbo is a graceful, elegant creature, and on account of

1 RcplUcs of British India.

1 78 SNAKES,

its twofold virtues of mouser and 'rat-tail' catcher, is
domesticated and petted in some of the islands.^

In many of the Colubrine snakes it is almost impossible
to distinguish where the ribs cease and the tail begins, except
by the anus, so very gradually does the body taper. Nor
does there appear to be any certain rule about the length
of tails, which in some snakes are even longer than their
bodies, and in others not one-tenth the length.

In giving the length of a few snakes (not in feet or
inches, but in the number of their vertebrae), the reader
will obtain a clear idea of this variation in tails. One
species of rattlesnake has 194 vertebrae, of which 168 support
each a pair of ribs, leaving 24 for its tail, or one-eighth.
The python has 291 vertebrae, of which the 3d to the 251st
support a pair of ribs, leaving 40 for its tail, or less than
one-seventh of its length.

Let me explain a seeming discrepancy of arithmetic.
The spine of the boa constrictor consists of 304 vertebrae,
of which 2 next the head support no ribs, and 252 support
each a pair of ribs. Taking away the first two, which,
having no ribs, may be said to form the neck of the snake,
that leaves fifty joints for the tail, or about one-sixth of
the entire length. Our little sums, therefore, are as follows,
in reckoning the vertebras : —

RATTLESNAKE. BOA CONSTRICTOR. PYTHON.

Neck, ... 2 Neck, ... 2 Neck, . . 2

Supporting ribs, 168 Supporting ribs, 252 With ribs, 249

Tail, .... 24 Tail, .... 50 Tail, . . 40

Total, 194 Total, 304 Total, 291

^ Dr. A. Stradling affirms that these two snakes do not invariably molest each

THE TAIL OF A SNAKE, 179

Thouo-h In form the ' neck ' of a snake is often as undis-

o

tinguishable as the tail — 'une tete sans col, et une queue,
dont I'origine se confond avec le reste du corps,' as Dumeril
expresses it — there is the one invariable rule belonging to
it, namely, that the first two joints of a snake's spine are
ribless, and that the ribs begin at the third. Physiologists
tell us a snake has no neck, and for reasons which will be
explained in the next chapter ; yet, by way of distinction,
all speak of * the neck ' as an accepted fact.

No invariable rule as to tails can, however, be established,
either as regards length, shape, or character. Firstly, the
length of the tail varies from inches to feet in snakes of
nearly the same size. Secondly, both venomous and harm-
less ones are occasionally furnished with horny tips, and
both vibrate them with equal rapidity. Thirdly, snakes
that have long spineless tails also vibrate them rapidly ; as
do snakes with short spineless tails; so that one cannot
say that spines are confined to one genus, any more than
is their use or their action. The vibration of the tail is, in
fact, only 'an outlet for suppressed energy,' as Professor
Shaler of the United States has lucidly put it. Excitement
displays itself in the tail of a snake as much as in the tail
of a dog. This may be observed at the Ophidarium, or
wherever an active snake can be watched. In the rattle-
snake it is, of course, more conspicuous, and always audible
when agitated ; but many others similarly display their
feelings in their eloquent caudal terminations.

A handsome young python, of about eight feet long, at

other. He had the Rat-tail {Fer de lame) and two Cribos with others in one
cage, living on peaceful terms.

i8o SNAKES.

the Zoological Gardens, has a tail of which the last few-
inches taper so suddenly that the extreme end of this
reptile appears almost ludicrously trivial for so fine a pos-
sessor. One inch of this — hardly thicker than a rat's tail —
you may see wriggling so rapidly that you can scarcely follow
its movements, or believe that it is a part of the large
quiescent body to which it is attached. In pursuit of its
prey the python itself glides with slow dignity, while the
trifling little terminal inch or so of tail is in a perpetual
but most ^///dignified wriggle.

In the * Racer,' already familiar to the reader, the tail is
one-fourth the length of the body ; in the * milk snake '
{Coluber exiinius), introduced in chapter iv., it is one-fifth.
The extensive variation in tails may be comprehended by
their number of vertebrae, which in some snakes amount to
200, and in others are reduced to 5.

Of the practical uses of the snake's tail, the natitral uses,
— those above mentioned being either imaginary ones, or
a mere expression of feeling, — the prehensile power is one
of the greatest. * Strictly speaking, the true prehensile
tail is found only in the boa,' Schlegel, Owen, and other
physiologists tell us; but that statement refers to some
peculiar anatomical construction, enabling the tail to twine
and grasp with extraordinary force, because nearly all
snakes can manage to climb, or to raise themselves when
occasion requires it, making use of their tails, as was stated
at the commencement of this chapter. ' Even the clumsy,
ugly death adder can climb well,' Krefi"t assures us, and that
it can support itself against a wall with only a portion of
its tail on the ground.

THE TAIL OF A SNAKE. i8i

Many writers and observers, in describing this power or
force in the snake, have given rise to the idea that snakes
can sta7id on their tails. Erect themselves nearly upright
they certainly do, even without extraneous support for a few
moments, and with support for a considerable time.

Cobras can do this. A personal friend, Colonel C ,

when in India, once heard a sort of muffled sound at his
door, which caused him to open it suddenly, when a
cobra, which had raised itself three or more feet against
it, fell straight into the room. He sprang quickly aside,
and ran to fetch a stick, but when he got back the cobra
was gone.

But to return to their prehensile powers. Snakes which
are not habitual climbers are often found in trees, suspend-
ing themselves from or supporting themselves upon the
branches, as instanced in the chapter on the egg-eaters.
The Hamadryad is also much in trees, as its name
implies, and is seen, hanging from the branches. This
latter, and also the Indian tree snakes, Trimeresiiri, are
poisonous, and far removed from the boas with the
true prehensile tail. Familiar to every one are illustra-
tions of tropical scenery, in which the boa constrictor
and the anaconda, hanging from trees, are important
features. Dumeril, in general terms, says: *Les ophidiens
rampent, glissent, s'accrochent, se suspendent, gravissent
en s'aidant de la totalite de leur corps, sautent, s'elancent,
bondlssent, nagent, et plongent,' ^ in every one of which
movements the tail is an important agent. Saccrocher and
se siispeudre must be mainly by the agency of the tail.

* Erpctologie gencraky tome i. p. 47.

1 83 SNAKES.

Schlegel follows up his statement, ' tail strictly prehensile
found only in boas,' by explaining, nevertheless, that a short
tail Is sufficiently vigorous to attach itself to any point,
and support the whole body.^ In the non-venomous tree
snakes the tail is long and slender, and no squirrel or bird
is more active and at home in a tree than these. They
glide, swing, climb, and almost fly from branch to branch,
scarcely disturbing a leaf.

Our 'excellent Qgg merchant,' introduced as the Racer,
though a ground snake, is equally at home in a tree, and
holds on by its tail with remarkable adroitness, but then
the Racer or ' Pilot snake ' is a true boa also. (The true
'boa' is distinguished by its dentition and formation of
jaw-bones, the term 'boa,' so variously and perplexingly
used by some of the older naturalists, being now restricted
to certain non-venomous species which possess such ana-
tomical structure.)

Lawson's description of this ' Racer ' is graphic. ' The
long black Snake frequents the Land altogether, and is the
nimblest Creature living. His Bite has no more Venom than
a Prick with a Pin. He is the best Mouser that can be ; for
he leaves not one of that Vermin alive where he comes. He
also kills the Rattlesnake wherever he meets him by twisting
his Head about the Neck of the Rattlesnake, and whipping him
to Death with his Tail. This Whipster, for all his Agility, is so
brittle that when he is pursued, and gets his Head into the
Hole of a Tree, if anybody gets hold of the other End, he
will twist and break himself in the Middle.'
■ Lawson does not appear to have understood the nature of

^ Essai sur la physiognomie des serpents, par Herman Schlegel. Amsterdam, 1837.

THE TAIL OF A SNAKE, 183

constrictors. ^ Whipping ' the rattlesnake was probably only
the tail lashed in anger, or used in controlling the exceedingly
active movements of the captor. As for its 'breaking itself
in halves,' many exaggerated stories are told by unscientific
spectators of the ' brittleness ' of snakes, the simple explana-
tion being that all are alike irritated and terrified when
rendered helpless by their tail being fettered, and may then
struggle until they injure themselves. The common blind-
worm {Ajtgiiis fragilis) has been seen to so-call 'break
itself in halves ; ' but this will be explained in its place
(chap. XXV.).

This sensitiveness — sensibility, one may almost term it — in
the tail of snakes has been pointed out by the late Frank Buck-
land, Dr. Stradling, and others of like practical experience,
affording useful information in case of danger. ' If attacked
by a boa constrictor, it is of no use to pull and haul, but
catch hold of the tip of the tail and unwind him.' Also,
' when striking, aim at the tail. The spinal cord there being
only thinly covered with bone, it is more easily wounded ;
and when the spine is broken, the animal is disabled.' ^

Certain it is, that by the muscular power of the tail snakes
perform wonderful feats, not only erecting themselves, and
maintaining their balance for a short time, as a long pole is
balanced by an acrobat on his chin or his nose ; hanging by
an inch or so of the tip, as an acrobat hangs for a time on
one foot or one finger ; raising themselves against a smooth
surface, as you see the large pythons at the Gardens do
against the smooth sides or glass fronts of their cages, even
to the very top, but springing, ' executing leaps,' as Roget

^ Curiosities of Natural History, by F. Buckland.

1 84 SNAKES.

and others term it. For though the 'leap' Is not strictly
like the action of a frog or a grasshopper, or a man whose
two limbs act in concert and together, the result is the
same, — the reptile accomplishes a long distance with quick-
ness, decision, and aim. Professor Owen ^ calls it a saltatory
motion, 'the sudden extension of the coils of the body react-
ing upon the point of earth on which the tail presses, throwing
the serpent forward.' Sometimes, when the creature lies
closely coiled, the sudden unbending has the effect of a
spiral spring ; and occasionally, when the tail is brought
suddenly up to the head, and the serpent springs forward
again, and continues to do this in pursuit, as has often been
witnessed, the effect is that of a rolling hoop, and has given
rise to a belief among the ignorant that the reptile really
rolls along.

One in America, known as the ' Hoop snake,' is reported
to ' roll down hill,' the idea originating possibly from the
optical illusion in consequence of the rapid changes of
position — an effect which we see in that amusing toy, the
zoetrope.

The ' black snake ' of Australia, HopIocepJialus pseudechis^
is one of the very active venomous kinds, whose motions
in pursuit or escape are almost like leaps, and present
the appearance of a hoop or circle. Reputed ' hoop snakes '
are there also. The reptile rapidly extends itself to full
length, then brings up its posterior portion in a loop, and
so springs forward again, continuing to do this with amazing
rapidity.

The most easy and natural convolutions of a snake are

1 Anatonty of the Vertebrates, p. 260.

THE TAIL OF A SNAKE. 185

lateral. As closely as their body can be coiled on a given
space, as close as a ribbon or a rope, they can curl themselves
round sideways, that is, with the ventral scales all prone to
the ground, and the vertebral column upwards ; nor could
they, from the construction of their spine, coil themselves
similarly in a vertical position, as a hedgehog and a dormouse
roll themselves up. But temporarily and partially they can
bend themselves vertically ; for you see a snake often with a
part of its body raised vertically against a wall, while the
rest is horizontally along the ground, and consequently one
part is at right angles with the other part, and as the creature
rises against the wall every joint has in turn taken this position.
Also, when coiled round a branch, you do occasionally see
that the curves are not invariably and unexceptionally lateral,
but sometimes vertical, although not so closely so as in the
more natural coils. I have very narrowly observed this,
because the * hoop '-like motion is often ridiculed ; but it
seems a not impossible action when a large circle is described
by the body, though close coils would be less possible.-^

A clergyman of Australia had a narrow escape from one
of these 'rolling' creatures. His daughter gave me an
account of the circumstance, she also, when a resident there,
having been well acquainted with such scenes. Her father
accidentally trod on one of those dangerous serpents, which
immediately made a spring at him, but which he expertly

' Since the above was in type, I have on several occasions observed vertical
coils in constricting snakes. Twice a python constricted an animal in distinct
vertical coils. I drtw the attention of Keeper Tyrrell to this, and we were both
convinced that no lateral coils whatever were used. On another occasion, while
Mr. Elwes was studying the action of Elaphis qitater-radiatus for the illustra-
tion, p. 205, its coils were entirely vertical, not lateral.

1 86 SNAKES.

eluded, and took to his heels with all speed, knowing the
vicious nature of that snake. Looking back, he saw the
reptile pursuing him with ' strides ' or ' bounds,' stretching
itself to full length, then bringing up its tail and springing
forward again with terrific vigour. In its excitement it
seemed almost to fly, now gaining on him, and now, as
an occasional obstacle had to be avoided, giving his victim
some slight advantage. For the space of three whole fields,
' paddocks,' he was thus chased, he the while using his
utmost speed. His home was in the bush, and when,
almost dropping with excessive fatigue and terror, he came
within sight of it, one of his farm-servants saw him thus
tearing along, and, guessing the cause, seized his gun, and
hastened to meet the fugitive, and put an end to the
chase.

Du Chaillu's snakes were almost always 'springing' at
him, and very probably some of them did so. At the same
time, most of his snakes had ' fangs ' as well ; but then, in
his ^ Wild Life' he witnessed many other anomalies.

As a rule, the most active are the non-venomous kinds ;
yet among the venomous colubrines, the slender elapidce,
of which the above Australian snake is one, we find much
activity.

Mr. P. H. Gosse was struck with the amazing springing
power of the yellow Jamaica boa {CJiilobothrus inornatus),
and by a similar use of its tail as a propelling power.^ It
rears itself up and leaps an incredible distance, he tells us ;
one covered nearly twenty feet in such a spring, but that
was on the incline of a hill. He noticed another suspending

^ A Natwalist in yajnaica, by P. H. Gosse.

THE TAIL OF A SNAKE. 187

itself from a branch, not with its tail airled round, but
with a mere tip of it lying longitudinally, pressure alone
supporting the reptile. The slightest contact suffices to
maintain the hold.

There is still one more offending tail to describe. It
belongs to a West Indian relative of our own little ' blind-
worm,' bearing also the family name, and for more justifiable
reasons, inasmuch as the eyes of the Jamaica species really
are not easily distinguished. It is worm-like in aspect,
and of about the same size as Angids fragilis, similarly
smooth and polished, and so active that it is difficult to
hold it. Typhlops hcmbricalis is its name, the first word
signifying blind, and the second worm -like. It moves
backwards and forwards with equal facility, and is therefore
commonly called the * two-headed snake.' The coloured
people are dreadfully afraid of its short blunt tail, which
they think can ' sting,' and which terminates in a minute
horny nipple on a shining round plate or scale. Being a
burrowing snake, this hard, protected tail is of great use
as a fulcrum ; but when off the ground, taken up by the
hand, for instance, the little shining worm makes still further
use of its tail, as its English cousin does, pressing the tip
firmly against the fingers, or whatever surface is near it, to
support itself, and to the terror of those who hold it, and
who forthwith dash it down, though it is wholly powerless
to injure.

In Australia it has some allies, whose tails are remarkably
developed into this useful point. The reptiles being as
round as rulers and as smooth, the difficulty of progression
without this aid as a fulcrum will be evident. Below are

1 88 . SNAKES.

three tails, which will suffice to exemplify their purpose
and utility.

A curious modification is seen in the centre tail, belong-
ing to Uropcltis philippimts, which, as the name implies,
terminates in a round disk or shield. This snake is also
one of the smooth cylindrical forms, * admirably adapted
to burrowing,' says Dr. Giinther. Its truncated appearance
is as if it were chopped clean in halves.

Tails of three burrowing snakes.

Another is the CylindropJiis, from its form. Several of
the burrowing family are remarkable for a similarity of
head and tail, obscure features, inconspicuous eyes, and
very small mouth, rendering it difficult on first sight to
decide which is the head and which the tail. All beino;
feeble, inoffensive, and entirely harmless, the evil attached
to them of having * two heads ' is only another proof of the
prejudice and animosity displayed towards every creature
in the shape of a snake, however innocent. These poor
little 'blind-worms,' admirably organized to dig and burrow
and find their food in deep and hidden places, have their
uses. In countries where dangerous ants swarm, we might
well tremble for the consequences, had not nature antici-
pated such evils by providing insectivorous reptiles, as well
as birds and ant-eaters, to keep them in check.

We must not omit one other of the family of burrowing

THE TAIL OF A SNAKE. 189

snakes, which from the very earliest ages has been sup-
posititiously endowed with two heads. Its name, Amphis-
bcBiia^ or Mouble-walker' (going both ways), however, is
well merited, because, like Typhlops, it can progress either
way, forwards or backwards, with equal facility. This is the
one alluded to by Catesby (p. 174). We can comprehend
the advantage of the retrogressing power to these otherwise
unprotected little reptiles, when they cautiously peep from
their narrow burrow in the ground, and espy one of their
many enemies in the shape of a much larger ophidian, or
a carnivorous bird. Quick as thought, back they glide,
and are safe. Living chiefly among the ants, on which they
feed, their cuirass of hard, polished, close-set scales protects
them from a bite or sting. Another beautiful provision of
nature is, that the young ones, on being hatched, find food
ready at hand — at mouth, rather — the eggs having been
laid, or the young ones born, in the nest of the ants.

Of this harmless and useful reptile, Pliny seriously wrote :
' The amphisbsena has two heads ; that is, it has a second
one at its tail, as though one mouth were too little for
the discharge of all its venom ! '

Even at the present day this belief in * two heads,' or * two
tails,' and ' death at both ends,' is not wholly eradicated,
and not merely among the lower classes either.

It only remains to say that when two heads have really
appeared — and there are several such cases on record — they
are simply monstrosities, malformations, as found in other
animals occasionally. An example of this kind may be
seen at the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons.
Another was described by Frank Buckland in Land and

I90 " SNAKES. ':

Water, April 1872. It was sent to him by his friend Dr.
Bowerbank of St. Leonard's.

A curious jumble of the Amphisbcena and the Cobra, with
its elevated and expanded neck, is found in the Philosophical
Transactions, vol. iii. p. 863, for 1665. There had been a
correspondence on the subject of two heads, and a reader
was evidently sceptical, for the writer thus protests that he
is telling the truth : —

* There are indeed such Serpents in these Parts (Java
Naja) which have an Head on each End of their Body, called
Capra capella. They are esteemed Sacred by these People,
and fortunate to those in whose House and Lands they are
found ; but pernicious to whomsoever doth them Harm.'

This credulous gentleman writes from the East, and cannot
corroborate what he has been told by a personal acquaint-
ance with even an Amphisbaena, Which might really deceive
a casual observer. But that the belief prevailed extensively
prior to this, we find from a distinguished physician of his
day, F. Hermandez, or Fernandez, who, in his work, Ani-
malium Mexicanuin, 1628, represents a creature that would
fill one of these pages, with two heads like a ram with
wattles and other ample appendages, and distinguishes it as
Amphisbcena Enropcea.

* It is not for us to question the Ancients,*
says the much too modest author, betray-'
ing a lurking misgiving as to the reality
of the creature, but nevertheless doing his
best to represent it as his imagination ^"^^^"^^^"^^"-'^J^^--
depicts it. It is here much reduced in size, but may be
found on p. 797 of the above very interesting volume.

THE TAIL OF A SNAKE, „ 191

Sir Thomas Browne includes this among his 'Vulgar
Errours,' and traces it to Nicander, Galen, and other classic
writers, but to ' ^lian most confidently.' He discusses the
creature with dispassionate intelligence, and shows us that
* poets have been more reasonable than philosophers ' about
it.^ 'Again, if such a thing there were, it were not to be
obtruded by the name of Ainphisbcena, or as an animal of
one denomination, with a duplicity of hearts and heads,' he
argues, giving honour to the head, and therefore that the
creature must be dual.

There are frequently some of the smooth, ruler-like snakes
in our London Reptilium ; their very small eyes and mouth,
and blunt, shapeless head, render it difficult to decide at the
moment between head and tail. Any with sheep's heads we
are not likely to see, and those that have had the malforma-
tion of two reptilian heads generally present something of
two necks as well. The writers, however, whom we have
quoted were not thinking of monstrosities, but had pro-
found faith in a veritable Aviphisbcena Eiiropcea, which an
artist with an unscientific imagination has handed down to
posterity !

1 Pseitdoxia, Book iii. chap, xx. p. 155.

CHAPTER XII.

OPHIDIAN ACROBATS: CONSTRUCTION AND
CONSTRICTION.

BEFORE discussing the most remarkable of all ophidian
caudal appendages, the Crotalus rattle, and the many
speculations regarding it, we will enumerate some other
acrobatic achievements of which snakes are capable ; as, in
accounting for these, some interesting facts appertaining to
their anatomical structure can be described.

A humorous journalist has said, ' There is apparently no-
thing that a snake can not do, except swallow a porcupine.' ^
Presuming that he alludes to physical feats, he is not far
from wrong. For all that, the Western pioneers of America
tell us of yet one more thing that these reptiles cannot
accomplish, and that is, cross over a rope of horse-hair.

' Since this was in type, I find that not even a porcupine is safe from a hungry

snake. In vol. xliii. of the Philosophical Transactions (1744), p. 271, is a letter

from a gentleman in India, who states that on an island near Bombay a dead

snake was found with the quills of a porcupine 'sticking out of its Belly. ' The

snake had 'sucked it in Head foremost, while the Quills were flatted down.

Afterwards they rose and ran through the Snake's Belly, and so killed it.' The

pressure of the jaws had ' flatted ' the quills, but not killed the animal, which,

when in its expansile tomb, had, though vainly, erected its natural armour.

192

OPHIDIAN A CR OB A TS.

193

Having" by accident discovered that they turn aside from
this, some Western settlers, when camping out, have
effectually entrenched themselves within a circle of horse-hair
rope as a barrier to rattlesnakes while sleeping.

Let us try to account for this. ^

Many of my readers have seen the cast-off coat of a snake.
Those who have not can have the pleasure of examining one
or several the next time they go to the Zoological Gardens,
where the obliging keeper will cheerfully exhibit them.
Others at a distance may not enjoy this facility, and for
these the accompanying diagrams may be a slight com-
pensation.

Portion of slough of a rattle-
snake (exact size).

Ventral scales of the same, and
a section.

The whole cuticle or epidermis of a serpent is composed
of these overlapping scales, of which the above illustrations
are only fragments. Thus when we speak of their scales, we
do not mean distinct and separable laminae, like the scales
of some fishes, each of which may be scraped or plucked off,

.N

194 SiVAKES.

and which overlie each other like the feathers of birds. The
covering of a snake is one entire piece, loose-fitting, and so
arranged as to lie in those scale-like folds which accommo-
date themselves to every movement of the body. The
ventral or under scales are, in fact, a regular kilting, as may
be seen by the section; and the upper ones correspond
somewhat with what our lady friends call the shell or the
leaf pattern in knitting work. The outer or exposed folds are
stronger, thicker, and more hardened than the inner parts,
just as the knitter * throws up' her pattern with a coarser
wool or larger needles, and knits the less conspicuous parts
in a softer material. The naked space of thinner skin be-
tween these scales being very considerable, one can therefore
easily understand how, when a snake would attempt to pass
over a horse-hair rope, the sharp, prickly hairs, standing out
cJievaiix-de-frise fashion, would insinuate themselves unpleas-
antly in those softer and more vulnerable interstices which
become exposed by the sinuations of the body. Probably, if
we knew it, or had an opportunity of observing, we should
ascertain that snakes do not crawl over furze bushes, or
thistles, or the prickly pear {opiuitici)^ or any similar vegeta-
tion of tropical climates, and for the same reason. The
close-scaled burrowing snakes, with their hard and strong
cuirass all round them, might have nothing to fear from a
furze bush ; but this is mere speculation. That fine, sharp
spines or prickles, and therefore a horse-hair rope, would
incommode the tender intermediate epidermal folds of other
snakes, we can well suppose. Had they sense enough to kap
the obstacle, this they could easily do, after the manner
of 'leaping' already described; but the 'leap' is only an

OPHIDIAN A CR OB A TS. 195

instinctive action used in pursuit or escape ; and it may be
equally instinctive to turn aside from uncomfortable obstacles,
whether prickly pears or horse-hair ropes.

Mr. Ruskin, in his highly-entertaining lecture on ' Snakes/
at the London Institution, March 1880 (a lecture which, by
the way, was artistic, poetic, figurative, imaginative — * Snakes '
from a Ruskin, but not a zoological, point of view), remarked
* that no scientific book tells us why the reptile is a " serpent,"
i.e. serpentine in its motions, and why it cannot go straight.'
Now, may not the fact that snakes have acquired these
ever-varying sinuations arise from their sensitiveness to the
slightest, and what would be to other creatures almost
impalpable, obstructions in their path ? — mere inequalities
which in their lazy nature it is easier, they know not why,
to circumvent than to surmount ; because they can go
straight, and do go straight when the way is plain.

Rymer Jones, in his Organizatio7i of the Animal Kingdoniy
thinks that their sense of touch from the nature of their
integument must be extremely imperfect ; they being ' de-
prived of any limbs which can be regarded as tactile organs,'
p. 753. But close observation leads one to agree rather
with a much older writer, Roget, who, in his Animal PJiysi-
ology^ intimates that the peculiar conformation of serpents
must be exceedingly favourable to the acquisition of correct
perceptions of touch, and that these perceptions which lead
to a perfect acquaintance with the tangible properties of
surrounding bodies must contribute much to the sagacity of
snakes ; — that their whole body is a hand, conferring some
of the advantages of that instrument.

That this latter faculty is strictly and marvellously the

196 SiVAKES.

case, we shall presently see, owing to the flexibility of the
spine, and its capability of grasping and twining round
objects of almost any shape, and of taking, as Roget says,
'their exact measure.' For this grasping power is not
confined to the constricting snakes only. In all snakes a
great flexibility is abundantly provided for in the con-
struction of ' these lithe and elegant beings,' as Rymer
Jones in unprejudiced language calls them (p. 724 of the
book above quoted) ; ' the spinal column admits the utmost
pliancy of motion In any required direction.'

Though snakes have no limbs externally, 'the work of
hands, feet, and fins is performed by a modification of the
vertebral column.' ^ ' Except flying, there is no limit to
their locomotion,' said Professor Huxley in /as lecture on
' Snakes,' a (qw weeks previously to that of Ruskin, and
under the same roof. To both these lectures we shall again
refer, as the reader will feel sure that all coming from such
sources must add value to the present writer's arguments.

As * flying,' the swift motions of many snakes have been
described by ancient writers, as, for example, the 'flying
serpents ' of Scripture, though these are by many supposed
to be the Dracunculiy the earliest known of human parasites.
The astonishing movements of serpents were, however, in
superstitious ages ascribed to supernatural agency. Says
Pliny : ' The Jaculus darts from trees, flies through the air as
if it were hurled from an engine.' The ' wisest of men '
admitted that the actions of serpents were beyond his com-
prehension ; * the way of a serpent on a rock ' was ' too
wonderful ' for him.

^ Owen's Anatomy of the Vertebrates, p. 261.

OPHIDIAN ACROBATS, 197

Even in intermediate ages, when travellers and naturalists
began to confront fiction with fact, even in the days of Buffon
and Lacepede, a serpent was regarded as a living allegory
rather than a zoological reality by many intelligent, albeit
unscientific persons. Of such was Chateaubriand, whose
contemplation of the serpent partook of religious awe.
* Everything is mysterious, secret, astonishing in this in-
comprehensible reptile. His movements differ from those
of all other animals. It is impossible to say where his
locomotive principle lies, for he has neither fins, nor feet,
nor wings ; and yet he flits like a shadow, he vanishes
as if by magic, he reappears, and is gone again like a
light azure vapour on the gleams of a sabre in the dark.
Now he curls himself into a circle, and projects a tongue
of fire ; now standing erect upon the extremity of his tail
he moves as if by enchantment. He rolls himself into a
ball, rises and falls like a spiral line, gives to his rings
the undulations of a wave, twines round the branches of
trees, glides under the grass of the meadow, or skims along
the surface of the water,' and so forth.^

Excepting the 'tongue of fire,' the whole of this poetic
description is so far true and unexaggerated, that Chateau-
briand has not attributed to the reptile one action of
which it is not capable, and which, to the untutored mind,
might well seem supernatural. Roget, Schlegel, Huxley,
and others tell us the same things in the language of
science. To quote them all is impossible ; the reader
will be content with one scientific assurance of ophidian
capabilities, not less poetic than Chateaubriand's.

^ Genius of Christianity.

198 SNAKES.

Professor Owen, in describing the bony structure of the
Ophidia, and in allusion to the scriptural text — 'Upon thy
belly shalt thou go ' — affirms that so far from the reptiles
being degraded from a higher type, their whole organization
demonstrates how exquisitely their parts are adapted to
their necessities, and thus proceeds : ' They can outclimb the
monkey, outswim the fish, outleap the jerboa, and suddenly
loosing the coils of their crouching spiral, they can spring
into the air and seize the bird upon its wing.'

The active snakes can always ' leap ' their own length,
whether upwards to seize a bird, or horizontally, and, as in the
case of the Jamaica boa (described p. 186), can leap much
farther from a similar impetus when the direction is doivn-
7vards. Indeed, they can let themselves fall from a certain
elevation with an additional impetus to progress, as a boy
first runs in order to leap a ditch.

* With neither hands nor talons, they can out-wrestle the
athlete, and crush their prey in the embrace of their pon-
derous, over-lapping folds. . . . Instead of licking up its
food as it glides along, the serpent uplifts its crushed pre}^,
and presents it grasped in its death-like coil, as in a hand,
to its gaping mouth.' ^

A similarly graphic account is given by Rymer Jones,
p. 718 of his work,^ that will be read with interest by
those who wish to pursue the study scientifically.

In watching the larger constricting snakes while feeding,
you see how dexterously they manage. — (One may use this
word here, because those above quoted, * as in a hand,' are

' Anatomy of the Vertebrates, vol. iii. p. 260 et seq,
^ Organization of the Animal Kingdom.

OPHIDIAN A CR OB A TS. 199

literally, scientifically true ; therefore we may suppose fingers
as well as a hand, and say how dexterously the creatures
bring their coils to their aid.)

They have quickly strangled and begun to eat, say an
opossum or a turkey buzzard, when a part of the prey
not swallowed offers some impediment to the expanded
jaws ; the wings or legs may be inconveniently extended,
or have become wedged between some immoveable ob-
stacles — a log, a narrow space, or under a portion of them-
selves. Their mouth, the only apparent grasping agent, is
already occupied, and a strain sufficiently powerful, while the
jaws are thus retaining the prey, would be painful to the
feeder, might even drag back the food, to the injury of
the engaged teeth. How does the reptile proceed in this
emergency ? With the lightness and deftness of enormous
strength, it applies two folds of its body, two loops of its
own coils, and with them drags forth, lifts up, or otherwise
adjusts its prey in a more convenient position — in fact,
'presents it as in a hand' to its own mouth.

A very remarkable instance of a constricting snake thus
using its coils is related by Dr. Elliott Coues, of the United
States army, late surgeon and naturalist to the United
States Northern Boundary Commission. He witnessed one
of those frequent combats between the Racer and the
Rattlesnake, in which the former — and in far less time
than it takes to read one line of this page — threw two
folds or coils round his adversary, one coil of the anterior
portion of his own body round one part, and a second
coil of the posterior portion of his own body round another
part, and then, by a sudden extension of himself, tore the

200 SNAKES.

rattlesnake in halves. And this was done with greater
ease and swiftness than we could snap a thread which we
must first secure round the fingers of our two hands. As
if indeed possessed of two hands, the constrictor snapped
his foe in twain. This is Lawson's 'Whipster/ p. 182.

The coiling of the constricting snakes is like lightning ;
you cannot follow the movements. In this case death
must have been instantaneous, and indeed it is doubtful
whether any beast or bird of prey puts his victim to a more
speedy and less torturing death than the constrictors when
following their own instincts.

Repairing to the Zoological Gardens in the hope of
witnessing the wonderful adaptation of coils to manual
uses, after reading what Roget and Owen had affirmed,
one soon had a favourable opportunity in watching a python.
It was, I think, in June 1874, and the poor python had a
ruptured side. In spite of which — as my zoological notes
record — ' it helped by the folds of its body to get the wings
of the duck down flat and close, so as to swallow it more
easily. With reason does Roget say, " Its whole body is a
hand," for it used its loops to hold and to push and to flatten
in a manner truly intelligent'

Such was my first entry and observation. Subsequently,
and indeed almost on every feeding day, the same kind of
thing was to be seen at the Gardens. Many such examples
are recorded in my notebook ; but of these one or two later
notes will suffice to illustrate the subject.

A young python was hanging from a branch, more than
half its body curved as in the accompanying sketch, remain-
ing motionless and quiescent, watching some sparrows which

OPHIDIAN ACROBATS.

20I

202 SNAKES.

the keeper had just put into the cage. The birds, eyeing
certain insects among the gravel, seemed all unconscious of
the pair of glistening eyes looking down upon them.
Suddenly a movement, a flicker, like the flash of a whip, and
the snake had changed its position. Too quick for us to
follow the motion, but in that flash of time it now hung
like a pendulum, with a sparrow almost hidden in its
coils. The snake had precisely measured its distance,
reached down, and recoiled with the swiftness of an elastic
spring. After a few mmutts,, feeling that its prey was dead,
it prepared to swallow it, holding it encircled in a portion
of its body, while the head was free to commence the usual
examination. Still hanging there, it held and devoured the
bird.

On another occasion, one of the larger pythons caught a
guinea-pig in the same manner. This also was so quick in
its movements that one scarcely knew what had happened
until the snake was seen to have changed its position,
some of the anterior coils had embraced a something, and
a quadruped was missing. This snake also still hung while
eating its meal, the whole process occupying less than ten
minutes. In both these cases we saw the prehensile tail
in its natural use, while the rest of the body was free
for action.

One of the most remarkable cases of what w^e may call
independent constricting powers, that is, two or more parts
of the reptile being engaged at the same time, was in some
very hungry, or very greedy, or very sagacious little
constrictors, the ' four-rayed snakes,' ElapJiis qiLUter-radiatus.

They are slender for their length, which may be from

OPHIDIAN A CR OB A TS. 203

three to five feet, of an inconspicuous colour, but with two
black lines on each side, running the whole length of their
body ; hence their name, ' four-lined,' or ' four-rayed.' In
the present instance, there were in the same cage three of
these, also one young royal python, one small common boa,
and one 'thick-necked tree boa' {Epicratis cenchris), all con-
strictors. The day was close and warm for April, and the
snakes, reviving from their winter torpor, seemed particularly
active and lively. Probably they had not fed much of late,
and thought now was their opportunity, for the keeper no
sooner threw the birds — finches, and plenty of them for all — •
into the cage, than there was a general scuffle. Each of
the six snakes seized its bird and entwined it, then on
the part of the reptiles all was comparatively still. The
rest of the poor little birds, fluttering hither and thither,
were, however, not disregarded, for although each snake was
constricting its captive, several of them captured another bird
by pressing it beneath them, and holding it down with a
disengaged part of themselves. One of the four-rayed snakes
felt its held-down victim struggling, and instantaneously a
second coil was thrown round it. Then another caught a
second bird in its mouth, for its head and neck were not
occupied with the bird already held, and in order to have
coils at its disposal, slipped down its first captive, or rather
passed itself onwards to constrict the second, the earlier
coils not changing in form in the slightest degree, any
more than a ring passed down a cord would change its form.
The next moment I saw one of those two hungry ones with
three birds under its control. It had already begun to eat
the first, a second was coiled about eight inches behind, and

2 04 SNAKES.

a good deal of the posterior portion of the reptile was still
disengaged when a bird passed across its tail, and instantly
that was captured. All this was done by a sense of feeling
only, as the snakes did not once turn their heads. Two of
these * four-rayed' snakes were so close together, so rapid in
their movements, so excited and eager for their prey, that
which of them first began his bird, and which one caught the
third, it is impossible to affirm confidently.

Whenever either of them was in the same position for
one quiet minute, a few hurried strokes of the pencil fixed
them in my notebook, and of the hasty though faithful
sketches thus made, I present three to the reader on the
opposite page.

April 1st, 1 88 1. — After this date nothing more was to be
seen ! Henceforth visitors were to be excluded, and the
reptiles were to be fed after sunset.

Now, however painfully and sympathetically we may
regard those poor little birds so unceremoniously seized,
crushed, and devoured, we can but reverently, and almost
with aw^e, admire the astonishing facility with which these
limbless, toolless reptiles provide themselves with food.
With still deeper awe and reverence we shall admire when
we examine their anatomical structure, and see by what
marvellous development it has been adapted to their
necessities.

We feel sadly for the finches, it is true ; because finches
are often our pets, and are sweet songsters. Were a toad
or a rat thus treated, we should care less, perhaps ; because
there is as much repugnance towards toads and 'vermin,' as
towards snakes.

OPHIDIAN ACROBATS.

205

\M

m\

c
o

c
o
a

OJ

I'

-T3
C
rt

D
rt
o

(TJ

2o6 SNAKES.

But if the finches did not become the prey of snakes,
they would become the victims of bird-catchers and miUiners ;
and if they escaped these wanton spoilers, they would fall
victims to birds of prey, as much larger birds fall victims to
our own need of food.

Reptiles also have existence and requirements, and an
organization adapted to such requirements. This should be
their claim upon our tolerance ; and if they do not win our
admiration, we cannot deny them the right to live, the right
to feed according to their instincts, and to secure their natural
food in their own way, which — begging the reader to pardon
this feeble moralizing — we find to be a very wonderful way.

Though the term ' reptile ' is applied to a whole tribe of
crawling creatures, whether four-legged or limbless, that are
covered with scales, horny plates, or a skin more or less
hardened, imbricated, or rugose (viz. crocodiles, lizards,
frogs, toads, serpents, and their congeners), snakes are more
truly reptiles, being limbless, from repo, to creep. Hence
serpents (from serpo, to creep, and its derivatives serpentine,
serpentize, etc., from serpens, winding) have been separated
from the rest. The true serpents, therefore, are those with-
out feet, and which move only close to the ground, by the
sinuations of their body.

We have seen that the constricting snakes use this body
as a substitute for hands, literally managing with it ; but
though they are externally legless, and apodal (without feet),
the truth is that few creatures, none perhaps, not even
millipedes, are more liberally furnished with legs and feet
than serpents. One curious exception to general rules is,
that while other creatures have the same number of feet as

OPHIDIAN A CR OB A TS. 207

legs, that is, one foot to each leg, a snake has only one foot
to each pair of legs !

Many of my observant readers have already discovered
for themselves where and what these numerous lees and
feet are. In the early days of my ophidian studies,
which then consisted chiefly of obser\^ations, I noticed the
action of limbs beneath the skin of the pythons as they
moved about, and more particularly when they were climb-
ing up the glass in front of their cages, and as in the case of
the glottis, I thought I had made a grand discovery ; and
so I had, as far as myself was concerned.

Deductions from personal observation, which in the
history of many sciences have again and again been claimed
as original discoveries by rival thinkers or experimentalists,
no doubt zuere original on the part of each.

Probably, also, many other persons have noticed this leg-
like action of the ribs, but who, not being specially interested
in snakeology, have never troubled themselves to ascertain
* further particulars,' or cared whether any one else had
observed this or not. But it is a very evident and un-
mistakeable action, and one quite worth studying on your
next visit to the Reptilium.

Books on ophiology tell us that Sir Joseph Banks was
the first to observe this limb-like action of the ribs. Sir
Everard — then Mr. — Home, F.R.S, and the most dis-
tinguished anatomist of his time, was, however, the first to
publish a scientific description of the fact ; his account and
the illustrations accompanying it having been subsequently
adopted by most ophiologists.

In vol. cii. of the PJalosopJiical Traiisactiojis of 18 12, p.

2o8 -' SNAKES.

163, is a paper which was read before the Royal Society in
February of that year, by Everard Home, Esq., F.R.S. It is
entitled, * Observations to show that the Progressive Motion
of Snakes is partly performed by the Ribs.'

We give his introductory words, not only because the
' discovery ' was a great event in the history of ophiology,
but as showing that to see and examine a foreign snake
was at that time a rare if not a novel occurrence. He tells
us that on a former occasion in 1804, he had described the
anterior ribs of a cobra, those which form the ' hood.' At
that time he was * not in possession of the bodies of snakes,'
so that he could compare their structure, but had since
found out a good deal more about their anatomy, and then
he proceeds : 'A Coluber of unusual size lately brought to
London to be exhibited, was shown to Sir Joseph Banks.
The animal was lively and moved along the carpet briskly ;
while it was doing so, Sir Joseph thought he saw the ribs
come forward in succession, like the feet of a caterpillar.
This remark he immediately communicated to me, and
gave me an opportunity of seeing the snake and making
my own observations. The fact was already established,
and I could feel the ribs with my fingers as they were
brought forward. I placed my hand under the snake, and
the ribs were felt distinctly upon the palm as the animal
passed over it. This becomes the more interesting discovery
as it constitutes a new species of progressive motion, and
one widely different from those already known.'

The ' unusually large Coluber ' was probably a python.
Had a previous opportunity presented itself to this scientific
and thoughtful observer. Sir Joseph Banks might not have

OPHIDIAN A CR OB A TS. 209

been the one to carry off the palm in this discovery. Home
had already described the peculiarity of the cobra's anterior
ribs (chap, xviii.), and, as already suggested, it is scarcely
possible to watch one of those larger constrictors zvitJwut
perceiving the mode of progression. We shall see in the
course of this book that snake observers have arrived at the
same conclusions on several points, while wholly ignorant
of what others had said or decided regarding the same.

In the previous chapter the number of vertebrae forming
the spinal column of three or four snakes was given, but
this number varies greatly, not only in snakes but in species.
In some species there are above 400 vertebrae or joints in a
snake's spine. But here is a puzzle that baffles the student.

* Every one knows,' says Schlegel, * that their number differs '
(speaking of the vertebrae), * not only according to the species,
but also in individuals, so that sometimes we find in serpents
of the same species a difference of thirty or forty vertebrae
more or less.' 1

Taking this literally according to the text, one might
expect to find one ring-snake in a family often measuring two
feet, while his brother measured two yards, and a third four
feet, and so on, as if each had a different number of vertebrae.

* The same species,' that is, two anacondas or two cobras !

* A mistranslation,' one naturally decided, and proceeded to
consult the original. But no. The translator had faithfully
and unquestioningly followed the original French ; but the
fact was so irreconcilable that I sought Dr. Giinther's kind
assistance in comprehending the passage.

^ Essay on the Physiology of Serpents. Translated from the original by Thomas
Stewart Trail, M.D., F.R.S.E., etc. Edin. 1843.

210 SNAKES.

' Evidently an oversight. Manifestly impossible,' that
learned authority at once decided. (As Schlegel stands
high as a scientific ophiologlst, the misprint is pointed out
for the benefit of future students.)

Thus lengths, as to the number of vertebrcBy vary in species
of the same genus, but not in 'individuals of the same
species.' And this alone is sufficiently perplexing.

For example, we read in one work that a rattlesnake
has 194 vertebrae, and in another that 'it,' viz. 'a rattle-
snake,' has 207 vertebrae. Both equally correct, because
two distinct species are described. Again, Dr. Carpenter,
in his Animal Physiology (edition of 1872), gives a table of
the vertebrae of various animals, in which * a python ' has
422 joints, while Owen gives 'a python' 291 joints, each
learned anatomist having examined a different species. By
these facts we comprehend what Schlegel intended to say.

The little constrictors caught their finches with five feet
of body at their disposal. An anaconda, with five yards
of body to work with, might with equal ease coil three
opossums.

* The skeleton of a snake exhibits the greatest possible
simplicity to which a vertebrate animal can be reduced,'
says Roget. It is ' merely a lengthened spinal column.'
It is ' simple ' in the same way that botanists call a stem
simple when it has no branches, or bracts, or leaves, to
interrupt its uniformity. For this reason, having no limbs,
and therefore none of those bones which in quadrupeds
connect the limbs to the trunk, the spine is, in unscientific
language, alike all the way down ; ' iin corps tout en tronc!
And because those two first joints of the spine which have

OPHIDIAN A CR OB A TS. 211

no ribs attached to them are in form precisely Hke the other
joints, physiologists tell us that a snake has ' no neck.' By
way of simplifying matters we just now called those two
joints an invariable neck. But in the way of cervical or
neck vertebrae, however, we must bear in mind that a true
anatomical neck, in the eyes of science, a snake has not.
Some of the four-legged reptiles have a true neck, that is,
they have cervical vertebrae which differ from dorsal, lumbar,
etc. vertebrae, as we ourselves and mammals in general have ;
because four-legged reptiles have a breast-bone and limbs
to support, and their neck varies in length. For example,
a tortoise has nine cervical or neck joints, a monitor lizard
six, and a salamander only one.

But so also do the necks of mammals vary very greatly in
length, while all, without exception, are formed of seven joints,
only seven vei'tebrce ; a man, a whale, a giraffe, and a mouse
possess each seven cervical vertebrae, different in form from
the rest of the joints of the spinal column. We might say that
in appearance a whale has no neck, but its seven neck joints
are flat and close as seven cards or seven pennies, while
those of the giraffe are extraordinarily prolonged ; and in
ourselves — -well, of course, the reader will admit the perfec-
tion of symmetry in our own necks, and the seven joints,
therefore, are precisely of the proper size.

While the spine of a snake is 'simple' in respect of its
joints being all formed on the same plan, it is the reverse
of simple in its wonderfully complex structure. Professor
Huxley, in his delightful lecture, said that 'the most beauti-
ful piece of anatomy he knew was the vertebra of a snake.'
Professor Owen thus anatomically describes it : ' The verte-

212

SNAKES.

brae of serpents articulate with each other by eight joints,
in addition to those of the cup and ball on the centrum ;
and interlock by parts reciprocally receiving and entering
one another, like the joints called tenon and mortice in
carpentry' {Anatomy of the Vertebrates, p. 54).

Front and back view of a vertebra.

Bearing in mind that each of these highly complicated
joints supports a pair of moveable ribs, and that the ends
of these ribs are connected by muscles with the large stiff
scutes or scales crossing the under surface of the body (see
illustrations, p. 193), which move with the ribs, one foot-
like scale to each pair, we comprehend how snakes exceed
millipedes in the number of their limbs, if not true legs,
and how they excel the insect also in variety of movement.
Those 'ball and socket' joints admit of free lateral flexion,
and every variety of curvature — ' the utmost pliancy of
motion^ to repeat the words of Rymer Jones ; and also of
that surprisingly independent motion which enables the
constrictors to surpass even the Bimana (except practised
experts) in doing several things at once.

Thoughtful persons who can contemplate this wondrous

OPHIDIAN A CR OB A TS. 213

organization with due reverence, and witness it in activity —
as we admiringly observe the works of a watch in motion
— will forget to censure those who supply food to this piece
of animated mechanism, and even pardon a hungry little
snake for so expertly securing three birds at once.

Think of 300 back-bones and 300 pairs of legs, all requiring
wholesome exercise. Some snakes have 300 pairs of ribs —
each pair capable of independent motion, and articulated with
that complex spine ; and each pair moving together, and
carrying along with them a foot in the shape of a broad
ventral scale. ' This scutum by its posterior edge lays hold
of the ground,' says Sir Everard Home, 'and becomes a
fixed point whence to set out anew.'

The hold which the ventral scales have of the ground
obviously renders it easier for the reptiles to pass over a
rough than a smooth surface ; what are obstacles to other
creatures are facilities to them. But they appear to be
never at a loss. On a boarded room, or even a marble
floor, they will manage progression of some sort, — many by
the pressure of the tail to push themselves forward, and
others with an action that can be compared only with
swimming. With the same rapid, undulating motion as
swimming, the active snakes skim through the grass, or
over soft herbage, on which they seem to make no impres-
sion. Their swift sinuations are almost invisible to the
eye. You only know that a snake ivas there, and now has
vanished. The ' Rat ' snake of Ceylon {Ptyas mucosus) (see
frontispiece) and the ' Pilot ' snakes of America are among
the best known of these swift-flitting or gliding creatures.
Rats are fleet little quadrupeds, but their enemies, the

-2 14 SNAKES.

Rat snakes of India, are more than their match. Sir Emerson
Tennant, in his History of Ceylon, describes an encounter with
one. Ptyas mucostis caught a rat, and both captor and cap-
tive were promptly covered with a glass shade to be watched.
With an instinct to escape stronger than hunger, Ptyas
relinquished his hold, and manifested uneasiness. Then
the glass shade was raised a trifle, and instantly away ran
the rat ; but the snake was after it like a flash, caught it, and
glided away swiftly, with head erect and the rat in its mouth.

At one of the Davis lectures at the Zoological Gardens,
a fine Rat snake in the Society's collection was exhibited,
and was permitted to be handled by a favoured few. To
hold it still was not possible, for the creature glided through
the hand, and entwined itself about one as if a dozen
snakes had you in possession. It was very tame, and
accustomed to be handled by the keeper, whose especial
pet it was ; otherwise Ptyas is a powerful snake, and quite
capable of strangling you should it take a fancy to constrict
your neck. On another occasion this same snake constricted
my arm sufficiently to make my fingers swell ; but that was
not so much in anger as for safety, because it did not like to
be fettered in its movements, or to be somewhat unceremoni-
ously examined. A younger and less tame specimen tried to
bite me, and squeezed my fingers blue by constricting them.

There is no circumventing these * lithe and elegant beings.'
They wull get into your pocket, or up your sleeve ; and w^hile
you think you have the head safely in your hand, the
whole twelve feet of snake will have glided through, and
be making its way to the book shelves, or where you least
expect to see it.

OPHIDIAN A CR OB A TS. 215

When frequently handling the young- constrictors, one has
been able io feci diS well as to observe the action of the ribs.
As they pass through the hand, you feel them expanded,
so as to present a flatter under surface. In Ptyas the back
is remarkably keeled when crawling, a section of his body
presenting the form of the middle diagram given below.

Schlegel describes the forms which the bodies of various
snakes assume in swimming, climbing, clinging, etc. Some-
times they are laterally compressed, at others flattened.
The three figures above are on a much reduced scale, but
give an idea of the sections of three different snakes,
though each snake is capable of several such changes of
form. When snakes climb against the glass of their
cages, you may easily discern the flattening of their
bodies. In this action there seems to be a compressing
power, any hold of the scutae against a polished plane
being, of course, impossible ; yet without holding they seem
to cling ; and the ribs advance in wave-like intervals just
the same, with an intermediate space at rest until in turn
the wave is there and passes on, while from an anterior
portion another wave approaches, and so on. Yet the coin-
pressure strikes one forcibly. There is also the evident
support of the tail in a large python thus crawling to the
very top of his cage.

Mr. Gosse observed the dilatation and flatteninc: of the

2 1 6 SNAKES.

body in the climbing snakes, and that they had no more
difficulty in gliding up a tree or a wall in a straight line than
on the ground. In the Anecdotes of Serpents^ revised for the
Messrs. W. & R. Chambers, of Edinburgh, in 1875, from
the tract by the late John Keast Lord, I also recorded
my observations on this peculiarity.

Some young Jamaica boas crawled to the top of their
cage as soon as they were born. I saw them the same day ;
held them, as well as it was possible to hold threads of
quicksilver ; felt them, too, for the exceedingly juvenile
constrictors tied up my fingers cleverly. So did some
young boa constrictors, born alive at the Gardens, June 30,
1877. They were from fifteen to twenty inches in length,
and had teeth sufficiently developed to draw blood from
Holland's hand, showing fight and ingratitude at the same
time. They were exceedingly active, and fed on young mice,
which they constricted instinctively. One of them, known as
* Totsey,' subsequently hwig for her portrait, as on p. 201.

In vol. XX. of Nature, p. 528, is a very clever paper on
the progression of snakes, by H. F. Hutchinson, who has
evidently observed them closely. He arrives at the con-
clusion that they have three different modes, viz. 'on smooth
plane surfaces by means of their rib-legs ; ' . . . ' through
high grass by rapid, almost invisible, sinuous onward move-
ment, like swimming ; ' in climbing straight walls or ascend-
ing smooth surfaces by creating a vacuum with the ventral
scales. He reminds us that cobras, kraits, the rat snake,
and other slender and active kinds are constantly found
on house roofs, walls, straight smooth trees, etc., and asks
how they got there. He has seen the 'abdominal scales

OPHIDIAN A CR OB A TS. 217

creating a vacuum like the pedal scales of house lizards.'
He put some active little snakes on the ground, where there
was no hold for the scutae, and they ' flew about in all
directions.' He saw that they moved on by these quick,
sinuous curves — 'rapid wriggles.'

In company with my esteemed friend, Mr. Robert
Chambers of Edinburgh, we made similar experiments by
placing some of the smooth-scaled, active snakes on a
boarded floor. Being extremely wild, they displayed their
anger and skill to perfection, and literally swam along,
scarcely touching the floor, and so swiftly that we had
difficulty in pursuing and securing them again. Some very
young Tropidojioti vjh.Qn disturbed flew or 'swam' about their
cage in the same manner. We also saw pythons climb up a
window-frame, and a corner of the room where no visible hold
could be obtained ; and after the example of Sir Everard
Home, we allowed the reptiles to crawl over our hands,
when we could feel the expansion and flattening of the
body by the spreading of the ribs.. I incline to agree, there-
fore, with the writer in Nature^ that there is a sort of
vacuum created by the ventral scales. Dr. Stradling
observed that on occasions of retreat, some snakes move in
such rapid and ever-varying sinuations as to baffle you
completely when you attempt to lay hold of them ; the part
you thought to grasp is gone.^ Such are the movements of
PituopJiis and oi Echis (p. 151).

At the risk of being tedious, a few more words must be
added on this subject of progression, because we so con-

^ ' On the Movements of Snakes in Flight,' by Dr. Arthur Stradling, C.M.Z.S.,
Nature, Feb. 18S2.

21 8 SNAKES.

stantly see it asserted that snakes * move with difficulty
over smooth surfaces.' Their actions have not excited
sufficient attention and study. Have you ever watched
them moving about in their bath at the Zoological Gardens .''
The motions of a python once particularly struck me. The
earthenware pan was smooth polished ware, and with enough
water in it to render it smoother, if that be possible. The
reptile was not swimming, for the thicker part of its body
was not even wholly submersed. The pan was too shallow
for that, and too small to permit of any portion of the python
being fully extended. It moved in ever-varying coils and
curves, yet with the greatest ease, its head slightly raised,
so that the nostrils and mouth were out of water. It
seemed to be enjoying its bath, as it actively glided, turned,
and curved in that wonderful fashion which Ruskin described
as ' a bit one way, a bit another, and some of him not at all.'
There could be no hold for the scutae in this case, nor could
I detect any action of the ribs as in crawling over a less
smooth surface. The creature seemed to move by its easy
sinuations, and with no more effort than you see in the
fish at an aquarium. Perfectly incomprehensible Is this lax
and leisurely movement in shallow water. Even the inert
little slow-worm astonishes us by its physical achievements,
which will be duly described in its especial chapter.

But among the most characteristically active are the small
and slender tree snakes, the DryadidcB and DcndropJiidce,
mostly of a brilliant green. These and the Whip snakes are
exceedingly long and slender, the tails of many of them
very gradually diminishing to a fine and attenuated point.
Some of them are closely allied to the lizards, and skim and

OPHIDIAN A CR OB A TS. 219

dash through the foliage with a scarcely perceptible weight.
These are the true acrobats, full of gracile ease and activity.
Many are over four feet in length, and not much thicker than
a pencil.

They are found in the hot countries of both hemispheres.
The Siamese call some of them 'sunbeams,' from their
combination of grace and splendour, and in Brazil some
have the brilliant tints of the humming-birds. These little
creatures in your hand feel like soft, fine, satin cords endowed
with life.

Dr. Wucherer, writing from Brazil, enthusiastically declared
that he was always delighted to find one of them in his garden.
He discovered them coiled in a bird's nest, their body of two
feet long occupying a space no larger than the hollow of your
hand. 'In an instant they dart upwards between the branches
and over the leaves, which scarcely bend beneath their weight.
A moment more, and you have lost them.' ^

Krefft, of Australia, had some of the active snakes, which
were confined in an empty room, but one day could not be
found. At last they were discovered upon the moulding of a
door, nine feet from the floor ! They must have climbed up
the smooth wood-work in their own mysterious fashion.

Ere concluding this chapter, one slight exception to the
extremely 'simple' spinal column must be named. This
is that certain families, more nearly allied to the lizards,
or most far removed from the vipers, have rudiments of
pelvic bones, or those which in bipeds connect the legs with
the trunk. In a few families there is even a pair of these
rudiments externally, though only in the form of a spur or

^ Letter to Sir Emerson Tennant.

2 20 SNAKES.

claw, as seen in the boa constrictor, the pythons, and some
of the blind-worms, and usually more developed in the male.
There is, however, the true skeleton of a claw beneath the
skin, composed of several bones, and presenting somewhat
the form of a bird's claw, hinting at the common ancestry
between snakes and lizards. These spurs, though mere
vestiges of limbs, must still be of some use to the large
constrictors when climbing trees and hanging from the
branches. They are found in the boa, python, eryx, and
tortrix, four groups which approach the lizard characteristics;
also in Boa aqiiatica, the anaconda.

V(.v

^.YZ^

^^^ijj^gjg

HH>

CHAPTER XIII.

FRESH- WATER SNAKES.

THE frequent allusion to water snakes In the preceding
chapters seems to render this a suitable place to
describe them more In detail ; and among them are of
course the sea snakes, and ' The Great Sea Serpent ' must
not be omitted.

In many books on natural history, particularly If her-
petology occupy any space, we find the subject wound up
with a chapter on 'The Sea Serpent,' forming a sort of
apologetic little addendum, as If the creature of question-
able existence must claim no space in the heart of the
volume, yet is not quite so unimportant as to be omitted
altogether.

On the part of some other authors, a total and summary
dismissal of the ' monster ' is apt to exclude with it any
reference to the smaller sea snakes, whose actual existence
is therefore a fact less knov/n than It should be ; and many
persons, seeing the doubt cast upon the celebrated Individual
whose reputed reappearance on the prorogation of Parliament

221

22 2 SNAKES.

has become an annual joke, conclude that all sea snakes are
similarly mythical.

Admitting it to be a dubious creature, with neither name
nor ancestry in ophidian annals, I must not give it precedence
of the recognised water snakes ; but it shall figure in the
heart of my book notwithstanding.

^ Fresh-zvater snakes' form the fourth, and ^ Sea snakes'
the fifth of the five groups into which Dr. Giinther has
separated the ophidian families ; but the gradations between
the land and the fresh-water species, and between the latter
and the salt-water snakes or the true HydropJiidce^ are, like
all other herpetological features, extremely close. There
are water-loving land snakes and land-frequenting water
snakes, that is, those which are equally at home in both.
In the true water species, however, we find modifications of
ordinary rules which show them to be peculiarly protected
and adapted for an aquatic existence.

One notable characteristic in all, both salt-water and fresh,
is the position of the nostrils on the top of the snout, and in
many these are protected by a valve which closes at will.
As air-breathing animals they must come to the surface, but
the timid, stealthy ophidian instinct which seeks to hide
from observation can be indulged even in the water, with
the nostrils so situated that only a very small surface of the
head need be exposed. Could we examine the interior of
the mouth we should doubtless find some slight variation in
the position of the glottis also. In a foregoing chapter we
saw that the trachea opens exactly opposite to and close
behind what Dumeril calls the 'arriere-narines ;' 'leur glotte
qui est a deux levres et qui represente un larynx tres simple.

FRESH-WATER SNAKES. 223

s'ouvre dans la bouche derriere le fourreau de la langue . . .
elle s'eleve pour se presenter dilatee sous les arriere-
narines.' 1 The glottis of water snakes must have a still more
upward direction to present itself to those air passages.
Perhaps water snakes do not require to yawn so frequently
as is the habit of their terrestrial relatives ; and if they do,
it must be a rare privilege to be able to inspect the process,
as one can so frequently do with the pythons and vipers at
home. Our authorities do not give us much information
on this point.^

Their moderately long tapering tail is used as a propelling
power. Exteriorly, too, water snakes have smooth non-imbri-
cated scales, though exceptions exist in those species which
frequent both land and water, as the Ti'opidonoti, a large
family of which our common English ring snake is a member,
and which, as their name denotes, have all keeled scales, from
rpomg, Tpo'rridoc, a kcel. These, also, can elevate their ribs, and so
flatten the body in the water, another assistant in swimming.

A marked exception to the sm.ooth-scaled, water-loving
snakes is the African viper, known as the ' River Jack '
from its partiality to water. Vipcra rJiinosccros, from the
spinous scales which have the appearance of horns on its
nose, is allied to those described in the i8th chapter. Though

1 Dumeril et Bibron, Erpefohs^ie generak, tome i. p. 179.

' Since this has been in type, there has been brought to the Gardens an Indian
' River snake ' ( Tropidonotiis quincimciatits), affording me an opportunity to
observe that there is a notable modification of the glottis, as also of the nostrils.
Not a true water snake, but one of the intermediate families, so do we find the
nostrils somewhat higher than those of land snakes, while yet not quite on the
top of the snout as in sea snakes ; the glottis has a corresponding upward direc-
tion to meet them, and is a more elongated, longitudinal slit than those furnished
with \.\\Q petite languette. — June 1S82.

2 24 SNAKES.

not strictly a water snake, it much frequents it, and glides
through it with ease, the more remarkable because, in com-
mon with those other * horned vipers ' of Africa, it has a
short, insignificant little tail, which can be of little use as a
propelUng power. Altogether, it is one of the ugliest and
most ferocious-looking of the whole serpent tribe, with a
thick, heavy body, a dingy, rough exterior, and strongly-
carinated scales. Excepting in colour, and a more horizontal
inclination of its horns, it is not unlike the V. nasicornis of
the coloured illustration, chap, xviii.

While all the Hoinalopsidce or true fresh-water snakes are
innocent, there are many other venomous kinds known as
* water serpents,' both in Africa and America. For example,
the * water viper,' or ' water moccasin,' Cenchris piscivorus,
whose aquatic and fish-eating propensities were described in
the chapter on Tails. This ' thorn-tail ' viper has not, how-
ever, the nostrils of the true fresh-water snakes or Hoina-
lopsidcB. In Australia also are several poisonous species,
known vernacularly as ' water snakes ; ' but strictly speaking,
and on the authority of Giinther, the true Homalopsidce are
all non-venomous.

To describe these more minutely from Giinther, Krefft,
and Dr. E. Nicholson, ' they have a body moderately cylin-
drical, a tail somewhat compressed at the root, and more or
less prehensile. Many of them have a distinctly prehensile
tail, by which they hold on to projecting objects ; ' and in
times of storms and strong currents we can imagine the
importance of this security to them. Their eyes, though
prominent, are small, and thus less exposed to injury ; and
the nostrils, as already stated, are on the upper surface of

FRESH-WATER SNAKES. 225

the head, and provided with a valvule. Another peculiarity
is that the last or back tooth of the maxillary bone is a
grooved fang, a transitional tooth between an ordinary one
and a fang ; but there is no evidence of any poisonous
saliva connected with it. Indeed, as we may repeat. Dr.
Giinther distinctly affirms that all the fresh-water snakes are
harmless and tJioroiigJdy aquatic, though a few are occasion-
ally found on the beach. They inhabit rivers and estuaries,
feeding on fish, and rarely coming to land ; some of them
frequent brackish waters, and even enter the sea. These
latter in their organization approach the true marine ser-
pents. One Indian example, Hydriniis, is semi-pelagic.
They are all viviparous, producing their young in the water ;
and they belong to the tropical or semi-tropical regions.
In Australia they are found only in the far north ; but in
America some so-called * water snakes,' which spend most
of their time in the water, frequent rivers which are frozen
over in winter, during which season they probably undergo
hibernation in holes near the banks.

Several of the older naturalists describe 'water snakes' in
words which leave us no doubt as to the mivibers, though
of their name we cannot be so certain. Carver in 1796
mentioned some small islands near the western end of Lake
Erie, so infested with snakes that it was dangerous to land
upon them. It is impossible that any place can produce
a greater number of all kinds of snakes, particularly the
* water snake,' than this. He says : * The lake is covered
near the banks of the islands with the large pond lily, the
leaves of which lie on the surface of the water so thick as to

cover it entirely for many acres together, and on each of

p

226 SNAKES.

these lay wreaths of water snakes, amounthig to myriads,
basking in. the sun.' A sight of the last century this. I
have passed over that part of Lake Erie and through the
Detroit river, and remember the islands and the water-
lilies and other attractive objects, but 'wreaths of water
snakes ' were not of these.

Lawson, too, can assure us of their habitat, but not their
name, and his account is of worth chiefly to verify their
swarming numbers. It is possible that some of those
which he describes are now extinct or very rare. * Of water
Snakes there are four sorts. The first is of the Horn Snake's
Colour, though less.' (This might be the young of the

* water moccasin,' CencJiris^ or Trigonoceph. piscivonts.)

* The next is a very long Snake, differing in Colour, and will
make nothing to swim over a River a League wide. They
hang upon Birches and other Trees by the Water Side. I had
the Fortune once to have one of them leap into my Boat as I
was going up a narrow River. The Boat was full of Mats,
which I was glad to take out and so get rid of him. They
are reckoned poisonous. A third is much of an English
Adder Colour, but always frequents the Salts, and lies under
the drift Seaweed, where they are in Abundance, and are
accounted mischievous when they bite. The last is of a
sooty, black Colour, and frequents Ponds and Ditches.
What his Qualities are, I cannot tell.'

Catesby is responsible for having called Tropidouotus

fasciattis 'the brown water viper,' a stumbling-block to

many ever since, much confusion existing between this and

the true ' water viper,' the dangerous moccasin snake.

Occasionally they are very dark. They are rather thick

FRESH-WATER SNAKES. 227

and viperish - looking as well, but are perfectly harm-
less.

This is the snake to which almost this book owes its
origin, the specimens at the Zoological Gardens called

* Moccasins ' tripping me up at the outset, as my preface
sets forth. Holbrooke describes it as spending most of its
time in the water, or about pond and river banks. It swims
rapidly, and hundreds may be seen darting in all directions
through the water. They are very common in the United
States, and might have formed the * wreathed myriads ' on
Lake Erie formerly. In summer they roost on the lower
branches of trees, overhanging the water, like TrigonocepJialus
piscivorus, the true 'water moccasin,' or 'cotton mouth.'
At the time of writing there are examples of both these at
the Gardens, the harmless ' moccasin,' a rather handsome
snake, and the venomous one (not there recognised as the
well-known moccasin of the United States), so nearly black
that we can account for its being occasionally called the
' black water viper.'

It is probably Tropidonotus which Parker Gilmore des-
cribes as 'water vipers." At Vincennes in Indiana, he says,

* On the side where some alder bushes grow in the water,
I have seen, on a very warm and bright day, such numbers
of water vipers twined round the limbs and trunks which
margin the pond, that it would be almost impossible to
wade a yard without being within reach of one of them.
They certainly have all the appearance of being venomous ;
the inhabitants say, however, they are harmless. They feed
principally on fish, frogs, and small birds.'

^ Prairie Farms and Prairie Folks, vol. ii. pp. 83, 84.

2 28 SNAKES.

Of American water snakes, the anaconda deserves special

mention. Of it Seba says, ' Ce serpent habite plus les eaux

que les rochers ; ' and in its having the nostrils situated on

the top of the head, and in possessing some other features

in common with the Hovialopsidce, we are justified in calling

it a water serpent, notwithstanding it is a true constrictor.

'Mother of waters,' the aborigines of South America call

it. It is the Boa aquatica of Neuwied, and Etinectes nmrimis

of Wagler, the latter name being the one most frequently

used by modern herpetologists. Dumeril adopts it, VEimect

viurifi, giving the origin of the generic name, bon nageiu%

from the Greek sO, bien,fort, and ^/jjir-zj?, nageiir — qui nage bien.

As to the meaning of the specific name inmmus, there can

be but little doubt, though some have attributed it to its

mouse-coloured skin or spots. Le viangciir de rats, Bonnat

called it ; le rativoro, Lacepede. Seba, who was one of the

first to describe it, says, ' II font guerre aux rats ; ' and

Bonnat, on his authority, says, ' II se nourrit d'une espece

de rats.' ' Serpent d'Amerique a moucheteur de tortue,'

Seba also describes it, and with 'jolies ecailles magnifique-

ment madrees de grandes taches, semblable de celles des

tortues ; taches semees sans ordres, grands, petits,' etc.

Miirinus, therefore, clearly refers to its food, not its colour.

Dumeril's description is of more scientific exactness : * Pas
de fossettes aux levres. On pent aisement reconnaitre les
Eunectes seul entre les boa, ils ont les narines percees a la
face supericure du bout du museau et directement tournees
vers le ciel' These, being extremely small, and with a
power to close hermetically, declare its aquatic habits. Its
eyes are prominent, and so placed that the reptile can

FRESH-WATER SNAKES. 229

see before it, and also below — that is, down into the
waters.

On first sight it might be a matter of wonder that so large
a serpent should condescend to a meal of rats and mice ;
but to explain this we must again go back to the early
naturalists, when we discover that what Seba called le rat
d' Ameriqiie was a rodent quite worth constricting for dinner.
Under the order Miiridce were included in those days a
number of the larger rodents, such as the Paca, Mus
Braziliensis ; the Coypu, Mus coy pus ; Myopotamus, the
Capybara ; the Murine opossum, and several others, aquatic
in their habits, and large enough to attract the 'Giant of
the Waters.'

From the vernacular Matatoro, or ' Bull killer,' also a
whole century of misrepresentations have arisen, the said
'bull' being really as small in proportion as the 'rats' and
' mice ' were large. * The deer swallowcr ' is another of its
local titles, showing that it is a serpent of varying tastes.
Stories are told of this ' monster ' killing itself in attempting
to gorge large animals with enormously extended horns,
animals not to be found among the Brazilian fauna ; and
familiar to most persons are the illustrations of anacondas
of untraceable length, the posterior portion coiled round a
branch fifty feet high, and the anterior coiled round a
bull as big as a prize ox. These illustrations are the off-
spring of ignorance rather than reality, and though occa-
sionally Etuiectes might come to grief by attacking a
somewhat unmanageable meal, yet its recognised specific,
vmrinus or murina, points more clearly the true nature of
its food, viz. rodents of at most some two feet long.

230 SNAKES.

No less exaggerated than its appetite is its length. Pos-
sibly anacondas may have attained greater size formerly
when there were fewer enemies than at present, if it be
true, as some have affirmed, that serpents grow all their
lives. Thirty feet is the utmost length on record. Wallace
affirms that he has never seen one exceeding twenty feet.
Those individuals at the Zoological Gardens have rarely
exceeded this, and Giinther gives twenty-two feet as their
average length in the present day.

Of those known in South Africa as ' water snakes,' one is
Aviisainans vernacularly, a black one and common, and
another, Ijfulu^ of a beautiful bright green. Mr. Wood-
Avard, whose scientific egg-sucker has been already mentioned
in chap, iii., states that both these are poisonous, that he
never saw the green one out of water, and that it is unsafe
to bathe where they are. On referring to Dr. Andrew
Smith's Zoology of South Africa, I am not able to identify
these with certainty, and do not, therefore, give the above
as scientific information.

But before concluding this part of the subject, I would
add a word or two on the importance of an accurate descrip-
tion of the snake, as far as possible, when one is found in
some unusual situation ; because a snake being found in the
water is no proof that it is a water snake, or even that it
was there by choice. Livingstone, in his Expedition to the
Zambesi^ p. 150, describes the number of venomous crea-
tures, such as scorpions, centipedes, etc., that were found
on board, 'having been brought into the ship with wood.'
* Snakes also came sometimes with the wood, but oftener
floated down the river to us, climbing easily by the chain

FRESH-WATER SNAKES. 231

cable. Some poisonous ones were caught in the cabin.
A green one was there several weeks, hiding in the day-
time.'

Often in newspapers are stories of 'sea snakes' as having
appeared quite out of their geographical range. These
on investigation may reasonably be traced to land snakes
which have been carried out by the tidal rivers. In Land
and Water of Jan. 5, 1878, was such a story. Again, March
31, the following year, a correspondent, 'J. J. A.,' on 'Animal
Life in New Caledonia,' stated that the sea inside the
reefs is sometimes covered with both dead and living crea-
tures carried out by the violence of the currents after heavy
rains. ' The flooded rivers rush with great force from the
mountains,' and numbers of reptiles were among the victims
of that force. He saw 'incredible numbers of snakes,' and
described the common sea snakes as ' stupid, fearless things,
that will not get out of your way. . . . The small sand-
islands are literally alive with them.' The writer made no
pretensions to be a naturalist, or to state confidently what
the snakes were specifically. New Caledonia would seem
to be rather beyond the range of sea snakes proper, and
those ' incredible numbers ' may have been only land snakes
involuntarily taking a sea bath, or certain species frequenting
brackish waters, like those in South Carolina described
by Lawson.

About the same time an American newspaper contained
an account given by Captain O. A. Pitfield, of the steam-
ship Mexico, who stated that he had 'passed through a
tangled mass of snakes ' off the Tortuga islands, at the
entrance to the Gulf of Mexico. The ship was ' more than

232 SNAKES.

an hour ' in passing them. ' They were of all sizes, from the
ordinary green water snake of two feet long, to monsters,
genuine " sea serpents," of fourteen to fifteen feet in length.'
I replied to both these communications at the time {Land and
Water, April 5, 1879), inviting further information, and de-
scribing the features by which true water and true sea snakes
could be easily distinguished. Nothing further appeared on
the subject, and I have little doubt but that, in both cases,
the ' shoals of sea snakes ' were land species that had been
merely carried out to sea by force of rivers, I have
since been more strongly inclined to this opinion on
learning from Dr. Stradling that similar transportations
of snakes occur through the force of some of the South
American rivers. * Do you know the snakes which belong
to the River Plate proper } ' he asks me by letter. ' So
many are brought down by floods from Paraguay — even
the big constrictors — that it is difficult to determine from
occasional specimens.'

I could not, unfortunately, refer to any books that afforded
much information on this subject ; for amongst the greatest
literary needs experienced by an ophiologist is some com-
plete and special work on the South American snakes,
corresponding with Giinther's Reptiles of British India, and
Y^rtKt's Snakes of Ansiralia.

Other writers have mentioned the occurrence of boa con-
strictors and anacondas far out at sea occasionally, beguiling
the unsophisticated into reporting a veritable ' sea serpent *
to the Times by the first homeward-bound mail.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE PELAGIC OR SEA SNAKES.

THE modifications of ordinary forms which are seen
in the fresh-water snakes are still more beautifully
developed in the Hydrophidce, or true marine serpents. The
former, being never out of easy reach of shore, could easily
find a safe harbour from violent torrents, in holes in the
banks or among the strong aquatic weeds along the borders
of lakes and rivers ; and to be enabled to hold on to these in
times of danger or of repose, they possess a prehensile power
of tail. In a rough and stormy ocean, a much more powerful
propeller and rudder would be necessary for the guidance
of the reptile, and to afford resistance against the denser
medium of sea water ; therefore the tail of sea snakes is not
only prehensile but strongly compressed, so as to almost
form a vertical fin, answering altogether to that of a fish.
This is their most conspicuous and striking feature, and one
that w^ould leave no doubt in the mind of the observer
between the true marine and those fresh-water species which
may by accident drift out to sea by force of current.

Another distineuishingf feature is the absence of ventral

233

2 34 SNAKES.

scales in most of the species. In land snakes we saw how
admirably adapted are the broad, ventral plates
for assisting those reptiles over rough sur-
faces, as affording hold ; but the HydrophidcB
requiring no such aid in a fluid, those scutse
would be useless ; they are therefore, excepting
in one or two species, entirely absent, or but
slightly developed, and the belly -is ridged
instead, like the keel of a boat. ^ . . .

' Portion of the

The nostrils are small, placed horizontally on s^a^nakl? above

1 r ^ ' ^ TT J ' 1 i ^"^^ below the

the top of the snout, as m the nomalopsiacs, and anus, with no dis-
tinction in tail

in most of the sea snakes they are contiguous. ^^^'^^•
They are, moreover, furnished with a valve, which is under
control of the will, opening to admit air, and closing to
exclude water when diving. For, be it remembered, these
marine reptiles breathe through their nostrils even more
entirely than terrestrial snakes, the latter being better able
to indulge their yawning propensities, or to occasionally
respire slightly, and through parted lips and the tongue chink
as well. Sea snakes, on the contrary, not requiring the
continual use of their tongue to feel and explore surround-
ings, and not using it below water, are not provided with
the little centre chink for its exsertion ; but the middle plate
of the upper lip, i.e. the 'rostral shield ' (see illus. p. 238), is
altogether of a different form. Indeed, the centre plates or
shields in both lips are conspicuously modified, the upper
one often inclining downwards in a point which fits into
the lower one shaped to receive it, so that the mouth is
firmly closed to keep out the water. Less required, the
tongue is shorter and less developed, the tips are less hair-

THE PELAGIC OR SEA SNAKES. 235

like, as only these, if at all, are exposed to the sea water,
and a very small notch on each side of the pointed rostral
shield of some permits the slight egress of these tips.
When out of their natural element, the tongue is brought
into more active service, for then the bewildered reptiles
require its assistance, and it is then seen to be exserted
as in land snakes. Their lungs extend the whole length
of the body to the anus, and by retaining a large supply of
air, these animals are enabled to float easily, as they do for
a long while on the surface of the calm tropical seas, not
only while sleeping, as mentioned in the chapter on hiber-
nation, but in pure enjoyment, and probably in the lazy

«

postprandial condition.

As has been already stated, the eyes of sea snakes
are adapted to see better through the medium of water
than through the brilliant atmosphere of their native
latitudes. They are very small, and soon blinded by
light ; consequently, though among the swiftest and
most gracile of serpents in their native element, the
movements of the HydrophidcB on land are uncertain and
' maladroit.'

Some forty years ago. Dr. Theodore Cantor, F.Z.S.,
devoted a good deal of time to the study of the pelagic
serpents, and wrote a somewhat detailed account of them
to the Zoological Society. His paper, published in the
Zoological Society Transactions, 1842, vol. ii., was considered the
most important that had as yet appeared. He, therefore,
has been one of our first authorities. Subsequently we are
indebted to Giinther, Dr. E. Nicholson, Gerard Krefft, and
Sir Joseph Fayrer for the results of their individual obscrva-

236 SNAKES.

tions. In my foregoing descriptions I have culled from each
of these, and as most modern writers on this subject merely
reproduce from the works of Giinther, Cantor, and Fayrer,
I will keep chiefly to these in what further has to be said of
sea snakes.

First, they belong to the tropical seas of the Eastern hemi-
sphere, and are most numerous in the Indian Ocean, where
they abound. The geographical range of a few is, however,
somewhat extensive, viz. from Madagascar and that part of
the African coast to northern Australia, the Bay of Bengal, ,
and even to the western coasts of Panama ; while others are
restricted to certain localities. All are highly venomous.
They are wild and ferocious as well, and therefore peculiarly
dangerous, and are the great dread of fishermen, who
carefully avoid them. Accidents, nevertheless, frequently
happen through their being caught in the nets, when, from
their exceeding activity, it is difficult to disengage them
and set them free again. When out of the water they
try to bite at the nearest objects, and being dazzled by the
light, strike wildly, unable to aim correctly. Cantor informs
us that he has known them to turn and strike their own
bodies in their rage, and that he has found difficulty in
disengaging their fangs and teeth from their own flesh.

Owing to the great danger attending their capture, and
also the almost impossibility of keeping them alive when
out of the sea, less is accurately known of the pelagic than
most other snakes. Even if placed in a large hole in the
ground filled with sea water, or a capacious tank similarly
supplied, they die very rapidly. Sir Joseph Fayrer in his
experiments resorted to every means in order to keep them

THE PELAGIC OR SEA SNAKES. 237

alive, but informs us that their exceeding delicacy caused
their rapid death in spite of the utmost care. Dr. Vincent
Richards, however, has succeeded in keeping some alive
several weeks.

In length they vary from two to ten feet. Krefift says
that the largest he ever saw was nine feet long. Giinther
states that they sometimes attain twelve feet, and sea
snakes of even fourteen feet in length have been occa-
sionally reported, though not perhaps from well authenti-
cated sources. It is probable that, like all other reptiles,
they attain their greatest proportions in the hottest

regions.

Though purely oceanic, and no more found in fresh water
than on dry ground, yet they come some distance up the
rivers as far as brackish water. When washed on shore by
the surf, they are helpless and blind, and at such times
' peaceable,' by reason of their helplessness. Occasionally
they are seen coiled up asleep on the beach, where they
have probably been washed by the tide, and where the next
tide will no doubt release them from their uncongenial
bed. Those species which have a less keeled body and
the partially developed ventral scales might even manage
to get back to sea independently of the tide. Even those
without ventral scales contrive to wriggle along in their own
fashion.

Such an occurrence is related by Mr. E. H. Pringle in the
Field newspaper of 3d September 1881. He tracked an
Enhydrina fifty feet along the sands, making its way back
to the sea from a salt-water pool, where it had probably
been left by the tide. This species is the one peculiarly

238 SNAKES.

favoured in having tiny orifices for the egress of the tongue
tips on each side of its lobulated snout.

Its profile, being somewhat remarkable, is here presented
to the reader, who will perhaps
detect a certain determination
in that very beak-like snout.
This species is found along the
Burman coast. Another, though

. , . , , Enhydfina. From Fayrer's

keepmg to its native element, has Thanatophidia.

explored the Pacific to the very borders of America, and
has been seen on the western coast of Panama. This is
Pelaniis bicoloi% of distinct black and yellow, like a striped
satin ribbon. The back is black, and the belly brown or
yellowish, and its rather short, flat tail is spotted with a
bluish colour as well. None of his relatives venture so far
from the oriental islands as Pelaniis. His presence as far
north as New Caledonia has not, that I am aware of, been
authoritatively recorded ; we cannot suggest, therefore, the
probability of *J. J. A.'s ' sea snakes, 'stupid and fearless,'
being 'incredible numbers' of the Pelamis family. Dr.
Stradling affirms that they are ' not unfrequently met with
along the eastern coast of South America, and that one
found its way on board the royal mail steamship Douro,
and concealed itself under the covering of the patent lead,
having probably climbed up the quarter line as she lay
made fast to the wharf at Santos.' ^

Some slight controversy on the possibility of Pelamis
'climbing' followed this statement. But Mr. F. Buckland
also recorded one Svhich crawled up the anchor-chain of

^ See />V/^/ newspaper, June 25, 18S1.

THE PELAGIC OR SEA SNAKES. 239

a man-of-war, when she was moored in the mouth of
the Ganges. The midshipman of the watch saw some-
thing moving along the chain, and without thinking
went to pick it up, when it turned upon him, and bit
him. The poor young midshipman did not live many
hours after the accident' {Land and Water ^ Nov. 15,
1879).

In the same issue the writer described one which was
caught in the telegraph wire of the Eastern Extension
Telegraph Company. One of the cables was being raised,
and when it came to the surface, the snake was found
coiled tightly round it. HydropJiis was here exercising
his prehensile powers, not understanding the reason of the
violent motion. Snakes, as has been already affirmed, are
not restricted in their acrobatic achievements ; so that even
sea snakes, not naturally either climbers or crawlers, can do
both on an occasion.

The more interesting question regarding Dr. Stradling's
cable climber is, was it a true Pelaniisy or one of the
Hydrophidce at all } If so, it was more likely to be an
entirely distinct species from those of the oriental seas,
liither Cape Horn or the Cape of Good Hope would be
far too southward for their range, they being essentially
tropical. When Panama comes to be severed by water
communication, some enterprising Pelaniis or EnJiydi'ina
may find its way through, and get down even to Santos ;
but at present, as Dr. Stradling did not see the snake, but
only heard of it, the evidence of the presence of ILydropJiidcB
on the eastern coast of South America cannot be fully
established.

240 SNAKES.

A further facility to their agile and graceful Natural size,
movements in the water are their smooth, non-
imbricated, or only slightly imbricated scales.
These, though mostly hexagonal, and laid side
by side, different from those of land snakes,
yet vary much in size and form ; and the head
shields particularly are so abnormal, that, as
Giinther affirms, you can tell a sea snake at

Same magnified.

once by them (see illustrations, chap, xviii.). ^ , . i

To distinguish a pelagic from a fresh-water ^"""""ofhidJa"""''
snake is, however, far easier than to distinguish species
among themselves. They present great varieties of form
and colour, but the transitions are very gradual, and the
female is generally larger than the male, and sometimes of
a different colour, which adds to the difficulty.

They are all viviparous, and produce their young in the
water, where the little ones are at once able to take care
of themselves, and feed on small fish or molluscs. The
full-grown HydropJiidcE feed on fish corresponding with their
own dimensions, and swallowed head foremost. Even spiny
fish are managed by them, notwithstanding that they have
a smaller jaw than most land snakes. Being killed by the
poison of the bite on being caught, Giinther explains, the
muscles of the fish are relaxed, and the prey being com-
menced at the head, the armature does not interfere, but
folds back fiat as the fish is gradually drawn into the jaws.

An interesting study to the lover of nature it is to watch
the wonderful movements of these sea reptiles. Swimming
and diving with equal facility, flashing into sight and dis-
appearing again in twos or scores, or in large shoals,

THE PELAGIC OR SEA SNAKES. 241

pursuing fish, many of them of bright colouring, they offer
constant amusement to the beholder. Sometimes, when
the sailors are throwing their nets, they disappear beneath
the waves, and are no longer seen for half an hour or
more ; when presently, far away from the spot where they
vanished so suddenly, up they come to the surface again,
to sport once more, or take in a fresh supply of air.

Pity they possess such evil qualities to blind us to their
beauties, for they rank among the most venomous of
serpents. They belong to the sub-order of venomous
colubrine snakes, or Opliidia colubrifonnes Venenosi, those
which outwardly have the aspect of harmless snakes, while
yet furnished with poison fangs. In the chapter on Denti-
tion, these distinctions, facilitated by the illustrations, are
more fully explained ; here it need only be said that though
they have smaller jaws and shorter fangs than many other
venomous snakes of their size, the virus is plentiful, and
so active that the danger from the bite is great. All the
pelagic serpents have also a few simple teeth behind the
fangs ; therefore, as Fayrer warns the natives, it does not
do to trust to the appearance of the wound, which, though .
looking like the bite of a harmless snake, would demand
immediate remedies. A certain conviction of dancrer is
that the bite being Inflicted in salt water, would leave no
doubt as to the nature of the snake. Even a painless
wound it is not safe to trust ; and Sir Joseph Fayrer gives
several such warnings among his cases of bite from sea
snakes, two of which I will quote.

Captain S , while bathing in a tidal river, felt what

he thought was the pinch of a crab on his leg, but took no

Q

242 SNAKES.

notice of It, and after his bath called on some friends, being
to all appearance exceedingly well. He remained about
an hour, playing the concertina to amuse the children, and
declaring himself never In better health. In about two
hours, feeling strange symptoms of suffocation, enlargement
of the tongue, and a rigidity of muscles, he sent for a
doctor, but still having no suspicion of danger. The next
morning a native detected the peculiar symptoms which

usually follow the bite of a sea snake ; and Captain S ,

then examining the foot which the supposed crab had
nipped, found marks of fangs no bigger than mosquito
bites on the tendon Achilles near the ankle. Immediate
steps were taken, and remedies applied which seemed to
promise favourable results for a time ; but in the evening
of the third day the victim was seized with spasms, and
died, seventy-one hours after the accident. In this case,
owing to the sound health of the captain, and no local pain
ensuing to warn him, together with the stimulants and
remedies applied, and the bite being where absorption was
slow, his death was protracted ; otherwise death often occurs
within twenty-four hours from that species of snake.^

The second case was that of a man who was bitten In
the finger by a sea snake, and thinking lightly of It, used
no means whatever to arrest the poison, and was dead in
four hours.

In some cases the victim becomes quickly insensible,
when, if no aid is near, he never wakes to consciousness.
Immediate stimulants revive the patient, and If he can
be kept awake, these, with local applications, at once applied^

^ Thanatophidia of India, 1st ed.

THE PELAGIC OR SEA SNAKES. 243

may save his life. ' Hope itself is a powerful stimulant/
adds the learned experimentalist.

Many other cases are given by Fayrer of bites by
sea snakes, some of which yielded to remedies and others
were fatal ; but for these the reader is referred to the
TJiaiiatophidia,

Dr. Cantor had previously made many experiments on
various dumb creatures in order to ascertain the virulence
of the poison of these hitherto unstudied reptiles. He
found that a fowl died in violent spasms eight minutes
after a bite ; and a second fowl, bitten directly afterwards
by the same snake, with its half-exhausted venom, in ten
minutes. Fish died in ten minutes ; a tortoise in twenty-
eight minutes, from the bite of another species ; and a
harmless snake was paralyzed within half an hour.

Among the fresh-water snakes, Dr. Giinther tells us of one,
Hydrimis^ which is semi-pelagic, and which indulges in little
excursions down the rivers to exchange greetings with his
marine relatives, some of whom, on their part, occasionally
go a certain distance up the rivers. Again, among
the sea snakes is one who rambles for change of air or
diversity of diet over the fields and far away. In him, Dr.
Giinther describes one of those many transitions found in
every class and order throughout nature. Platnriis is his
name ; he has the ventral scales of land snakes to enable
him to wander over the salt water marshes which he loves.
His nostrils are on the side of his head instead of on the top,
and his head shields differ from those of all his relatives.
His venom fangs are small, and his tail is not prehensile,
presenting the united cb.aracters of fresh and salt water and

244 SNAKES.

land snakes. Thus we have links between sea and land
snakes, between fresh water and salt, and between these latter
and fishes, for in many instances the affinities are so close
that naturalists have doubted in w4iich class to place them.
When that remarkable animal, the Lepidosiren, w'hich Darwin
calls a living fossil, was first brought from Africa some thirty
years ago, it was found to present so many characteristics
in common with both reptiles and fishes, that it was for
some time a mooted question in which class to place it. In
appearance it more resembles the former, with its four curious
filamentary limbs, which Owen considers ' the beginnings of
organs which attain full functional development in the higher
vertebrates.' The same high authority has decided that the
only character which absolutely distinguishes fishes from
reptiles, so closely are some of them allied, is whether or not
there is an open passage from the nostrils to the mouth; and
the ' Lepidosiren ' is now known as ' the mud-fish of the
Gambia/ the ichthyic characters predominating.

Sea snakes were not unknown to the ancients. Aristotle
mentions them (Taylor's Translation, 1812, Book ii. vol. 6),
* Of sanguineous animals, however, there remains the genus
of serpents. But they partake of the nature both of terres-
trial and aquatic animals. For most of them are terrestrial,
and not a few are aquatic, and which live in potable water.
There are also marine serpents similar in form to the terres-
trial genus, except that their head more resembles that of a
conger. There are, however, many genera of marine ser-
pents, and they are an all-various colour ; but they are not
generated in very deep places.'

These latter words suggest what has not been mentioned

THE PELAGIC OR SEA SNAKES. 245

as a positive fact, while yet in part it is corroborated by
Cantor, who tells us that the young sea snakes feed on soft-
shelled molluscs ; we may argue, therefore, that the mother
snakes come into shallow water to give birth to their young,
where small fish and suitable food may abound. Aristotle
was evidently aware of the distinctions between fresh and
salt water snakes, and gives us the former as frequenting
rivers (' potable waters ').

The Greek mariners who frequented the tropical seas
knew of the poisonous snakes with wholesome dread. Sir
Emerson Tennant tells us that the fishermen on the west
coast of Ceylon are still in perpetual fear of them. They
say there are some with the head hooded like the cobra,
that coil themselves up like serpents on land, not only
biting with their teeth, but 'crushing their prey in their
coils.'

The * hood ' part of the story is not borne out by any
scientific writer ; and as for the ' crushing in coils,' the
sailors may possibly mistake the prehensile actions of hold-
ing on — even to a large fish — possibly for the action of
crushing in the way of constricting. In self-protection, or
for safety, venomous serpents do entwine themselves pretty
tightly round an object sometimes. An instance of this was
just now given. But constricting for the purpose of killing
is happily confined to the non-venomous families. It would
indeed be terrible if the 'giants of the waters' could both con-
strict and bite with poison fang ; and of this a word or two
will be said in the following chapter. Admittedly but little
has been accurately ascertained about the marine serpents
in comparison with the terrestrial ones. And there really

246 SNAKES.

may be species hitherto unobserved. The great sea serpent
question is not yet satisfactorily settled ; and among the
lesser kind, the true pelagians, varieties are frequently
occurring. Krefift describes one in the Australian Museum
which, not being like any other that he had seen, he sets
down as a new type. Forty-eight distinct species were
described by Cantor. The whole family comprises seven
genera, four of which belong to the Indian Ocean.

CHAPTER XV.

♦ THE GREAT SEA SERPENT'

THE question of varieties and of constriction brings us to
* The Great Sea Serpent;' for, putting all the evidence
together, if the creature exist at all he must be a constrictor.

I do not intend to trouble my readers with the detailed
history of this great unknown, for his literature would more
than exceed the limits of this whole volume. Those who
are sufficiently interested in him will find ample reading in
most of the encyclopedias, which again refer us to various
books in which he has figured from his first supposed
appearance in modern times.

Ever and again, when a new * sea monster ' has been
reported, the newspapers take up the theme, and often give
a resume of its history, from Bishop Pontoppidan's down to
the most recent specimen. References to the most important
of the journalistic authorities usually accompany the more
detailed accounts ; but among them an excellent abridgement
of ' sea serpent ' literature, which appeared in the llliistyated
London Nezvs of October 1 848, is worth studying. Another of
interest was in the Echo of January 15, 1877. In Silliman's

248 SNAKES.

Journal of Science, 1835, was also an excellent paper. One
of the best digests is that given by P. H. Gosse, in his
Romance of Natural Histoiy, of the ed. i860. This author,
after weighing all the published evidence both from ordinary
and scientific sources, and presenting it in a well-arranged
and lucid form, sums up as follows : —

* In conclusion, I express my own confident persuasion
that there exists some oceanic animal of immense propor-
tions, which has not yet been received into the category of
scientific zoology ; and my strong opinion that it possesses
close affinities with the fossil enaliosaiiria of the lias.'
- Having respect for the opinion of so thoughtful a writer,
and further encouraged by the fact that some of our most
eminent physiologists have not thought it beneath them to
give their attention to the various serpentine appearances
which from time to time are seen at sea, and that the
majority of them believe in the possibility of an unknown
marine reptile, let us accept this idea as the basis of an
endeavour to lay before my readers another summing up
of evidence gathered from the still more recent writings on
' The Great Sea Serpent * of modern times.

Those who have honoured this book with attentive perusal
thus far, will have become initiated in certain ophidian
manners, actions, and appearances which would enable them
at once to identify a snake were they to have a complete
view of one. But to those who are not familiar with such
peculiarities, and possess only a vague idea of the ophidian
form, many a merely elongated outline at sea may be, and has
been, set down as a * serpent,' which on closer inspection, or by
the light of science, has prov^ed something entirely different.

'THE GREAT SEA SERPENT: 249

Ribbon-fish, strings of porpoises and other cetaceans, long-
lines of sea-birds on the surface of the waves, even logs of
drifting wood or bamboo, with bunches of seaweed doing
service as 'manes' or 'fins,' have in turn, and by the aid of the
imagination, been dubbed ' the sea serpent ' again and again.
These may be dismissed by the mere mention of a few such
as examples. For instance, in Nature, vol. xviii., 1878, Dr.
Dean describes a reported ' sea serpent,' which resolved
itself into a flight of birds. E. H. Pringle describes the
serpentine appearance of a bamboo swaying up and down,
which at a distance had deceived the beholders into the idea
of the sea serpent ; others explained that long lines of birds'
or of sea-weeds had again similarly deceived sailors. In
Land and Water, Sept. 22, 1877, we read that the crew of
the barque Aberfoyle, off the coast of Scotland, thought they
really had got one this time, and approaching the * monster,'
lowered and manned a boat, and seized a harpoon to ' catch *
the singularly passive creature, which proved to be a mass
of ' a sort of jelly-fish description,' some of which they bottled
and corked down air-tight ; but, alas ! it ' deliquesced ' !

Again, in Nature, Feb. 10, 188 1, an imaginary sea serpent
seen from the City of Baltimore (a ship in which the present
writer crossed the Atlantic, though unfortunately not on
that voyage) was pronounced to be a species of whale, the
Ze2iglodo}itia.

One more out of scores of similar reports, which go to
show that if some unknown marine animal of a longish form
is caught, those who have anything to do with it immedi-
ately label it 'the sea serpent.' In Land and IVater, Au^.
24, 1878, Mr. Frank Buckland published a communication

2 50 SNAKES.

from an Australian correspondent, regarding a * most re-
markable fish,' of nearly fifteen feet long, and eight inches in
diameter at the thickest part. It has 'no scales,' but 'a
skin like polished silver,' is of a tapering form, has a very-
queer mouth, a ' mane ' on the neck, and ' two feelers under
the chin, thirty-two inches long.' And this unsnake-like
thing was taken to the Mechanics' Institute of that town,
and unhesitatingly labelled ' Sea Serpent ! ' Dr. Buckland
suggested that it was a ribbon fish.

Thus, we may repeat that it is almost impossible for an
unscientific person even to see^ far less to describe, unfamiliar
living forms in a manner that would prove sound data for
zoologists to decide upon.

In a rather detailed communication to Land mid Water
on this subject, by Dr. Andrew Wilson, September 15,
1877, he also reminds us how easily and frequently we may
trace supposed resemblances to animals or faces, where none
can possibly exist ; as, for instance, ' in the gnarled trunks
and branches of trees.' Much more true resemblances to
serpentine forms are really seen at sea ; as, for example,
those ' floating trunks and roots of trees serving as a nucleus,
around which sea-weed has collected.' In one instance,
as Dr. Wilson relates, some such object, seen from the
deck of a yacht, was so deceptive even to intelligent men
who scrutinized it through the telescope, that the course of
the ship was changed on purpose to inspect it closely.
Dr. Wilson resfrets the unfortunate discredit which
has been cast upon all sea-serpent stories through such
erroneous observations, causing even the more trustworthy
accounts to be received with almost universal ridicule, and

'THE GREAT SEA SERPENT: 251

as already observed in the opening of chap, xiii., almost
to the ienorin^ of the true sea snakes, which are too often
included among the mythical.

Briefly to enumerate some of those which appear to have
recently had the chiefest claims to attention as really living
creatures, otherwise than flights of birds or shoals of fish,
but making due allowance for unscientific observations, and
vague or exaggerated representations, we find that gigantic
marine animals were observed as follows : —

1734. Off Greenland.

1 740. Off Norway ; described by Bishop Pontoppidan as 600 feet in length.

1809. Off the Hebrides.

1815. Near Boston, U.S.

1 81 7. Ditto.

1819. Ditto. From 80 to 250 yards in length !

1 8 19. One seen for a month off Norway.

1822. Ditto ; and again 600 feet long.

1827. Ditto.

1829. Mr. Davidson, surgeon, R.N., described one seen in the Indian seas
as precisely similar to that seen afterwards from the Dccdalus in 1848. He
wrote of it during the controversy that passed regarding the latter. Mr. Gosse
regarded his testimony as of much value.

1833. One seen by five British officers off Halifax, and described by P. H.
Gosse.

1837. Again off Norway.

1846. Off Norway, and in the same locality as one seen about one hundred
years previously ; also during the hottest part of the summer. This individual
had two ' fins,' and ' the movements were like those of a snake forty to fifty feet
long.'

1848. The one seen from the Dadaltis.

1850. Off Norway.

1 85 1. Ditto.

1S52. One described by Captain Steele, mentioned by Gosse.

1857. One described by Captain Harrison, and considered trustworthy evi-
dence.

1875. One seen from the Pauline, July 8, in lat. 5' Z^ S., long. 35" W.
Also on July 13, ' a similar serpent ' seen from the same barque Pauline.

1875. September 11. 'An enormous marine salamander' in the Straits of
Malacca, seen from the Nestor.

252 SNAKES.

1877, Large marine animal seen from the royal yacht Oshonie off Sicily.

1879. Colonel Leathes, of Herring Fleet Hall, Yarmouth, informs Mr. F.
Buckland of sea serpents seen from the White Adder off Aden, and again off
New Guinea and the Cape. (See Land and Water^ Sept. 6, 1879.)

In the above list we are struck by the fact that the coast
of Norway and the northern seas diirhig tJie Jcottest weatJicr
are the favourite playgrounds of these gigantic marine
animals, though as for the ' 600 ' feet, we must first be
assured of Norwegian measurement before forming any
estimate beyond that the creatures were doubtless of great
length. * Witnesses of unimpeachable character ' have pro-
duced so much trustworthy evidence as far as Norway is
concerned, that no doubt any longer exists there as to ' the '
or a * marine animal ' of enormous length. * There is scarcely
a sailor who has not seen one,' it has been broadly stated ;
and Norwegians wonder that English naturalists are so
sceptical on the subject.

Of still more marvellous proportions was the one seen off
the American coast in 18 19, and which is vaguely described
as from 80 to 250 yards ! That outdoes Norway altogether ;
but then, of course, an American sea serpent would exceed
all others.

Next to the Norwegian, the American coast was at one
time so favoured by strange marine * monsters,' that they
were commonly reported as * the American sea serpent.'
Excepting these northern Atlantic visitants, others have
been observed mostly in the eastern seas, rarely in the
south.

This has given rise to the question, * How is it that they
are seen almost exclusively in the north } ' One reason may

* THE GREAT SEA SERPENT: 253

be that there are more persons to see them, and because
marine traffic is far greater in the north than in similar
southern latitudes ; and another reason may be, that the
rocky coasts of both continents in those latitudes may afford
congenial retreats for mammoth marine reptiles. We have
seen that reptiles exist for a very long period without
breathing, and even without air ; as, for instance, those en-
cased in baked mud in the tropics, and those frozen up or
bottled up tight and hermetically sealed, as the examples
given in preceding chapters.

From long observation of ophidian habits, I venture to
offer certain suggestions in addition to published opinions ;
and I may remind my readers that as all reptiles undergo
a species of hibernation, we may reasonably conclude
that these huge marine ones form no exception to the rule.
They may lie for months dormant in the deep recesses
of the ocean, and reappear during the long days and hot
weather like their land relatives. It seems strange that
so far from this having been taken into consideration, it has
become the fashion to ridicule the ' reappearance of the
great sea serpent ' at the very time when all other reptiles
reappear as a matter of course. Long days are more favour-
able for observations, and probably log-books record many
other creatures, whether mammal, bird, or fish, seen during
the summer and not in other seasons, as well as ' sea ser-
pents.' Not because this is the slack time of journalists,
therefore, who are supposed to be at their wits' end for
subjects, but simply because ships coming home at this time
bring reports of their summer observations.

It is much to be regretted that these reports have come

2 54 SNAKES.

to be associated with 'the gigantic gooseberry,' and such
seasonable wonders, because the door to investigation is thus
closed. It is also to be regretted that many hoaxes have
undeniably been committed to print, really to fill up news-
paper columns, and feed a love of the marvellous. Professor
Owen's words may well be repeated here, ' It is far harder to
establish a truth than to kill an untruth.'

One more little matter is also to be seriousl}' deplored ;
and this is the unscientific habit of calling all these un-
familiar animals ' monsters,' a word signifying truly a
monstrosity, a creature with two heads, a beast with five or
six legs instead of four, or other such malformations. These
are truly monsters, and to use the term otherwise only
creates mistaken impressions. Inadvertently even scientific
men fall into this habit ; naturalists and well-known autho-
rities are seen in print to talk of these sea ' monsters,' but
who in the same page denounce exaggerated expressions.

In Land and Water of September 8, 1877, several of our
distinguished naturalists contributed papers on the evidence
of the officers of the royal yacht Osborne, relative to a large
marine animal seen off Sicily on June 3 of that year.
Professor Owen also acceded to an earnest request to
add a few words on the subject, and it was noticeable
that more than once In his few pithy lines this eminent
authority delicately hinted at the mistake of calling animals
'monsters' without just reason for so doing: 'The pheno-
mena were not necessarily caused by a monster] he writes ;
* and the words . . . denote rather a cetacean than a monster!
Again, ' There are no grounds for calling it a morister!

On the occasion referred to, the official reports of the

' THE GREAT SEA serpent: 255

animal seen were sent to the Admiralty; and the Right
Hon. R. A. Cross, then Secretary of State for the Home
Department, requested the opinion of Mr. Frank Buckland
on the matter, the result being a full account given to
the readers of Land and Water, to which Mr. F. Buckland
was so popular a contributor. In addition to Owen's valued
opinion, the public were favoured with able papers by Mr.
A. D. Bartlett, of the Zoological Gardens, Captain David
Gray, of the whaling ship Eclipse, Mr. Henry Lee, and
Frank Buckland himself.

From the discrepancies in the records of the four officers,
and the sketches of nothing in nature which accompanied
those records, not one of those able writers ventured an
assertion as to what the strange animal could possibly be.
The captain — Commander Pearson — 'saw the fish through
a telescope;' a 'seal-shaped head of immense size, large
flappers, and part of a huge body.'

Lieutenant Haynes saw *a ridge of fins above the surface
of the water, extending about thirty feet, and varying from
five to six feet in height.' Through the telescope he saw
' a head, two flappers, and about thirty feet of an animal's
shoulder ; the shoulder was about fifteen feet across.' The
animal propelled itself by its two ' fins.'

Mr. Douglas M. Forsyth saw *a huge monster, having
a head about fifteen to twenty feet in length.' The part
of the body not in the water 'was certainly not under
forty-five or fifty feet in length.'

Mr. Moore, the engineer, observed 'an uneven ridge of
what appeared to be the fins of a fish above the surface
of the water, varying in height, and as near as he could

256 SNAKES.

judge, from seven to eight feet above the water, and ex-
tending about forty feet along the surface.'

Though we are not able to say what this strange animal
really was, we can positively affirm what it was not. A
snake has neither fins, flippers, flappers, nor 'shoulders
fifteen feet broad ; ' therefore this assuredly was no * sea
serpent' Nor would it be introduced here, excepting as
inviting further comment on its mysterious existence.

And curious enough it is to remark the persistence with
which all these anomalies are announced as ' the sea serpent,'
as if the sea produced but one solitary specimen, which is
now the shape of a ' turtle ; ' next of a * frog,' w^ith ' one
hundred and fifty feet of tail ; ' then a creature with ' fins '
and a 'mane,' 'flippers' and 'flappers' and 'ridges of fins.*
All these appendages are one after the other described,
and yet as belonging to a 'serpent,' which has no such
appendages.

A few of the recorders do really describe something
more of the true ophidian, and those who do this, not
being familiar with ophidian manners, are more useful as
witnesses than those who at once report a ' serpent,' and
afterwards proceed unknowingly to disprove their own
words.

Among the more noteworthy, the following account,
copied from* the Liverpool papers at the time, is worth
considering : —

' The story of the mate and crew of the barque Pau'iue, of London, said to
have arrived in port from a twenty months' voyage to Akyab, about having
seen a "sea serpent" while on a voyage in the Indian seas, was yesterday
declared to on oath before Mr. Raffles, the stipendiary magistrate at the police
court. The affidavit was made in consequence of the doubtfulness with which

'THE GREAT SEA SERPENT: 257

anything about the sea serpent has hitherto been received ; and to show the
genuine character of the story, it has been placed judicially on record. The
following is a copy of the declaration, which wll be regarded as unprecedented
in its way : —

' ^^ Borough of Liverpool, in the County Palatine of Lancaster, to wit.

' "We, the undersigned, captain, officers, and crew of the barque Pauline (of
London), of Liverpool, in the county of Lancaster, in the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, do solemnly and sincerely declare that, on July 8,
1875, in lat. 5° 13' S., long. 35° W., we observed three large sperm whales,
and one of them was gripped round the body with two turns of what appeared
to be a huge serpent. The head and tail appeared to have a length beyond the
coils of about thirty feet, and its girth eight or nine feet. The serpent whirled
its victim round and round for about fifteen minutes, and then suddenly dragged
the whale to the bottom, head first.

* ** George Drevar, Master.

* " Horatio Thompson.

* "John Henderson Landells.

* "OwExN Baker.

' '* William Lewarn.

* "Again, on July 13, a similar serpent was seen about two hundred yards off,
shooting itself along the surface, head and neck being out of the water several
feet. This was seen only by the captain and one ordinary seaman, whose
signatures are affixed.

' "George Drevar, Master.

' "A few moments after, it was seen elevated some sixty feet perpendicularly in

the air, by the chief officer and the following able seamen, whose signatures

are also affixed : —

' " Horatio Thompson.

* "William Lewarn.

' " And we make this solemn declaration, conscientiously believing the same to
be true, and by virtue of the provisions of an Act made and passed in the
sixth year of the reign of his late Majesty, intituled an Act to repeal an Act
of the present session of Parliament, intituled an Act for the more effectual
abolition of oaths and affirmations, taken and made in various departments
of the State, and to substitute declarations in lieu thereof, and for the more
entire suppression of voluntary and extra-judicial oaths and affidavits, and to
make other provisions for the abolition of unnecessary oaths.

' "George Drevar, Master.

* "William Lewarn, Stezvard.

* "Horatio Thompson, Chief Officer.

' "John Henderson Landells, Second Officer.

* "Owen Baker.

R

258 SNAKES.

* "Severally declared and subscribed at Liverpool aforesaid, the tenth day of
January, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven, before T. S. Raffles,
J. P. for Liverpool.'"

In the above descriptions there is no mention of fins,
flippers, or mane, but simply the manners of a huge con-
strictor, with the head and the tail free, and the middle
portion of its body engaged in crushing the prey, a process
which may at any time be seen in a captive constrictor
seizing its food. The * whirling its victim ' was, no doubt,
in the struggle between the two, the whale using its power-
ful efforts to escape, but being overcome at last. Nor in
comparison with the size of the described serpent would a
whale be impracticably large.

Again, in the next one seen, the true serpent motion is
unintentionally exhibited in the 'shooting itself along the
surface, the head and neck being several feet out of water.'
Snakes continually advance with their heads elevated ; and
their rapid, darting movements are well expressed by
* shooting.'

'A few minutes after, it was seen elevated some sixty
feet perpendicularly in the air.' Sixty feet at a guess.
Unless some mast, the precise height of which was known,
or some other perpendicular object were in close proximity,
it would be exceedingly difficult to estimate the height.
To an unaccustomed eye even twenty or thirty feet of snake
suddenly darting upright from the waves would be a startling
and bewildering spectacle ; yet we know that land snakes
raise themselves in this manner one-third, one-half, or for
a moment even more than that ; 'stand erect,' some physio-
logists have stated (see p. 181); so again, unintentionally,

' THE GREAT SEA SERPENT: 259

and by those not likely to be familiar with ophidian capa-
bilities, is a natural action described.

In several other instances, the animal seen has raised its
head many feet, and 'let it down suddenly;' exactly what
land snakes do.

The one seen from on board H.M.S. Dcedahcs in 1848
is considered one of the most circumstantially recorded
evidences of some really existing serpentine animal within
the memory of many still living. It was much commented
upon in the journals of that year, and claims a passing
mention here.

Captain M'Quhae, who commanded the Dcedalus, in an
official report to the Admiralty, gave the date of the
'monster's' appearance as August 6, 1848, and its exact
locality in the afternoon of that day as lat 24° 44' S., and
long. 9° 22' E., which would be somewhere between the
Cape of Good Hope and St. Helena. In his own mind
the captain had no doubt whatever as to the nature of the
animal, which he simply reported as an ' enormous serpent,
with head and shoulders kept about four feet constantly
above the surface of the sea ; and as nearly as we could
approximate, by comparing it with the length of what our
main-topsail yard would show in the water, there was,
at the very least, sixty feet of the animal a Jiciir d'eaii, no
portion of which was, to our perception, used in propelling
it through the water, either by vertical or horizontal undula-
tions. There seemed to be as much as thirty to forty feet
of tail as well.' The animal passed the ship 'rapidly, but
so close under our lee-quarter, that, had it been a man of
my acquaintance, I should easily have recognised his features

2 6o SNAKES.

^vith the naked eye.' The size of the creature is given as
about fifteen or sixteen inches diameter in the neck 'behind
the head, which was, without doubt, that of a snake.' No
fins were seen, but 'something Hke the mane of a horse,
or rather a bunch of seaweed w^ashing about its back.' Its
progress was about fifteen miles an hour, and it remained
twenty minutes in sight.

Lieutenant Drummond, also of the Dcedahis, reported
what he saw, and from his log-book, while the captain's
was from memory. The lieutenant thought he saw 'a back
fin ten feet long, and also a tail fin.' The head was 'rather
raised, and occasionally dipping, and gave him the idea of
that of a large eel.'

Without being an ophiologist. Captain M'Quhae also
unintentionally describes a creature of ophidian habits and
proportions. He inadvertently says 'shoulders,' when, as
my readers know, a snake has anatomically no shoulders,
any more than ' neck.' But for all that, the raised head, and
the absence of any striking movements in the part visible,
are the manners of a serpent in the water, when propelled
by its tail, which would be out of sight ; and the captain
simply describing what he saw, but giving no name, those
acquainted with herpetology would at once decide that he
described a long-necked and slender reptile of some sort,
perhaps some enormous saurian, whose feet were under
water, if not a serpent.

There were many learned discussions concerning this
creature, and for these I refer my reader to the journals
and scientific publications of the time. No one doubted
the fact that some strange animal w^as seen, but the wisest

'THE GREAT SEA SERPENT: 261

refrained from giving it a name. Very similar was the
verdict on the more recent object seen from the Osborne in
1877 ; but in those thirty intervening years a vast stride had
been made in zoological knowledge; and in the very able
papers written on this later phenomenon, we now find a
general disposition to accept the fact that there are gigantic
forms of marine animals existing, that have not as yet
been scientifically described and received into systematic
zoology,

Mr. A. D. Bartlett, in the discussion already alluded to,
after dispassionately reviewing and criticizing the evidence of
H.M.'s officers, thus concludes: —

' When we consider the vast extent of the ocean, its great depth, the rocky,
cavernous nature of the bottom, — of many parts of which we know really nothing,
— who can say what may be hidden for ages, and may still remain a mystery for
generations yet to come ; for we have evidence on land that there exists some of
the largest mammals, probably by thousands, of which only one solitary indi-
vidual has been caught or brought to notice. I allude to the Hairy-eared Two-
horned Rhinoceros (A', lasiotis), captured in 1868 at Chittagong (where it was
found stranded in the mud), and now known as an inhabitant of the Zoological
Gardens.

* This animal remains unique, and no part or portion was previously known to
exist in any museum at home or abroad.

' (We have here an instance of the existence of a species found on the con-
tinent of India, where for many years collectors and naturalists have worked and
published lists of all the animals met with, and have hitherto failed to meet with
or obtain any knowledge of this great beast.)

'May I not therefore presume that in the vast and mighty ocean, animal?,
perhaps of nocturnal habits (and therefore never, except by some extraordinary
accident, forced into sight), may exist, whose form may resemble the extinct rep-
tiles whose fossil remains we find in such abundance.

' As far as I am able to judge from the evidence before me, I have reason to
believe that aquatic reptiles of vast size have been seen and described by those
persons who have endeavoured to explain what they have witnessed.

* One thing is certain, that many well-known reptiles have the power of re-
maining for long periods (months, in fact) at the bottom, under water or imbedded
in soft mud, being so provided with organs of circulation and respiration that they
need not come to the surface to breathe. The large crocodiles, alligators, and

262 SNAKES.

turtles have this power, and I see no valid reason to doubt but that there may
and do exist in the unknown regions of the ocean, creatures so constructed.

* It may be argued that if such animals still live, they must from time to time
die, and their bodies would float, and their carcases would be found, or parts of
them would wash on shore. To this I say: however reasonable such arguments
may appear, most animals that die or are killed in the water, sink at first to the
bottom, where they are likely to have the flesh and soft parts devoured by other
animals, such as Crustacea, fishes, etc. etc., and sinking in the deep, the bones,
being heavier than the other parts, may soon become imbedded, and thus con-
cealed from i^ight.' ^

It was gratifying to me to find my own ideas of hiberna-
tion thus supported, the above allusion to the probability of
temporary repose in marine reptiles being the first I had met
with.

Mr. Henry Lee, in the same issue, reminds us that the ex-
istence of gigantic cuttle-fish was popularly disbeheved until
within the past five or six years, during which period several
specimens — some of them fifty feet in total length — have
been taken, and all doubts upon the subject have been re-
moved. He argues, also, that during the deep-sea dredgings
of H.M. ships Lightning,. Porcupine, and Challcjiger, many
new species of mollusca, supposed to have been extinct ever
since the Chalk epoch, were brought to light, and that there
were brought up by the deep - sea trawlings from great
depths fishes of 2mknoivn species^ which could not exist near
the surface ozuing to the distension and rupture of their air-
bladder luhen removed from the pressure of deep zvater.

Forcibly suggestive are such facts of still further undis-
covered denizens of the deep ! And as to what they are,
fish, mammal, or reptile, or a compound of either two or all
three of these, why doubt any possibility when we know that
on land are similarly complicated organisms which so lately
have perplexed our most able physiologists? Take, for

'THE GREAT SEA SERPENT' 263

example, that curious anomaly, the mud-fish of the Gambia,
Lepidosiren, referred to in the last chapter, and which, to look
at, is as much like a lizard as a fish, with its four singular
appendages where either legs or fins might be. Again, w^e
have that paradox in nature — bird, reptile, and quadruped
combined — in the Australian Platypus, a semi-aquatic animal.
* These two fresh-water animals are,' says Darwin, ' among the
most anomalous forms now found in the world ; and like
fossils, they connect, to a certain extent, orders at present
widely sundered in the natural scale.' ^ Other equally re-
markable links between the various groups might be cited to
prepare us for any marine anomalies which may hereafter
surprise us. Taking into consideration, also, that many of
our smaller aquatic animals have their representatives on a
huge scale in the ocean, why should there not be gigantic
ophidian forms to correspond with the terrestrial pythons
and anacondas } As in point of size salt-water fishes exceed
those of our rivers, and as the enormous marine mammalia
exceed those on land, we might the rather wonder if there w^ere
not one * great sea serpent,' but many unsuspected species of
reptiles, compound ophiosaurians, or saurophidians, or who
shall say what, in those inaccessible depths.

' How is it none have ever been captured } ' it is asked.
In reply. Has any one ever captured a swiftly-retreating
land snake escaping pursuit } Who can overtake or circum-
vent it when in its tropical vigour 1 And how vastly must
the powers and swiftness of those immense pelagians exceed
the kinds with which we are familiar ! ' Then, Why have
no bones been found } ' Mr. Bartlett's reason is one of

1 Origin of Spccu's, 6th ed. 1872, p. ^l-

2'64 SNAKES.

those assigned, and in addition I may suggest that the love
of locaHty, so strong in land reptiles, may also exist in marine
ones, which probably retire to the recesses of their sub-
marine habitats to die.

* How is it none have ever been killed ? ' Well ! A cannon
ball on the instant, and not much less, would be required to
' kill it on the spot,' as some have sagely recommended.

Mr. Henry Lee, among others, does not regard capture as
impossible ; and in support of my own speculations — more
correctly speaking imagination, perhaps — I give the conclud-
ing words of his paper: —

• I therefore think it by no means impossible— first, that there may be gigantic
marine animals miknown to science having their ordinary habitat in the great
depths of the sea, only occasionally coming to the surface, and perhaps avoiding
habitually the light of day ; and, second, that there may still exist, though sup-
posed to have been long extinct, some of the old sea reptiles whose fossil remains
tell of their magnitude and habits, or others of species unknown even to paleon-
tologists.

'The evidence is, to my mind, conclusive that enormous animals, with which
zoologists are at present unacquainted, exist in the "great and wide sea," and I
look forward hopefully to the capture of one or more of them, and the settlement
of this vexed question.'

I cannot conclude this chapter without further reference
to one other of our very popular physiologists. Dr. Andrew
Wilson. The week following that in which Owen, Captain
Gray, and Messrs. Lee, Buckland, and Bartlett contri-
buted their opinions to Land and Water, September 8, 1877,
Dr. Wilson also favoured its readers with two closely written
pages on 'The Sea Serpent of Science.' Some of his
introductory words have been already quoted. He then
presents the claims to attention which these various ' sea
monsters ' offer, as reported by thoroughly trustworthy

'THE GREAT SEA SERPENT: 265

Avitnesses, suggesting that the idea of a ' serpent ' Is too
restricted.

Notwithstanding much already said, the opinion of Dr.
Wilson will be valued by many of my readers, and I
therefore give portions in his own words: —

' As far as I have been able to ascertain, zoologists and other writers on this
subject have never made allowance for the abnormal and huge deyelopvicnt of
ordinary marine animals. My own convictions on this matter find in these
the most reasonable and likely explanation of the personality of the sea serpent,
and also the reconciliation of such discrepancies as the various narratives may
be shown to evince. ... I think we may build up a most reasonable case
both for their existence and for the explanation of their true nature, by taking
into account the fact that the term ^'sea serpent," as ordinarily employed, must
be extended to include other forms of vertebrate animals tvhich possess elongated
bodies : and that cases of the abnormally large development of ordiiiary serpents a7id
of serpent-like animals "will reasonably account for tJie occurrence of the animals
popularly tiamed^^ sea serpents.^'' . . .

* Whilst to my mind the only feasible explanation of the narrative of the crew
of the Paidine must be founded on the idea that the animals observed by them
were gigantic snakes, the habits of the animals in attacking the whales evidently
point to a close correspondence with those of terrestrial serpents of large size,
such as the boas and pythons; whilst the fact of the animals being described in
the various narratives as swimming with the head out of the water would seem
to indicate that, like all reptiles, they were air-breathers, and required to come
more or less frequently to the surface for the purpose of respiration.'

Apology is due to so eminent a physiologist for having first
given expression to my own opinion on the Pauline serpent,
though in tardily quoting a high authority I may risk sus-
picion of plagiarism. I must be permitted to explain, there-
fore, that on seeing the subject ventilated in Land and Water
(to which I had for some years been a contributor on ophi-
dian matters), I also, though uninvited, prepared a paper
on 'the sea serpent' In a letter to the Editors, I even
presumed to criticise part of what had lately appeared,
enclosing MS. with yet more.

266 SNAKES.

In reply, I was informed that the subject would not be
continued or * re-opened,' and my returned MS. is still before
me, much of it now for the first time being presented to the
public. To proceed with Dr. Wilson: —

* The most important feature in my theory, . . . and that which really con-
stitutes the strong point of this explanation, is the probability of the development
of a huge or gigantic size of ordinary marine serpents. . . .

* Is there anything more improbable, I ask, in the idea of a gigantic develop-
ment of an ordinary marine snake into a veritable giant of its race ; or, for that
matter, in the existence of distinct species of monster sea serpents, than in the
production of huge cuttle-fishes, which, until within the past few years, remained
unknown to the foremost pioneers of science ? In the idea of the gigantic de-
velopments of snakes or snake-like animals, be they fishes or reptiles, I hold we
have at least a feasible and rational explanation of the primary fact of the actual
existence of such organisms. '

In a most interesting lecture on 'Zoological Myths,'
delivered at St. George's Hall, January 2, 1881, Dr. Andrew
Wilson again laid much stress on the * gigantic de-
velopment of an ordinary marine snake into ' one of those
amazing individuals which, say, at the very least, are over a
hundred feet in length !

How long would the poison fang of such a reptile be }
How many ounces of venom would its glands contain ? Or
does the Dr. wish us to understand that as the vertebrae
of a Hydrophis has gradually developed into the complicated
structure of a constrictor, so has the poison-fang become
gradually obsolete t Appalling, indeed, would it be were
those enormous developments armed with poison-fangs !
Monarchs of the deep they truly would be. Happily,
venomous serpents are restricted in their size ; but an
interesting speculation has been opened in the above theory
of abnormal development, and I trust it may be followed
up by abler reasoners than the present humble writer.

'THE GREAT SEA SERPENT: 267

In the previous chapter the distinguishing characteristics
of the true marine snakes were described, and I feel more
disposed to agree with Dr. Andrew Wilson when he says,
* or for the matter of that, in the existenee of elistinct species of
monster sea serpents^ than in the development of a small
venomous one into an amazing constrictor. Except the
' monster.' Why should not the gigantic forms be perfect
in themselves, with an inherited anatomical structure ? In
volume xviii. of Nature, 1878, Dr. Andrew Wilson again
discusses the sea serpent, and thus concludes: *. . . and
as a firm believer from the standpoint of zoology that the
large development of the marine ophidians of warmer seas
offers the true explanation of the sea-serpent mystery.'

Their physical constitution, then, as well as structure, must
have very much changed to enable them to exist so far from
the tropics.

And still there are the creatures with flippers, and flappers,
and fins to decide upon. And then the gigantic salamander
with a hundred and fifty feet of tail ! But these not being
ophidians, and certainly not 'sea serpents,' must not intrude
themselves here.

In their enormous development alone the supporters of
Darwin may justly exult, for surely in them we shall see
' the survival of the fittest.'

/-^

v-^:^;?^^

CHAPTER XVI.

RATTLESNAKE HISTORY.

FROM the peculiar rattling appendage with which this
snake is armed, it has excited the notice of European
explorers since the very first settlement of the American
Continent. Whenever a traveller attempted any printed
account of the New World and Its products, mention was
made of this ' viper with the bell.'

By and by, in 1762, a live specimen was brought to
England, where it arrested the attention of the members of
the Royal Society and the scientific ' Chiruglons ' of the day.

From this time the rattlesnake began to be honoured with
a literature of its own — one which equals if not exceeds in
interest that of any other ophidian history handed down to
us ; for Cleopatra's asp has its literature, and the Cobra
capella, and M'Leod's boa, and some few other distinguished
ophidians, but none so voluminous and Inexhaustible as
the American Crotahis with Its sonorous tail.

And despite the attention of naturalists for above two
hundred years, it is not yet done with. First its rattle, then

2C8

RATTLESNAKE HISTORY. 269

its fangs, next its maternal affection and the security offered
to its young in ' its own bosom/ then its * pit,' and again its
rattle — each and all in turn have continued to occupy the pen
of zoologists as, with the advance of science, fresh light has
been thrown upon ophiology.

American naturalists have continually something new to
tell us about the Crotalus, and not even yet have they
■ decided among themselves of what precise use that remark-
able rattle is, either to its owner or its auditors.

The various theories regarding its construction, mode of
growth, its age and supposed uses, will occupy the second
part of the present subject ; other rattlesnake features will
come in their places, but first an outline of what the early
English writers had to say about it will not be devoid of
interest.

Natural history as a science was then in its infancy.
The Royal Society of England had as yet no existence ;
snakes were * insects,' because they lay eggs ; insects were
' serpents,' because they creep ; and the majority of all such
' creeping things ' were ' venomous,' of course.

In those early days of science there was little or no
recognition of species, two, or at most three, different kinds
of rattlesnakes being named. The distinguishing rattle
seemed enough to separate them from all other snakes : they
were * the vipers with the bell,' or ' the vipers with the
sounding tail.' ' Vipers ' they were at once decided to be,
conformably with the old idea that vipers, in distinction to
every other kind of snake, produced their young alive. In
this respect those early observers were correct ; and from
their general characteristics they are still vipers in the eyes

2 70 SNAKES.

of science : that is, they belong to the sub-order Viperina,
though their dentition more than any other feature separates
them from the rest, and we know now that several non-
venomous snakes produce live young as well as the vipers.

In appearance the rattlesnake is so well known that a
minute description of it is uncalled for. Throughout the
whole genera of the CrotalidcB the viperine character is seen
in the broad, angular, flattish head ; the thinner neck, distinct
between it and the thicker body; a short, tapering tail,
and a generally repulsive appearance with an evil expression
about it, as if no further warning were required to announce
its deadly qualities.

Nevertheless, many of the rattlesnakes possess an un-
deniably handsome exterior. Their colours are for the most
part dark and rich, relieved with lighter markings and
velvety black ; often wearing a brilliant prismatic hue, which
still further enriches their tints. And then the rattle at
once announces the name of its owner.

It is not easy to decide on the writer or traveller from
whom we get the first mention of the rattlesnake, which has
an extensive geographical range on both the American con-
tinents. It was undoubtedly some South American explorer
early in the sixteenth century, and long before any settlement
in the New World had been made by the English.

In a rare old book, the first edition of which was published
in London, 1614, viz. ' Samvel Piirchas. His Pilgi^image in
all Ages ; being an account of all the Places discoiiered since
the Creation of the Worldl we hear of many Spanish and
Portuguese authors who are but little known in England,
and from each and all of whom the indefatigable ' Pilgrim '

jRA TTLE SNAKE HIST OR V. 271

has culled information. Indeed, the book is a careful com-
pilation from all the previous writers of any worth, though
those only who mentioned the Brazilian serpents need be
here introduced to the reader. These, in describing some
unchanging peculiarities, and in giving us the vernacular
names then common, have been of much use in assisting
subsequent writers to identify certain species.

Hakluyt, Hernandez, Master Anthony Kniuet, and many
others are quoted by Purchas, but of them all, ' No man hath
written so absolute a Discourse of Brazil as was taken from
a Portugall Frier and sold to Master Hakluit,' he tells us ;
giving at the same time a history of the persecution and
imprisonment of this unfortunate friar, whose unusual
intelligence seems to have rendered him an object of
suspicion. Thus do we who come after benefit by the
misfortunes of our predecessors, and thus has the stolen
' Discourse ' of the sixteenth'century been turned to account
for our edification in the nineteenth.

In the Portuguese friar's description of animals, it is not
difficult to separate the true snakes from the ' Serpentes with
foure Legges and aTaile,' or to identify the rattlesnakes among
them. Says the writer, ' The Boycininga is a Snake called of
the Bell : it is of a great Poison, but it maketh such a Noise
with a Bell it hath in its Tayle that it catcheth very few :
though it be so swift that they call it the flying Snake. His
Length is twelve or thirteen Spannes long. There is another
Boycininpeba. This also hath a Bell, but smaller. It is
blacke and very venomous.'

These two may be Crotalus horridus and Crotalus
durissiiSy the two commonest ; or they may be only one

272 SNAKES.

species of a different size, age, and colouring — a confusion
which frequently occurs with even more recent and more
scientific worthies than the good ' Pilgrim' Purchas. In a
later edition he says: * Other Serpents there are that carrie
vpon the Tippe of their Tayle a certaine little roundelle,
like a Bell, which ringeth as they goe.'

Marcgrave, in his Travels in Brazil, 1648, further helps us
to label the right snake with the long vernaculars by figuring
a rattlesnake and calling it by the same name, only with an
additional syllable, Boiciiiiniuga, quein Cascavcl, the latter
euphonious Spanish word, for a little round bell, having
widely obtained ever since.

As soon as the first English colony was settled in North
America, the rattlesnake again comes upon the stage.
Captain John Smith, whom we may call the founder of Virginia
(since it was owing to his good judgment, endurance, and
intelligence that the colony did not share the fate of Sir W.
Raleigh's adventurers), tells us of the ornaments worn by the
Indians, and the favour in which certain Rattells were held
by them as amulets. In his Gencrall Historic of Vi7'gi?iia,
162,2, Captain Smith describes their barbarous adornments, —
birds' claws, serpent skins, feathers with a ' rattell ' tied on to
them, which ' Rattells they take from the Taile of a Snake,'
and regard with superstitious veneration.

With the spirit of enterprise which marked that era, and
the discovery of new countries and strange creatures,
'Natural History' began to be a recognised science in
Europe. Aldrovanus and Gesner had produced their
ponderous tomes, and the authors quoted by Purchas were
eagerly read by Ingenious Chirugions, who in England

I^A TTLESNAKE HIS TOR V. 273

appear to have taken the lead in science ; while at Florence
an assembly of ' Knowing Physicians ' were experimental-
izing with all the Vipers procurable in Southern Europe,
holding council as to the source of their 'Mischiefs' and
specific ' Remedies for their Bitings/ etc., with just such tests
with the ' Master Teeth ' of both living and dead vipers as
have of late again occupied the attention of living scientists.
In 1660 the learned Redi of Florence published his book on
Vipers, and soon after M. Moyse Charas, a Frenchman,
produced a work which would not be a bad text-book even now.

And for the Scientific World what greater stimulus
could arise than the foundation of the ROYAL SOCIETY by
Charles IL, and the channel for ventilating discoveries and
inventions which their published Transactions afforded? Very
early in these do we find that viper poison was engaging profes-
sional attention, and soon did communications appear from
those ' knowing physicians ' at Florence. A correspondence
sprang up between M.D.'s of England, France, and Italy ;
and the details of their experiments proved very inciting to
the members of the Royal Society of London, who with the
limited subjects at their disposal — virtually only our own
little English viper — also set themselves to work to analyze
the * Poyson Bag.'

One enthusiast, Mr. Piatt, addressing the Royal Society

from Florence, with an account of some of the experiments

then going on, made mention of the M. Charas who had

written such an important work, and ended by hoping to

animate the virtuosi here to ' do something that may be not

unworthy your knowlege.' ^

' See Philosophical Transactions, London, 1672.

S

2 74 SNAKES.

That the work of M. Moyse Charas was translated into
Enghsh the following year, proves that the English virtuosi
bad really become ' animated ' in the looked-for direction.^

In the preface of his book we read: *If Reflexion be made
on the many Wonders that are found in the Body of this
Animal ' (the viper), * it will be easily granted that it cannot
be inquir'd into with too much Exactness : and that it is not
a Work that can be finish't at one or two Sittings.'

This little digression from the rattlesnake is not without
its object ; for from this correspondence through the Philo-
sophical Transactions we may date the birth of ophiological
science in England ; and the reader will be able to place
himself on that standpoint in order to reciprocate the kind
of interest wath which such an entirely strange and as yet
unknown serpent as a rattlesnake was received a short time
afterwards.

In vol. X. 1676, there is 'An Account of Virginia, its
Situation, Temperature,' etc., communicated by Mr. Thomas
Glover, ' an ingenious Chirugion that hath lived some years in
the Country.'

This gentleman tells us of the climate and productions of
the new colony, not omitting those of the animal and
vegetable kingdoms ; among the various strange creatures
which he describes in the crude language of the time are
five or six sorts of snakes, amongst which ' the Rattlesnake
is the most remarkable, being about the bigness of a Man's
Legg, and for the most part a yard and a half long. He

^ Nezv Experiments upon Vipers, ixnth Exquisite Remedies that may be draivn
from them : as well as Cure for their Bitings, as for that of other Maladies. By
M. Charas, now rendered English, 1673.

RATTLESNAKE HISTORY. 275

hath a Rattle at the End of his Tail, wherewith he maketh
a Noise when any one approacheth nigh him : which seemeth
to be a peculiar Providence of God to warn People to avoid
the Danger ; for this Creature is so venomous that the Bite
of it is of most dangerous Consequence, unless they make
use of the proper Antidote, of which I shall take occasion to
speak somewhat hereafter.'

Such accounts, coupled with the interest awakened -in
the members of the Royal Society by the Florentine ex-
perimentalists, caused the first arrival of a rattlesnake in
England to be a grand era in ophiological annals ; and
with its eventful appearance began its scientific history.

The published records of the PJiilosophical Transactions
again perpetuate the impressions it created, and also many
collateral points of interest.

A paper entitled Vipera Catidisona Americana ; or, The
Anatomy of a Rattle-Snake, was read by Dr. Edward Tyson,
of the Royal Medical College of London, in 1683 ; who dis-
sected one at the repository of the Royal Society in Jan.
1682. (The above scientific name is erroneously attributed
to Laurenti, 1768.)

That nothing of much value to science was previously
known about the reptile we gather from Dr. Tyson's
introductory words. ' It were mightily to be wisht that we
had the most compleat account of so Curious an Ajiinial.
This which we Dissected was sent to Mr. Henry Loades, a
merchant in London, from Virginia, who was pleased not
only to gratify the Ctiriosity of the Royal Society, in showing
it them alive, but likewise gave it them when dead.'

Thus did Mr. Loades unconsciously immortalize himself

276 . SNAKES.

in the history of rattlesnakes. Merchants in those days were
not F.Z.S.'s ; and it is probable that he thought of nothing
beyond ingratiating himself with the members of a learned
Society by presenting them with a 'serpente' dead, whose
' Bell ' had excited their curiosity when living ; and he little
dreamed that the origin and use of this strange bell would
not be determined two hundred years afterwards.

Says Dr. Tyson : ' I find the inward parts so conformable
to those of a Viper that I have taken the liberty of placing
it in that Classe and (since it has not that I know of any Latine
Name) of giving it that of Vipej^a Caudisoiia : for as I am
informed by Merchants 'tis Viviparous, and the Epithet
sufficiently differences it from those that have no Rattle.'

This scholarly anatomist had evidently devoted much
careful labour to the task of hunting up all the literature that
could throw any light on his much-prized specimen. He
had no doubt been one of those ' animated ' by the Florentine
savants, and had made himself acquainted with all the viperine
characters. He had doubtless read all that had already
appeared in the Philosophical Transactions, and also the
narratives of such voyagcurs as Hakluyt, Hernandez, Piso,
and Marcgravius.

Among the useful results of his researches he is able to
give us many, we may say most, of its vernaculars in the
countries of the New World settled by Europeans up to that
date ; and as in subsequent books of travel we hear of the
rattlesnake frequently under these vernaculars, until, as of
later years, its ordinary English name has been familiar to all,
we have had a good deal to thank him for, were it only this.
. In addition to the authors already named, he gives us

RATTLESNAKE HISTORY. 277

Guliemus Piso, Johnston, Merembergius, and * others that
have wrot of it, and its anatomy, under the names of
Boigininga or Boiginininga and Boiquira, which are its Brazile
Names. By the Portuguese it is called Casca vela and
Tangador : by the Dutch, Raetel Sclange ; by those of
Mexico, Teutlaco-cauehqui or Teuhtlacotl zauhqui, i.e.
Donima Scrpenhim : and from its swift motion on the Rocks
like the wind, Hoacoatl.*

Minutely and scientifically was that 'viper with the
sounding tail' dissected and studied out by Dr. Tyson just
two hundred years ago ; and the excellent illustrations with
which his description was elucidated were subsequently used
in many first-class physiological works.

Not even the ' pit ' escaped the notice of that nice
anatomist, — the * nasal fosse,' or ' sort of second nostril,' as it
was for a long while called, — and its use conjectured, and
which has given to a very large group of venomous serpents
the name of ' pit vipers,' the peculiar orifice not being
confined to the American Crotahis alone (see chap. xxi.).

* Between the nostrils and eyes are two other orifices which
at first I took to be Ears,' he tells us, speaking of this * pit,'
' but after found they only led into a Bone that had a pretty
large cavity, but no perforation.' He had seen that vipers
— the European vipers which he had previously known —
had not these orifices. Then he comments on the great Pro-
vision of Nature in furnishing the strong, smooth ' belly scales,'
(see illustration, p. 193), and the 'very long trachea of 20
inches. Nature is mightily provident in supplying them
with Air, in bestowing on them so large a Receptacle for
receiving it.'

2 78 SNAKES.

Tyson quotes from the * contests between the noble Italian
Redi, and the Frenchman M. Charas/ as to the source of the
poison in vipers, and makes discoveries for himself, as for
instance the mobility of the jaw in elevating and depressing
the fang, the structure of the teeth, and various other
matters which in this book are discussed in their several
chapters, but which were then for the first time scientifically
described in English by Tyson.

True that a little traditional gossip about the rattle, which
he had gathered from less competent sources, creeps in to-
wards the conclusion of the paper. While the learned M.D.
writes from his own observations and scientific knowledge, he
affords valuable information ; and we can dispense with the
hearsay of the day. However, all honour be to Dr. Tyson of
two hundred years ago, who was the first to give us ' The
Anatomy of the Rattlesnake,' and its first scientific name.

As the two American continents became more widely
known to Europeans, and Englishmen were seized with a
desire to visit the new colonies, books of travels and
descriptions multiplied too rapidly for even a passing mention
in these pages ; though wherever the slightest approach to
natural history was included, the rattlesnake figured
conspicuously. Of those works frequently quoted by
naturalists, Seba's Rerinn Nattiraliiim TJiesanri in 1735,
of four ponderous volumes, containing text in both Latin and
French, and profusely illustrated, must not be omitted, though
about the Crotalus he has not much new to tell us. He
quotes Tyson and others, and explains that the many nearly
similar names are ^ scion la difference de prononciation des
Bresiliens, qiii la nomine anssi Boiqnh'a ;'' and he thinks all

RATTLESNAKE HISTORY. 279

these names * iie designent qiiune settle et meme viph^e! To
these various titles of * one and the same viper,' we shall
refer again in chap, xxiii. To the list he adds that the
English call it 'rattlesnake;' the French, 'serpent a sonnettes ; '
and Latin authors, Angiiis crotalopJiorus (or the rattle-bearing
snake). He also gives us another Mexican name, ' Ecacoatl,
q?ii signijie le Vent, parceqn' clle rampe avec nne extreme vitesse
snr les rockers!

This extreme activity in the rattlesnake is not in accordance
with our alien experience. Still we hear of it from more
than one writer and in widely separated habitats. The
Mexican and Brazilian words may have alluded to the rapidity
of motion in striking its prey, and which in its swiftness can
scarcely be followed. Or it is possible that the reptile which as
a captive in our chilling climate is so slow and sluggish, may,
when stimulated by a tropical sun and under peculiar excite-
ment, occasionally exhibit a vivacity incredible to us who see
it only in menageries. Regarding other species of viperine
snakes, we have sometimes similar evidence ; and there is
nothing in the structure of the Crotalus to contradict it.

One more of the unpronounceable Mexican names we
must inflict on the reader, to show how this serpent was
distinguished among all others even in length of title. F.
Fernandez, or Hernandez, in his Aninialiuni Mcxicamun, p. 63,
A.D. 162S, calls it Tcuchlacotzauhqui, because it surpasses all
others in ' IJior'rible bruit de sa sonnette'

As may be supposed, anybody who could see this remark-
able snake on its native soil was ready to tell something
about it ; and from the time that Dr. Tyson dissected his
specimen and made it better known to the ' Curious,' many

28o SNAKES.

other communications saw light through the pages of the
Philosophical Transactions during the next few years.

In experimenting to discover the source of the ' mischief,'
one skilful ' Chyrurgeon ' proved that the gall of vipers is not
venomous, only bitter.

A Mr. John Clayton, in an Account of tJie Beasts in Virginia^
1694, tells us the rattlesnake's 'Tayle is composed of perished
Joynts like a dry Husk. The Old shake and shiver these
Rattles with v/onderful Nimbleness; the Snake is a Majestick
sort of Creature, and will scarce meddle with anything unless
provoked.' He also describes the ' fistulous Teeth ' and the
poison being injected through these ' into the very mass of
the blood.' Effective remedies are spoken of, as if not much
doubt of a cure existed. An Indian was bitten in the arm,
who ' clapt a hot burning coal thereon and singed it stoutly.'

In Italy experiments still went on, and a Mr. C. J. Sprengle
wrote to the Royal Society from Milan (1722), that in a room
opened at the top were sixty vipers from all parts of Italy.
* Whereupon we catch'd some mice and threw them in, one
at a time, among all that number of vipers ; but not one con-
cerned himself about the mice, only one pregnant viper who
interchanged eyes with the mouse, which took a turn or
two, giving now and then a squeak, and then ran with great
swiftness into the chops of the viper, where it gradually sunk
down the gullet* And from this sinister proceeding on the
part of the viper, Mr. Sprengle argues a fact generally borne
out in zoological collections ever since, namely, that venomous
snakes in captivity will not eat until they become reconciled.

And so by degrees these many interesting ophiological
facts have been worked out and established. In 1733, vol.

RATTLESNAKE HISTORY. 28 1

xxxviii., some experiments made by Sir Hans Sloane are
recorded. A dog was made to tread on a rattlesnake which
bit him. In one minute of time the dog was paralytic in the
hinder legs, and was dead in less than three minutes.

Another subject of subsequent interest and even importance
was some observations made by Sir Hans Sloane on the
' Charms, Inchantments, or Fascinations of Snakes,' in reply
to communications by Paul Dudley, Esq., F.R.S., and Col.
Beverley, both of whom believed that the rattlesnake could
bring a bird or a squirrel from a tree into their mouths by
the power of their eye.

A word on fascination will come in its place, but as a part
of rattlesnake history Sir Hans Sloane may be quoted here.
And yet a reason so long ago suggested by him, who
thoiLghtfiUly watched a snake, seems almost entirely to have
escaped notice. He thinks ' the whole mystery of charming
or enchanting any Creature is simply this. Small Animals
or Birds bitten, the poison allows them time to run a little
way (as perhaps a bird to fly up into a tree), where the snakes
watch them with great earnestness, till they fall down, when
the snakes swallow them.' ^

Sir Hans Sloane quotes a good deal from the work by
Colonel Beverley,2 and the observations made by him ;
particularly one which the author remarks is a 'curiosity
which he never met with in print,' viz. the instinct which
displays itself so strongly after death in the rattlesnake. A
man chopped off the head and a few inches of the neck of a
rattlesnake, and then on touching the ' springing teeth with

^ rhilosophical Traiisactions^ vol. xxxviii. p. 321. 1733-
2 History of Virginia, 1 722.

2 82 . SNAKES.

a stick, the head gave a sudden champ with its mouth,' thus
displaying the impulse to bite. He noticed the action of the
springing teeth ' when they are raised, which I take to be
only at the will of the snake to do mischief.' Strange to tell,
many of the above peculiarities have been described as ' new
to science' within forty years.

But among those who wrote of our American colonies,
Lawson must not be omitted. Describing the ' Insects of
Carolina,' viz. alligators, rattlesnakes, water snakes, swamp
snakes, frogs, great loach, lizards, worms, etc., he tells us
what was then new about the subject of this chapter.

' The Rattlesnakes are found on all the Main of America
that I ever had any Account of: being so called from the
Rattle at the End of their Tails, which is a Connexion of
jointed Coverings of an excrementitious Matter, betwixt the
Substance of a Nail and a Horn, though each Tegmenf is very
thin. Nature seems to have designed these on purpose to
give Warning of such an approaching Danger as the venom-
ous Bite of these Snakes is. Some of them grow to a very
great Bigness, as six Feet in Length ; their Middle being the
Thickness of the Small of a lusty Man's Leg. They are of
an orange, tawny, and blackish Colour on the Back, differing
(as all Snakes do) in Colour on the Belly ; being of an Ash
Colour inclining to Lead. The Male is easily distinguished
from the Female by a black Velvet Spot on his Head ; and
besides his Head is smaller-shaped and long. Their Bite is
venomous if not speedily remedied ; especially if the Wound
be in a Vein, Nerve, Tendon, or Sinew, when it is very
difficult to cure. The Indians are the best Physicians for
the Bite of these, and all other venomous Creatures of this

RATTLESNAKE HISTORY. 283

Country. The Rattle-Snakes are accounted the peaceablest
in the World, for they never attack any One or injure them
unless trodden upon or molested. The most Danger of being
bit by these Snakes is for those that survey Land in
Carolina ; yet I never heard of any Surveyor that was
killed or hurt by them. I have myself gone over several of
this Sort ; yet it pleased God I never came to any Harm.
They have the Power or Art (I know not which to call it) to
charm Squirrels, Hares, Partridges, or any such Thing, in such
a Manner that they run directly into their Mouths. This I
have seen,' and so forth. . . ' Rattle-Snakes have many small
Teeth of which I cannot see they make any Use ; for they
swallow every Thing whole ; but the Teeth which poison are
only four ; two on each side of their Upper-Jaws. These
are bent like a Sickle, and hang loose, as if by a Joint.
Towards the setting on of these, there is in each Tooth a
little Hole, wherein you may just get in the Point of a small
Needle. And here it is that the Poison comes out and
follows the Wound made by the Point of their Teeth.
They are much more venomous in the Months of June and
July than they are in March, April, or September. The
hotter the Weather the more poisonous. Neither may we
suppose they can renew their Poison as oft as they will ; for
we have had a Person bit by one of these who never rightly
recovered it, and very hardly escaped with Life ; and a
second Person bit in the same Place by the same Snake and
received no more Harm than if bitten with a Rat. They cast
their Skins every Year and commonly abide in the Place
where the old Skin lies. These cast Skins are used for
Physick, and the Rattles are reckoned good to expedite the

284 SNAKES.

Birth.' . . ' Gall mixed with Clay and made into Pills are kept
for Use and accounted a noble Remedy.' . . 'This Snake has
two Nostrils on each Side its Nose. Their Venom I have
Reason to believe effects no Harm any otherwise than when
darted into the Wound by the Serpent's Teeth.'

This description, being an early and excellent illustration
of what has since been termed * Practical Natural History/ is
given at length, and because Lawson has been a good deal
quoted by subsequent writers.

So again is Catesby, who went to Virginia in 17 12,
staying seven years ' to gratify a passionate desire to view
animal and vegetable productions in their native country.'
He was the first to figure and to describe two distinct
species. It is admitted that he did much for natural history,
and his drawings are by far the best that had as yet
appeared. Catesby therefore claims a conspicuous place
among rattlesnake historians.

By this time, 173 1, nine or ten of the American colonies
had celebrated their first centenary, and had made consider-
able advances towards civilisation. In the parts visited by
Catesby a good deal of the old English refinement marked the
character and manners of the people. But a little domestic
incident in the house where he was staying is related by
him, and affords us an insight of a less attractive character
in plantation life.

The largest rattlesnake Catesby ever saw was eight feet
long, and weighed eight or nine pounds. ' This Monster was
gliding into the House of Col. Blake, and had certainly taken
up his Abode there undiscovered, had not the Domestic
Animals alarmed the Family with, th^ir repeated Outcries :

RATTLESNAKE HISTORY, 285

the Hogs, Dogs, and Poultry united in their Hatred to him,
showing the greatest Consternation by erecting their Bristles
and Feathers, and showing their Wrath and Indignation
surrounded him ; but carefully kept their Distance, while he,
regardless of their Threats, glided slowly along.'

It was not at all an uncommon occurrence for rattlesnakes
to come into houses at that time, nor indeed has it been long
since then in secluded parts.

Catesby himself had a narrow escape once, when he
occupied a room on the ground floor, and a rattlesnake was
found snugly coiled in his bed.

Notwithstanding a growing acquaintance with the rattle-
snake among the F.R.S.'s, to the general public it was still
almost unknown.

Even in the middle of the eighteenth century an Itinerant
exhibitor could say what he pleased about It to a too credulous
public. An extract from an old newspaper suggests an
ancestral Barnum joining hands with a journalist to make a
fortune out of one thus exhibited. Not so much was expected
of journalists in those days ; but even now, so far as snakes are
concerned, a vast number of errors creep into newspapers.

'A BEAUTIFUL RATTLESNAKE ALIVE.

' This exotic Animal is extremely well worthy the Observation of the Curious :
Its Eyes are of great Lustre, even equal to that of a Diamond, and its Skin so
exquisitely mottled and of such surpassing Beauty as baffles the Art of the most
celebrated Painter : It is about five Feet long, and so sagacious, that it will
rattle whenever the Keeper commands it : There is not the least cause for Fear,
though it were at Liberty in the Room : but that the Ladies may be under no
Apprehension on that Account, it is kept in a Glass-Case. It is very Active,
and is the first ever shown alive in England.' — From The General Advertiser^
London, Sat., Jan. 4th, 1752.

2 86 SNAKES.

Any ' sagacity' displayed in this exhibition was on the
part of the keeper, who had discovered the exceeding timidity
of this reptile, and had observed that it used its rattle when-
ever alarmed or provoked. However, the timidity answered
very well for obedience, and no doubt drew many
spectators.

A notable feature in the rattlesnake was its fecundity
and prevalence.

This we gather from all who in the early days of American
history had anything to tell us of the country and its
inhabitants. Whether the subject of their pen were Topo-
graphy, Indians, or Productions, a rattlesnake crept in.
Collateral evidence of this kind, given with no motive for
exaggeration, nor even as ' natural history,' may therefore
be accredited.

A slaughter of rattlesnakes was as much an annual custom
as the slaughter of hogs. Regularly as a crop of hay came
a crop of rattlesnakes. On account of the oil manufactured
from their fat, the slaughter partook also of a commercial
character ; but more commonly it was a war of extinction,
like the battles with the Indians. Usually an annual,
frequently a biennial, crusade was undertaken, the settlers
being well acquainted with their habits and retreats. It
was a well-known fact that, towards the close of summer,
and on the first indication of frost, the reptiles returned
simultaneously and in vast numbers to a favourite spot.
Not only hundreds but thousands make for this winter
rendezvous year after year.

Catlin, the Indian historian, tells us that near Wilkesbarre,
in Pennsylvania, his birth-place, was a cavern in the moun-

RATTLESNAKE HISTORY, 287

tains called Rattlesnake Den ; and to this cavern the snakes
made an annual pilgrimage, collecting from vast distances,
no matter what obstacles were in their way. Across rivers
and lakes, and up mountain sides, straight to their Den they
would go, and in those unapproachable caverns lie en masse
in a torpid state until aroused by the coming summer, when
they would venture forth again and descend into the valleys.

These were the times for the grand battues, one of which,
an event of Catlin's boyhood, is narrated by him.

One of the first spring days, when the creatures creep
out to sun themselves for only a few hours, retiring
again at night, was the time chosen for the onslaught. The
snakes were known to come forth from Rattlesnake Den
on to a certain ledge of rock near their cavern ; and a
council of war was held as to the best approach and mode
of attack. Ten years previously a similar war had been
waged, when the reptiles had been almost exterminated ;
but of late so many accidents had occurred among the
inhabitants through the fast-increasing serpents, that the
farmers agreed to climb to the den and once more reduce
their numbers. The boy Catlin was privileged to be of
the party, and he was told to creep cautiously to an
overhanging rock, whence he could see the reptiles sunning
themselves on their ledge below. The rest of the party
stood in readiness, club in hand. At a signal young Catlin
fired a fowling-piece into their midst. There was a knot
of them ' like a huge mat wound and twisted and interlocked
together, with all their heads like scores of hydras standing
up from the mass.' Into this horrible cluster he 'let fly,'
when the party, rushing with their clubs, broke the spine of

288 SNAKES.

hundreds by a single blow to each, while hundreds more
were saving themselves by a quick return to their den.

While counting the five or six hundred slain, and holding
another council of war on the battle-field, a rattle was heard
of one which in the death-struggle had escaped over a ledge
instead of into its cave. With a forked stick a man
approached that misguided reptile and held down its head,
while another brave expert seized it by the neck so close to
its head that it could not turn and bite him.

It was a very large snake, and young Catlin, inspired by
the sudden thought, exclaimed, ' Tie a powder-horn to its
tail and fasten a slow fuse to it, and let it go back into its
den.'

' George, you are the best hunter in the Valley of
Ocquago ! ' cried the man who held the snake ; and forth-
with the plan v/as agreed upon.

The largest powder-horn in the party was filled to the
brim from the other horns, and tied to the snake's tail by a
string of several feet long ; and to the horn was fixed a slow
fuse of about a yard in length, made of wetted, twisted
tow, in which gunpowder was rolled. This accomplished
while the reptile was still firmly held, it was then set free
close to the mouth of its den, the whole party speedily
escaping to a safe distance.

Listening, they heard the horn rattling over the rocky
floor as the snake was carrying it home into the midst of its
comrades, when, after the silence of a minute or so, an
explosion like a clap of thunder shook the ground on which
they stood, and blue streams issued forth between the
crevices around the den, and a thick volume from its mouth.

RA TTLE SNAKE HIS TOR Y. 289

Rattlesnake Den was thus cleared of its inhabitants for
many long years.

Catlin affirms that the Valley of the Wyoming used to be
more infested with these terrible pests than any other portion
of the globe. Every summer the lives of persons as well as
cattle were destroyed by them, and the 'happy little valley '
would have been rendered uninhabitable but for the peri-
odical battues}

Howe in his Histories of Ohio and of Virginia relates
many similar facts. A Mr. Stone, one of the first settlers of
the ' Western Reserve ' along the shore of Lake Erie, has
immortalized himself as a slayer of rattlesnakes. They were
' in great plenty along the track,' and he being the first to
'survey' the land in 1796, had the honour of doing battle
with them. In Trumbull County they abounded. One year,
about the first of May 1799, a large party armed with
cudgels proceeded to a sunny level of rock on which hosts
of the reptiles had crept. Approaching cautiously, step by
step, the enemy came upon them suddenly, and then began
to cudgel with all their might. Hot and furious was the
fight ; the rattles were ringing as the snakes beat a retreat up
the hill, and the ground was strewed with the slain : four
hundred and eighty-six were that day collected, most of
them over five feet in length.

In another of these spring campaigns eight hundred rattle-
snakes were killed, including a few of their relatives the
copper-head, and hundreds more of harmless snakes of which
the slayers ' took no account.'

Holbrooke records that once in New York State two men

1 Last Ramblt's among the Indians, by Geo. Catlin. London, 1S65.

T

2 90 : SNAKES,

in three days killed 1104 rattlesnakes on an eastern slope of
Tongue mountain.

Many hairbreadth escapes during these adventures form
the subjects of exciting stories in the domestic annals of
American settlers, but are becoming more and more
histories of the past In many localities where formerly
rattlesnakes swarmed, they have almost totally disappeared
or have become very rare. Probably with their friends the
Indians, they will in time become wholly extinct.

New species have, however, been discovered by the
explorers of the new Western States and in Tropical America,
where, in the sparsely-settled districts, they still come into
houses as of yore, and where the rattlesnake campaign is still
an annual sport for the venturesome pioneers. In 1872, two
thousand of the species Crotaliis confliieJitiis were killed in the
Yellowstone Region.

One other question in the history of the rattlesnake —
'Does it swallow its young in times of danger?' or more
correctly speaking, * Does it receive its young into its
oesophagus as a place of safety.'*' — is considered in chap,
xxvii.

Other discussions of modern times, both in assemblies of
zoologists and through printed correspondence, have been on
the rattle, when and why vibrated, how affected by damp,
etc., all claiming a place in rattlesnake history, but con-
sidered elsewhere in this work. A whole volume might be
written on this rattling tail, evolved out of the scant materials
of the sixteenth century into the prolific matter of the
nineteenth. You can scarcely take up one of the many
scientific journals of the United States, in which zoology forms

J^A TTLE SNAKE HIS TOR V, 291

a part, without finding mention of a rattlesnake. Within a
very few years the subject has been popularized In our own
zoological journals also.

In connection with the venom come of course the cures,
concerning which the experiments of Dr. Weir Mitchell
form a notable point in rattlesnake history. But serpent
venom and its remedies, so far as lies within my province
to discuss them, come also in a special chapter.

In concluding this one, I will roughly enumerate the species
of rattlesnakes now best known. We have seen that formerly
only one or two different kinds were noticed, and the sub-
sequent multiplication of species is due almost as much to
science and to a more careful observation of the distinguishing
features, as to the discovery of absolutely new ones.

The frequent ExplorlngExpeditions fitted out by the United
States Government for Geographical Boundaries, Pacific
Railroads, Geological Surveys, etc., with always a zoologist
on their Staff of Scientific Men, have added much to our
knowledge of natural history ; and in the Reports and
Bulletins of these may be sifted out information in every
branch of Science. Thus in Crotahis chronicles, our two
original rattlesnakes have increased and are still increasing.
In 1 83 1, the late Dr. J. E. Gray, of the British Museum
Natural History Department, enumerated six genera and
eleven species belonging to America. In i860. Dr. Weir
Mitchell gave about twenty species as belonging to two
genera only, and distinguished by their head scales.

As this book has no scientific pretensions, and as Its aim
is rather to interest a large class of readers than systematically
to instruct the few, I will not attempt a list of genera and

292 SNAKES.

species with all their perplexing names, if indeed a true list
of all the now known species even exist. They are dis-
tinguished by the shields or plates on the head, and by the
varying tails. Some have rattles so small as barely to
entitle them to the name of Crotalus.

Then, again, a new name is frequently adopted by the
discoverer of a new feature ; and a number of American
genera, minus a rattle altogether, are included among the
CrotalidcEy an anomaly which will be presently explained.
Here we have to do with only the rattlesnake proper, viz. the
' Viper with the Bell,' Vipera caitdisona of Tyson, and the
Crotahis of Linnaeus.

This word Crotahis, simply a rattle, from the Greek word
crotalo7t, and the Latin crotalia and C7'otalurn, a kind of
castanets, is as suitable as any that could possibly have
been assigned to the snake ; and most of the generic names
are compounds of it : Crotalophoriis, rattle-bearing ; Crotaliiia,
little rattle; Crotaloidce ; Urocrotalon, rattling tail; or
simply Crotahcs. Then the specific name more especially
describes the snake in colour, size, character, locality, etc., as
Oregomts, from Oregon ; Kii'tlaiidii, from Dr. Kirtland of
Ohio, who first described that species ; Jiorridtis, from the
hideous, terrible character of this large snake ; miliarius, a
very small one ; caudisona, sounding tail ; and so on.

Their geographical range is from about 45° north, to the
Gulf of Mexico, Texas, and southward; and in South America
to about the same degree of climate and temperature as in
the northern latitudes. They are most virulent in the
hottest seasons, the tropical regions, and according to their
size ; though, as is the case with other venomous snakes, a

RATTLESNAKE HISTORY. 293

small species in hot weather and with a large store of venom
may be more noxious than the largest in a half-torpid state
and with a small supply of venom.

There is one known as the ' Prairie rattlesnake ; ' another
frequents the marshy districts of Ohio ; another, the swamps
of the Southern States along the coast ; a fourth is known as
the ' Western rattlesnake ; ' some of the 20 species described
in the United States being more abundant in the
mountainous regions, others near the rivers.

In the wilder regions of Central and South America they
also abound ; but less is known of them where there are no
United States Exploring Expeditions to record them.

Z^O^

S:^;

CHAPTER XVII.

TI/£ RATTLE.

THIS Crepitaadum caude, as an American has called
it, has been the theme of many speculations. Its
origin and its use have been discussed alike by the scientific
and the unscientific, nor have they even now arrived at
any very definite conclusions on these two points. There
are theories as to its development, its form and size, its age
and its utility, the caprice witnessed in all of these adding
to the romance of its history ; and whether its length
increases by a link annually, or on each occasion of
desquamation, have been among the questions connected
with it. If we believe what the American Indians declare,
an additional joint to the rattle grows whenever a human
being falls a victim to that particular snake — a tradition
more poetical than rational. The Indians also think the
rattle vibrates more in dry than in wet weather, and are
therefore cautious in traversing the woods during rainy
seasons. This belief has given rise to the idea that the
rattle is affected by damp — a fact which was affirmed so

294

THE RATTLE. 295

long ago as 1722.^ The most reasonable clue to this is,
that there may be less to disturb the reptile at a time when
all animated nature is to a certain extent inclined to
retirement and repose ; for if the reptile be disturbed, rain
or no rain, the rattle vibrates. In English as well as in
American scientific journals, the subject of the rattle is ever
and again ventilated by physiologists, and new suggestions
are thrown out. In the present chapter I will endeavour to
give a sort of digest of all these theories, venturing to offer
in addition the results of my own observations. Appended
is a drawing of the first rattle I ever saw or had in my
possession. It is associated with a delightful visit of
several months to some very dear friends in Iowa, and it
recalls more particularly one lovely September afternoon.
We were driving along a wild country road, where the
prairie on either side was radiant with its floral carpet, and
where the Mississippi gleamed like a succession of lakes
between the wooded and picturesque bluffs that formed the
background to the east.

Suddenly the horses refused to advance, and without
any visible reason to me ; but the friend who was driving
us recognised, in what seemed to be merely a little dry twig
in the middle of the road, nothing less than a young rattle-
snake.

Now, to see a rattlesnake and to hear its rattle had been
the great ambition of my prairie sojourn, and as my friend
threw the reins to his wife and alighted to deal a death-
blow, I entreated him to spare it for a few minutes only

1 See Philosophical Transactions, vol. xxxii. A paper on the Crotalus, by Paul
Dudley, Esq.

296

SNAKES.

that I might examine and hear the as yet unfamiliar
appendage.

Alas ! the creature had no rattle. ' It is too young : there
is only the button' as my friend called the rudimentary
promise of one. I profited by the occasion, however, to
have a good though disappointed look, not unmixed with
contempt, at the juvenile Crotalus, being so very small and
unworthy the ceremony. A foot or so in length, it began
to make its escape into the long grass, when by one quick
stamp of his heel our champion disabled it.

Then, throwing it into a pool of water, he remounted, and
the horses fearlessly proceeded.

A few days after this, to

A fully developed rattle of a rather small
snake (life size).

compensate my disappoint-
ment, I was presented with
a ' full - grown rattle ' from a
Kentucky snake, and here it is.

Asking how he knew it was * full grown,' my friend
explained that the links being all of a nearly uniform size,
proved that the snake had also attained a certain growth
during the development of that rattle. This will be more
readily comprehended on seeing the next specimen, which
is the rattle of a Mexican snake during early and rapid
growth, and a very perfect
one, presenting no flaw or
friction ; proving that it has
not been subject to very long

or very rough usage. a very perfect rattle (natural size).

In texture this is scarcely so stout as the shaft of a quill,
nor so pale, but almost as transparent. As regards size, the

THE RATTLE.

297

terminal link or 'button' may be compared to the nail of
a young child, the intermediate links gradually increasing
with the growth of the snake to the nails of older children,
and the largest link to that of a full-grown person. From
the form of this rattle — an accurate copy of the original —
we may infer that it grew rapidly at first, and that the
snake was large during the development of the later links.

The next, reduced in size, is the rattle of a snake which
had attained full growth, but from which the younger or
earlier links wnth the terminal ' button ' are gone.

Portion of a long rattle, much reduced in size.

Extending this specimen by imaginary converging lines,
we form an idea of what its length might have been if
perfect, probably about twenty joints, which is a not unusual
number ; but we perceive at once that a rattle, as we happen
to see it, is no criterion of its age or its original form.
Rarely is a snake seen with a long rattle perfect and entire.
But whenever it gradually tapers and ends wdth the pointed
terminal link, we may decide that that rattle has escaped
injury from its earliest development.

In form it is not unsymmetrical, and in substance it is
horny, like hair, nails, quills, and hardened skin, a sort of
dense and corneous integument, yet less solid than horns and
claws. The links, being only interlocked and yet elastic, can
be easily separated, and are consequently easily injured. An
animal treading on the rattle of a snake would cause a

298 SNAKES,

portion at least to be lost ; or in being drawn among roots
and entangled vegetation, a rattle might easily get damaged :
the number of links can never, therefore, be an infallible clue
to the age of the reptile.

Like hair, horns, nails, it is also subject to a caprice in
growth, or to the vigour of the individual ; at one time
comparatively at a stand-still, at another growing rapidly ;
in one season gaining perhaps several links, in another
season none.

Neither does the number of joints bear any relation to the
casting of the skin, any more than the growth of hair or nails
depends on the healing of a scar. The slough, cast more or
less frequently, may leave the rattle intact, or a new link
may appear at such a time. Dr. Cotton, of Tennessee,
had a rattlesnake which shed its skin on an average twice
a year, and he observed a new link to the rattle on each
shedding. On the contrary, a rattlesnake at the London
Zoological Gardens, and in the collection for about ten years,
had never a rattle worth mentioning. Quite a young snake
of only 1 5 inches when brought, it grew into a fine healthy
specimen, fully five feet long, and yet had never more than
what Americans call the button — not quite even that, but
merely an abortive pretence of unhealthy growth, as if one
or two links were consolidated. I watched that rattle for
several years with much interest. Thus it was when my
attention was first drawn towards it ; and
though it sometimes gave promise of growing,
and once did indeed gain another link, it soon
got broken off, and never attained more than

All there was of it !

three misshapen joints. From Ufe.

L

"" ""'^'Sv

Cr. .

■„'«A

ikiS,;ail^

""''''I'lJ-'UDllllillP J

THE RATTLE. 299

Though no rattle is ordinarily developed until the snake-
ling is some months old, several cases are on record where
young snakes have been born with the ' button/ and even
with perfectly formed links. Mr. Benjamin Smith Barton, an
American who wrote a good deal about the Crotalus,
communicated to Prof. Zimmermann in 1800 that he had
found in a parent some young ones with three rattles, i.e.
* links,' each. Similar and more recent cases are on record.

In colour a rattle is of a dark brown, or dull rusty black,
occasionally lighter when fresh and uninjured,
and then more plainly displaying its horny tex-
ture. In the Mexican rattle (p. 296) the links
were semi-transparent; sufficiently so to enable
us to trace the form of the interior links if held
against the light. This afforded an admirable
opportunity to comprehend the structure and
the production of the sound, which is simply
and truly a rattling of these loosely-fitting links
as they are partially embraced, each one by the Transparent ratiie (p.

•^ -^ -^ '' 296), held against

previous link. That is to say, each new link the light.
grows up into its predecessor, pushing it forward towards
the tip of the rattle. Through this unusually clear rattle you
can trace each link passing up and fitting into the preceding
(prior) one, just as so many thimbles or cups would fit into
each other. Only, in the case of thimbles or cups, there is
nothing to keep them in place, and the slightest shake would
detach the whole pile ; whereas the lobes or bulging sections
of each link prevent any such detachment in a rattle,
except by force or accident.

The next is the rattle of a small Oregon snake. This,

300

SNAKES.

as is observable, is old and very much worn ;
so much so, indeed, that one has to handle it with
care. It is, however, pulled apart intentionally to
show that the links vary in form from those of
the tapering specimen. Any rattle can thus be
separated without much effort, as, owing to
the elasticity of the substance, not much re-

Small divided

sistance presents itself The links are just ''''"•^•
loose enough to produce that sibilant effect, like the rust-
ling of dry leaves, or of ripe beans in a pod ; or still more,
like the seed vessel of our own native plant the
Yellow Rattle, RJiinanthiis Crista galli, and the
American ' Rattle-Box,' Crotalaria sagittalis.

Yet just so securely fitting it is as to permit
of the continual vibration without loss of links.

What we see^ therefore, is only the base or
lower lobe of each joint, the rest running up
into the next two or even three bases, as may
be traced in the section here given.

In reading about the construction of a rattle,
some perplexity may occur from the various
adverbs before, behind, first, last, previous link?
etc., some referring to age, others to place, section of rattle.
Descriptions of the rattle met with in popular physiological
works prove the above perplexities, and verify w^hat
is so often demonstrated, viz. the ' inability of unscientific
persons to read scientific matter correctly.' The ' last ' link
means the one last grown, not the end one of the tail ;
'pushing the preceding one forzvard' is not towards the
Jiead of the reptile, but literally oittivard and backward

THE RATTLE. 301

towards the tip of the tail. ' Previous ' may mean in time,
or the age of the link, or it may mean position ; but a
knowledge of the development assists the comprehension
of such passages.

In the above illustrations it will be seen that not only
do rattles differ in form in various species of snakes, but
that the links themselves differ in form in one and the same
rattle. Some of them are broader than others, some wider,
and some more compressed. In all the above drawings
I carefully and faithfully copied the originals. And in this
variability we can only refer again to claws, nails, horns,
feathers, etc., which are seen to differ in the same individual,
according to health, season, or accident.

Where great numbers of rattlesnakes have been killed
in one locality, as, for instance, during the ' spring campaigns,'
their tails have presented on an average from fifteen to
twenty links each. Holbrooke ^ has seen one of twenty-one
links. A Crotalus at the London Reptilium had twenty-five
links at one time ; then ten of them got broken off, but still
a respectably-sized rattle remained. The longer the rattle,
the greater the risk of injury. Oliver Wendell Holmes, in
his wonderful story Elsie Vernier, states that a snake in the
locality where the Rocklands * Rattlesnake Den ' existed,
had forty joints in its rattle, and was supposed, after Indian
traditions, to have killed forty people. He tells us that the
inhabitants of those parts were remarkable for acute hearing
even in old age, from the practice of keeping their ears open
for the sound of the rattle whenever they were walking
through grass or in the woods. And whenever they heard

1 Nojih American Hcrpetology, vol. iii. p. 15. By J. E. Holbrooke. 1842.

30 2 SNAKES.

the rattling of a dry bean-pod, they would exclaim, * Lord,
have mercy upon us ! ' the sound so strongly resembling
that of the dreaded Crotalus.

Another American naturalist records a snake with forty-
four links to its rattle, but adds that this occurrence is rare
and *a great curiosity.' So one would imagine, and that
the fortunate possessor of such an ensign must have flourished
in smooth places. More favoured still was a snake mentioned
in the vol. of the Philosophical Transactions just now quoted,
and in which Paul Dudley had ' heard it attested by a Man of
Credit that he had killed a Rattlesnake that had between 70
and 80 Rattles {i.e. links), and with a sprinkling of grey
Hairs, like Bristles, all over its Body.' As this venerable
Crotalus must have rusticated nearly two hundred years ago,
we must accept the tale or tail with caution.

The family of the Crotalidce, it will be borne in mind,
embraces a large number of serpents with only a rudimentary
rattle ; a number with only the horny spine (see
p. 176) ; and a few with a rattle so small even when
fully developed, that they are received into the family
by courtesy rather than by their * sounding tail.'

A small snake with this pretence of a rattle is
dangerous because it is so indistinctly heard.

This is also the case with Ci^otalns viiliaiHus,
whose rattle is so feeble as to be scarcely audible
a few feet off.

So much for the size of rattles. Now for the
development of them.

The theory that the rattle Is the remains of cast-off cuticle,
as some herpetologists have supposed, may be dismissed at

THE RATTLE, 305

once ; for what would cause such vestiges to harden into a
compHcated and symmetrical form ?

To Dumeril we owe some of our best conceptions of the
growth of the rattle, which, whether it has or has not been
evolved from the mere horny spine that terminates the tails
of so many snakes, has certainly nozv an express provision for
its production.

Like hair, claws, or nails, the rattle is horny matter excreted
and hardened. In his Elementary Lessons in Physiology,
Prof Huxley shows us how in the growth of a nail new
epidermic cells are added to the base, constraining it to move
forward. ' The nail, thus constantly receiving additions from
below and from behind, slides forward over its bed and
projects beyond the end of the finger.' If the reader will
look at his finger nail, and suppose the end bone of the
Crotalus spine to be the * bed' of the nail, he will to a certain
extent be able to comprehend how the rattle grows out ; but
that the links become detached in succession is a phenome-
non so astonishing and at the same time so difficult to
comprehend, that few naturalists have ventured to state
positively how this occurs. Conjecturally only and diffi-
dently do I, therefore, presume to offer a supposition ; and if
my readers will once more pardon reference to human nails,
and lend the aid of their imagination, they may be able to
evolve a true theory out of my crude idea.

The young readers of Annt Judys Magazine were also, a
few years ago, ^ invited to lend the aid of their pink little
finger nails to the illustrative development of a supposed

1 'The History of a Rattle,' by Catherine C. Hopley, Aunt Jtidy s Magazine,
July 1877.

304 SNAKES.

rattle ; and we will again imagine the whole tip of a finger
to be covered with a round nail-cap, proceeding from the
first joint, and to have grown so from birth. In growing out,
this curious, cup-like nail, being never cut, would become
hollow like a thimble. Pointed or tapering it would of
course be, because, as the baby finger grew, the base or new
portion of nail grew larger with it. We will also suppose
that the joint whence the nail sprang was in constant
activity, and so articulated that it could move with a quick
and regular action or vibration ; the hollow nail-cap, having
attained a certain size, would become withered, and (as the
constant bending of a piece of card or metal in time divides
it) would be worn, and at length detached at its base.
Meanwhile the growth of nail has not been arrested, but a
new cap is forming within. The old, dry, and withered cap
has now nothing to retain it, and would drop off, on account
of its simple, conical form, like a loose-fitting thimble. But
Dumeril explains to us that the terminal bones of the rattle-
snake's spine presenta peculiar form, several of them coalescing.

' Dans les Crotales cette extremite de la queue, au lieu d'etre
pointue, se trouve comma tronquee, et, par une bizarrerie que nous
n'expliquons pas, il paraitrait que les trois dernieres pieces de la
colonne vertebrale se seraient soudees entre elles, et comme aplaties
pour composer un seul os triangulaire, avec trois bourrelets lateraux
simulant des restes d'apophyses transverses des vertebres, ainsi
qu'on les voir souvent dans les trois dernieres pieces du coccyx chez
I'homme. Cet os anormale a ete diss^que chez un Crotale, on a
reconnu qu'il est recouvert d'une sorte de matiere cartilagineuse
dans laquelle aurait ete secretee la substance cornee, comme un
epiderme solide, qui conserve en effet exterieurement la forme de
la piece osseuse, sur laquelle elle a ete en quelque sorte moulee et
qu'elle semble destinee ainsi a proteger centre I'exfoliation, comme

THE RATTLE,

305

cela s'observe dans ceux des animaux ruminants dont la corne
revet les chevilles osseuse du veritable coronal prolonge en pointe
et devenu de cette fagon une arme d'attaque, et surtout de
defence. ' ^

Dumeril also tells us that the peculiar structure of those
few terminal vertebrae, with their knobs or pads (' botirrelets ')
upon which the skin is moulded, tends to a movement lateral
rather than up and down, — that quick action which we
perceive when the rattle is being vibrated. Thus the horny
covering takes the form of this bone with its lobes or bulges,
which instead of permitting the supposed cup-like nail to fall
off as in our finger illustration, causes the links as they arc
pushed out to hang or cling together ; and we can only
suppose that the constant action loosens, and not only loosens
when dead or detached, but loosens, that is to say, enlarges,
the link while growing. For if you examine the spine of a
skeleton Crotalus and the rattle that grew upon that spine,
you will perceive that the links are a great deal larger than
the ^ pihe osseuse stir laqiielle elle a ete en qtielqiie sorte inoulee'

There is one other peculiarity observable in a detached
rattle, which I cannot pretend to explain in any way. If
you hold one up by its base or largest link, you will find it
invariably hangs in a slight curve and not perpendicularly.
You can straighten it, but you will not be able to curve it in
the opposite direction, proving that it naturally inclines one
way, whether to the right or the left of the animal while living,
I cannot assert. But it is a curious feature, and one that
can no doubt be accounted for by scientific observers. Thus,

* Erpetologie generale, tome vii. part, ii, p. 1457, par MM. Dumeril et Bibron,

Paris.

U

3o6

SNAKES.

as in the illustration below, you can curve a rattle so as to
discern the interior links on one side, but not on the other. I
have made the attempt with many rattles, but always with
the same result. The centre ficr. below is a section.

Natural position when held. Straightened by force.

This fine specimen, natural size, and also the Tapering Rattle, both from Mexico, were lent
to me by J. G. Braden, Esq. of Lewes, and copied accurately.

Not the least important of all the speculations to which
the rattling tail has given rise, is the question, ' Of what use
is it ? ' for we know that nothing exists in vain. Apart from
the fact that the American savages make some medicinal use
of the rattle, this elaborated, curious, and not unsightly
instrument has as yet had no special and determined office
assigned to it to the advantage of its possessor, though
theories regarding it are numerous.

Formerly, when only the dangerous powers of the reptile

THE RATTLE. 307

were understood, it was sufficient to say of it in a tone of
pious thankfulness, that the Almighty had so armed this
serpent as a warning to its enemies. Some of those early
writers introduce the rattlesnake to us as the most benevolent
and disinterested of dumb animals, conscientiously living up
to his duties, obedient to that ' peculiar Providence ' which
has given him a rattle *to warn the inadvertent intruder of
danger.' ' He maketh such a noise that he catcheth very
few,' an evidence of imprudence wholly inconsistent with
his inherited 'wisdom.' Indeed, between the character
given of this ' superb reptile ' by Chateaubriand, and the self-
sacrificing qualities assigned it by some other writers, we can
only wonder how a hungry rattlesnake ever managed to
survive at all, and how it is that the race is not extinct long
ago.

That the early and unscientific travellers, speaking from a
thankful experience of having escaped a rattlesnake through
Jiearing where it was, should seek no further for the utility of
the rattle, is not much to be wondered at. But so lately as
1 87 1 one of our popular physiologists, whose work is a text-
book, has expatiated on this theme so positively that it is
necessary to quote his words on this '■ admirable provision of
nature,' which apparently has elaborated a unique appendage
for the purpose of starving its proprietor !

* The intention of this organ is so obvious, that the most
obtuse cannot contemplate it without at once appreciating
the beauty of the contrivance. ... It (the snake) announces
the place of its concealment, even when at rest, to caution
the inadvertent intruder against too near an approach.' ^

^ Organization of the Animal Kingdom, p. 732. By T. Rymer Jones.

3o8 SNAKES.

If all the venomous serpents were thus beneficently armed
(the cobras of India especially), the crusade against snakes
would be at an end, or never need have been instituted ; for
supposing the heedless loiterer to have been a bird, squirrel,
guinea-pig, or any of the lesser mammalia which form the
food of most snakes, these happy creatures would have had
the world to themselves long ago, while vipers had kindly
starved themselves out of all traces.

'Every creature of God is good,' we must repeat and
ponder over. Even a deadly rattlesnake, and every part of
that rattlesnake, has its appointed use.

The 'inadvertence' (in this instance on the part of the
writer who thus expressed himself) has not been without
its use as well, for a more careful attention has been given
to the rattle in consequence ; and much controversy has
since arisen among some of the ablest herpetologists, parti-
cularly in America, where much that was new and suggestive
soon found its way into the scientific journals.

Briefly to summarize some of the arguments, I will repeat
a few of them as suggested by some well-known naturalists.
In that able periodical, the American Natic7'alist, vol. vi. 1872,
the subject was thoroughly discussed. Professor Shaler,
in a paper on ' The Rattlesnake and Natural Selection,'
admitted that whereas he had hftherto thought and taught
that the rattle did more harm than good to its owner, he
now knew that the sound is so similar to that of the stridu-
lating insects upon which some birds feed, that he had no
doubt of its use in attracting these to the snake. He himself
had mistaken the sound for a locust. ' Does it invite its
enemies or entice its prey } ' he asks. ' Those snakes that

THE RATTLE. 309

can best attract birds, are best fed.' In reply to this, a Mr.
J. W. Beal of Michigan affirmed that he hkd often mistaken
the sound for grasshoppers ; which educed many similar
accounts from persons who had been in danger of treading
on a Crotalus through 'inadvertent approach,' supposing
that only an insect were there. A child had taken it for
a cicada, some one else for a locust, etc. Any one who is
acquainted with the wild parts of the American Continent,
is familiar with the ceaseless chirps and whizzings of those
ubiquitous insects which are furnished with the stridulating
apparatus, and which lead you almost to expect to see
a scissors-grinder behind every tree. These are all the more
deceptive on account of their varying cadences, now louder,
now softer, approaching or receding, just as the sound of
the rattle varies by increased or less rapid vibrations, or
according to its individual size and strength. In a paper
read before the Zoological Society by Mr. A. R. Wallace
in 1 87 1, he invited attention to this fact of the resemblance
between the sound of the rattle and the singing of a cricket,
and that its use seemed to be to decoy insectivorous animals.

Dr. Elliott Coues is also of this opinion, viz. that to an
unpractised ear the sound cannot be distinguished from
the crepitation of the large Western grasshopper. A case
has been reported, he tells us, of a bird observed to be drawn
within reach, thinking it was a grasshopper. Dr. Coues also
affirms that the sound has been heard when no perceptible
irritation disturbed the snake.^

Thus we see that the ' inadvertent intruder,' so far from

^ From the Bulletin of the U. S. Geological Survey by Dr. Elliot Coues,
Appointed Surgeon and Naturalist to the Expedition, 1878.

310 SNAKES.

being warned away, is beguiled to his injury, both in the
case of human beings not quick to discriminate sounds, or
not having rattlesnakes in their minds, and with animals in
their early experience who perhaps hear one for the first time.

Another question is, ' Does the snake sound its rattles
when seeking to capture prey ? '

The editor o(th.Q American Naturalist in the volume already
quoted, thinks they do not systematically set up a rattling
for this purpose ; and as far as observation of snakes in
confinement can be of use, this opinion may be confirmed.
Probably a captive snake may have learned by experience
that, hungry or not, it must wait for its periodical dinner,
and that its ' dinner bell ' avails it nothing. Nevertheless,
we do not find that the snake uses its rattle upon food being
placed in its cage, unless the rat or the guinea-pig come
tumbling unexpectedly or unceremoniously upon the snake,
when it would sound its rattle in alarm ; but it waits quietly,
silently, rather receding than advancing towards the destined
prey, and then, after cautious observation, stealthily approach-
ing to give the fatal bite. Mr. Arthur Nicols, author of
Zoological Notes, etc., has there discussed this point, but
dismisses it by declaring he has no faith in ' the dinner-bell
theory.' i

Nor can the rattle be designed to terrify enemies or as
a menace, since the sound would invite the attack of those
very animals which the snake has most cause to fear, namely
goats, hogs, and the large carnivorous birds that devour it.
If, besides, it were used as a warning, why have the young
ones, which are more in need of protection, no rattle ?

^ The Country newspaper, August 1878 et seq.

THE RATTLE. 311

Darwin, in the sixth edition of his Origin of Species, 18/ 2,
writes as follows, p. 162 : —

' It is admitted that the rattlesnake has a poison-fang for
its own defence and for the destruction of its prey ; but
some authors suppose that at the same time it is furnished
with a rattle for its own injury, namely to warn its prey.
I would almost as soon believe that the cat curls the end
of its tail when preparing to spring in order to warn the
doomed mouse. It is a much more probable view that the
rattlesnake uses its rattle, the cobra expands its frill, and
the puff-adder swells whilst hissing so loudly and harshly,
in order to alarm the many birds and beasts which are
known to attack even the most venomous species. Snakes
act on the same principle which makes a hen ruffle her
feathers and expand her wings when a dog approaches her
chickens.' This profound thinker, then, is one of those
who include the rattle among ' the many ways by which
animals endeavour to frighten away their enemies.'

We may reasonably conclude that the Crotabis, in common
with other snakes, also with dogs and cats, expresses a
variety of feelings with its sounding tail, fear being the
most predominant one. The Indians recognise its utility
as a warning by gratefully abstaining from killing one that
rattles. They superstltiously regard it as protective to
themselves if not to the snake, and they in turn carefully
protect the reptile. Backwoodsmen display little or no fear
when they hear the Crotahcs, and though they do not spare
it, regard it with less bitter animosity than they display
towards its cousin the Copper-head ; because, as a facetious
writer has testified of it, ' it never bites without provocation,

312 SNAKES.

living up to the laws of honour, and by his rattles giving
challenge in an honourable way.'

That the sound has a language of its own is known by the
fact that when disturbed and one rattle is sprung, all other
rattlesnakes within hearing take up the chorus. That the
sexes also understand each other through crotaline eloquence
is generally believed. In fact, to each other and to them-
selves they have, no doubt, as many variations in the use of
their rattles, as any other animal in the expression of its tail ;
and probably all the above enumerated examples are at one
time or another its legitimate uses. Those who have most
closely observed them have detected a variety of cadences in
one and the same rattle.

Those also who have carefully watched rattlesnakes
under various circumstances, must perceive that timidity is one
of the strongest features in this reptile. In chap. xxx. I
will give examples of this. Already convinced by observa-
tion, I attributed to excessive timidity the chief agitation of
the rattle, when writing on the Ophidia in the Dublin
University Magazine^ December 1875, and again in Aiuit
Jiuifs Magazi7ie, July 1877. Fear causes some snakes to
puff themselves ; others to expand or flatten the body ;
fear excites the cobra to erect its anterior ribs and display
its * hood ; ' and, above all, fear causes most snakes to hiss.
Fear is coupled with anger, in these attempts to do their
best towards repelling the offender. Dr. E. Coues, in
speaking of the rattle, supposes it to have possibly
' resulted in the course of time from the continual agita-
tion of the caudal extremity of these highly nervous and
irritable creatures' Dr. Weir Mitchell has known captive

THE RATTLE. 313

snakes to vibrate the rattle for hours at a time ; and probably,
if there were opportunities of becoming more intimately-
acquainted with crotaline idiosyncrasies, we should discover
some snakes to be more or less afflicted with temper,
nervousness, terror, or other emotions which induce an animal
to express its feelings in its own way.

But the most remarkable peculiarity in this snake is that
no other way is in its power : a rattlesnake never hisses.
Throughout the numerous arguments, theories, explanations,
and suggestions, there is such an absence of allusion to this
fact that we must suppose it to be very little known. Says
Dumeril in describing les petits etuis comes, compare a celni
que feraieiit plusietirs grelots pen sonores : ^ Les Cro tales
different de tons les antres serpents connus par la faculty qu' ils
ont de produire des sons sourds et rapides^ cti plntot des bruits
contimis et prolongh a Vaide dun organe special^ qui snplcerait
— pour ainsi dire — a la voix, dont ces seipents sont toiijours
prives' ^ But the sibilations of the rattle are often so like
hissing that they have been compared to the whistling of
wind among the leaves, to the escape of water through a pipe,
to the whizzing of insects, the rattling of seed pods, and many
similar sounds, showing at the same time the character of the
noise and its variability.

Concisely recapitulating what this rattle does, we under-
stand that in the first place it is a substitute for the voice —
so far as hissing can be called voice ; and that what would
cause other excessively nerv^ous, timid, terrified snakes to hiss,
causes the rattle to vibrate. It may attract insectivorous
birds ; it may alarm other timid creatures ; it may summon its

^ Erpetologie gencj-ale, tome vii. p. 1456.

314 SNAKES.

mate ; and, as is well known, it has sympathy with its mate ;
for a second rattle is almost sure to be sounded, and they
have been observed to sound in pairs or numbers respon-
sively — it may be to express anger, fear, and for aught we
"know pleasure, in a state of liberty and enjoyment, feelings
expressed by the tail of other creatures.

Why it is formed as it is, so wholly different from all other
tails ; from what it has been evolved ; and how long in
evolving, — all these are problems to be solved by future
Darwins and future Evolutionists.

This chapter, therefore, closes with only feeble speculations
after feeble attempts to explain an inexplicable phenomenon.
The simplest and truest solution seems to be found in those
few words, ^ qui siiplcerait a la voix, dont ces serpents sont
toujoiirs prives.^

Again, we wonder whether in the non-hissing serpents any
peculiarity of trachea may be observed.

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE INTEGUMENT— ' horns; AND OTHER EPIDERMAL

APPENDAGES.

H

AVING decided that in animal ornfanization nothinc^

exists without its especial use ; assuming also that
the peculiar development of cuticle forming the rattle is to
supply the deficiency of voice, we are next induced to examine
those other appendages in serpents which are also modifications
of the integument, such as the ' horns ' of the Cerastes, the
tentacles, snout-protuberances, and developments occasionally
seen about the head of snakes, and which have all, no doubt,
their uses.

' Serpents are naked,' says Giinther — that is, they have no
separate epidermal productions in the way of fur, feathers,
hair, or wool, and all the variations of form in scales are but
the folds of the epidermis.^ The ' variations of form ' include,
therefore, the appendages above mentioned.

The heads of most snakes are covered with non-imbricated
plates or shields. The form and position of these shields are
in a great measure used in classification ; ' are of the greatest

1 Reptiles of British India, by Dr. Albert Giinther, F.R.S.

315

3i6

SNAKES.

value for distinction of species and genera.' i For this reason
each and all of the head shields are specially named.

Ophiologists differ slightly in distinguishing them as
regards assigning the exact position of some of the shields,
which, like all other ophidian features, vary in closely allied
species. As, for example, while one naturalist may decide
that a certain shield is exactly over the eye, another may
consider it somewhat to the right or the left.

Glinther's classification being the one now generally adopted,
I copy the names assigned by him, and the diagrams given in
his work.

Fig. I. Top of the head of a Colubrine snake, r, rostral ; /', anterior frontal j
/, posterior frontal ; v, vertical ; s, supraciliary ; o, occipital ; t, temporal.

Fig. 2. Profile of the same, t, temporal ; /, posterior ocular or orbital ;
a, anterior ocular or prceorbital ; /, loreal ; n, nasals ; uu, upper labials ;
**, lower labials.

Fig. 3. Under side of the same. **, lower labials ; cc, chin-shields ; 7/i,
mental or median lower labial.

It will be observed that some of these shields can be seen
both in the profile and the others as well ; as, for instance, the

^ Reptiles of British Ifidia, by Dr. Albert Giinther, F. R. S.

EPIDERMAL APPENDAGES. 317

temporal and the labial or lip shields. The study of them is
simplified by the initial letter of each name being used in
reference to them. The names used also speak for them-
selves •; as mental, the chin shield ; nasals, near the nostril ;
rostral, the beak shields.

Ophiologists in deciding species, etc., enumerate those
which are more than a pair as ' upper labials ' so many,
* lower labials ' so many. In some snakes these shields are
so large as to cover nearly the entire head ; in others, they
are almost inconspicuously small, or absent altogether, and
much varied, as we shall see.

In the vipers the head is generally covered with small,
rigid, imbricated, or over-lapping scales instead of plates, and
in some the scales are so extremely fine and closely arranged
as almost to represent short bristles. This is noticeable in
the African 'nose-horned viper' {Vipera nasicornis), -p. 322,
where they present a curiously complicated structure.

Too minute to examine
except under the magnify-
ing-glass, or to attempt to

' y Magnified carinated Magnified head-scale of

only a general idea of these ^^^'^' c'?i'ored'TiSSn°' ^'^

curious viper scales, which to the touch are spinous, and
rough as a coarse brush. They must form an unpleasant
perch for a bird, if it be true that the latter is enticed by the
horns of some vipers to come and peck at them, as at a
worm. These rigid head-scales become gradually larger and
more simple on the body, but are still comparatively small
for so large a serpent. In some few of the viperine snakes,
plates are present as well as the fine scales, though chiefly

3i8

SNAKES.

about the nose and mouth, exceptions which are now and
then found in non-venomous ones also. The preceding three
illustrations are the head shields of a Colubrine snake, in
which a greater uniformity prevails. Below are given four
other types, though even here variations are constantly

occurrmg.

Fig. a. One of the Indian Crotalidce. It has two con-
spicuous supraciliary shields, two equally conspicuous
anterior frontals over the nostril. The rest are small, and
those on the top are absent altogether. The scales are all
finely carinated.

Fig. b. The head of a Colubrine snake in which the
same scales appear as those in Fig. i of the preceding
page, viz. two orbitals, etc., but are all much smaller, and
do not therefore more than half cover the head.

Fig. c. The head of a sea snake, which as to design
is really pretty, and, as Giinther affirms, so different
from land snakes in respect to head shields, that without
any further investigation an ophiologist can at once dis-
tinguish the JiydropJiidcB.

Fig. d. The head of a viper in which only very small supra-
ciliary and nasal (or anterior frontal) shields are seen. The

EPIDERMAL APPENDAGES. 319

angular form of the vlperine head Is here noteworthy. In
some of the Tropical American viperine species (the
CrotalidcB) the angular head is so marked as to be separated
into a genus — the Trigonocephali, three-cornered heads.
One head is sagittate or arrow-shaped to such an extent
that the serpent is known as the Fer de lance, the dreaded
Trigonocephahis lanceolaUis of the Antilles. There are
Trigonoce