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SNAKES: CURIOSITIES AND WONDERS OF SERPENT LIFE.
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 outswim the Fish and outclimb the Monkey.’— Owen . GRIFFITH AND FARRAN, SUCCESSORS TO NEWBERY AND HARRIS, WEST CORNER OF ST. PAUL’S CHURCHYARD, LONDON. E. P. DUTTON & CO., NEW YORK. 1882. The Rights of Translation and of Reproduction are reserved. TO MY MUCH HONOURED AND ESTEEMED FRIEND , Pro
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INTRODUCTION.
INTRODUCTION.
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 distinguished 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 bee
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CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER I.
‘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 when 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
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CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER II.
Did these intelligent beings know anything of the Dinotherium (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, especially with
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CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER III.
In another poultry-yard a cobra was found coiled in a hen’s nest, from which all the eggs were gone but two. In 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 attack
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CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER IV.
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 aperçu des fluides dans ceux dont on a examiné l’estomac.’ [15] Schlegel, when he wrote, had not the benefit of Mr. Bell’s experience, and as a foreigner, probabl
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CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER V.
‘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 h
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CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VI.
Let the reader reflect a moment, and he will perceive what supply of moisture this degree of lubrication would 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, i
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CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VII.
‘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
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CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPTER VIII.
And now the snake threw up its head, to free the legs of 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
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CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER IX.
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 watching 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
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CHAPTER X.
CHAPTER X.
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 Linnæus 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 Linné a pu dire avec raison: “Frigida æstuantium animalia.”’ [47] Dumeril describes their respiration as arbitrary, suspended,
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CHAPTER XI.
CHAPTER XI.
Death Adder (from Krefft’s Snakes of Australia ). Another tail of evil repute belongs to the Water Viper of the United States, vernacularly known as the ‘Thorn-tail’ snake, Trigonocephalus 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 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
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CHAPTER XII.
CHAPTER XII.
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 laminæ, like the scales of some fishes, each of which may be scraped or plucked off, 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 accommodate themselves to e
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CHAPTER XIII.
CHAPTER XIII.
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 dou
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CHAPTER XIV.
CHAPTER XIV.
The nostrils are small, placed horizontally on the top of the snout, as in the Homalopsidæ , and 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 respi
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CHAPTER XV.
CHAPTER XV.
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 p
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CHAPTER XVI.
CHAPTER XVI.
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 cre
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CHAPTER XVII.
CHAPTER XVII.
Then, throwing it into a pool of water, he remounted, and the horses fearlessly proceeded. A fully developed rattle of a rather small snake (life size). A few days after this, to compensate my disappointment, 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. Th
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CHAPTER XVIII.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Fig. 1. Top of the head of a Colubrine snake. r , rostral; f’ , anterior frontal; f , posterior frontal; v , vertical; s , supraciliary; o , occipital; t , temporal. Fig. 2. Profile of the same. t , temporal; p , posterior ocular or orbital; a , anterior ocular or præorbital; l , loreal; n , nasals; uu , upper labials; **, lower labials. Fig. 3. Under side of the same. **, lower labials; cc , chin-shields; m , mental or median lower labial. It will be observed that some of these shields can be s
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CHAPTER XIX.
CHAPTER XIX.
In all true snakes the teeth are long, conical, and curved: not planted perpendicularly, but directed backwards; these long, fine, claw-shaped instruments presenting a formidable obstacle against the retreat of a creature once seized by them. Their arrangement is a species of trap, like the wires of a mouse-trap: to enter being easy enough, but to escape against the spikes being impossible. All snakes renew their teeth throughout life. Except fishes, therefore, no creatures are so abundantly sup
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CHAPTER XX.
CHAPTER XX.
In another paper read before the Royal Society in 1726, also anterior to Fontana, on the ‘Fangs of the Rattlesnake,’ the writer, Captain Hall, describes the dissection, which was under the direction of Sir Hans Sloane; and ‘then the Muscles that raise the poisonous Fangs appear.’ This anatomist also found reserve fangs. ‘Putting by this Membrane, the fatal Fangs appear, which on first View seemed only one on each Side, till searching further there appeared four more. The first and largest is fix
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CHAPTER XXI.
CHAPTER XXI.
Not to weary the reader by attempting to describe the various systems of classification adopted by the many herpetologists who were the contemporaries and immediate successors of Linnæus, we will rather invite his imagination to picture the geographical history of our globe during that age. Travels, explorations, the establishment of new colonies, and the settlement of new territories marked the era; and, as a sequence, new and hitherto unknown fauna were continually brought home to Europe. We h
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CHAPTER XXII.
CHAPTER XXII.
In Wallace’s Travels in the Amazon we read: ‘Hanging up under the eaves of our shed was a dried head of a snake which had been killed a short time before. It was a Jaráraca , a species of Craspedocephalus , and must have been of formidable size, for its poison fangs, four in number, were nearly an inch long.... The bite of such would be certain death.’ With this picture of a large Brazilian serpent, drawn by such an authority as Wallace, one read in Ogilvy’s dictionary: ‘ Jararaca . A species of
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CHAPTER XXIII.
CHAPTER XXIII.
As very few snakes have such an exceptionally distinguishing organization as the Deirodon , few are so happy as to escape with only half a score of titles. Many species that have been longer known have had their names similarly improved upon by fifty naturalists, and are still undergoing renomination as new observers discover closer alliances with one or another family. This is particularly the case in America, where a nomenclature entirely differing from our own is often adopted. It will probab
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CHAPTER XXIV.
CHAPTER XXIV.
So far as was known in Aristotle’s time, only certain venomous species common in the countries with which classic writers were best acquainted did produce live young, and they were mostly what are still known as ‘vipers,’ a term restricted to these and explained as being derived from such signification. Opportunities of study and of observation afforded in menageries and zoological gardens at the present day have caused the term viper as relating to gestation to be discarded, or many non-venomou
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CHAPTER XXV.
CHAPTER XXV.
Anaconda, however, claims historical priority. As a water snake it has already been partially described (p. 228), and some of its synonyms were given in explanation of its scientific name Eunectes , to trace its right to be included among the water snakes, and murinus , to show the nature of its food. Being a native of tropical America—which embraces many extensive countries and includes numerous tribes of the aboriginal inhabitants—this serpent is also known under numerous vernaculars, puzzling
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CHAPTER XXVI.
CHAPTER XXVI.
Lizzie; never at a loss. Upon a smooth surface it would be entirely helpless without this assistant to progression, its scales being too even and polished to afford hold of any kind. You will see it sweeping its long tail this way and that, in search of some hold or obstacle against which to push itself forward; and failing this, the point is pressed close to the table or floor as may be. When in any unaccustomed position, as, for instance, when held in the hand, you will see the tail instantly
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CHAPTER XXVII.
CHAPTER XXVII.
Thus, when, in February 1873, Professor G. Browne Goode, of Middletown University, Connecticut, invited, through the columns of the American Agriculturist , all the authentic information that could be procured on the question, ‘Do snakes swallow their young?’ he received, as he tells us, no less than 120 testimonies from as many persons in various parts of the United States that single season. The area in which information was collected included twenty-four States and counties, ‘almost all the e
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CHAPTER XXVIII.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Singularly, too, no other object in nature—no birds or flowers or beautiful things—have been so universally adopted in personal ornaments as the serpent idea. And in times of remote antiquity—as relics prove—personal adornments, bracelets, coronets, and rings in the form of serpents were as much in favour as at the present day. We may, indeed, affirm that the modern bracelet is but a reproduction or a restoration of those of antiquity, dating as far back as artificers in metals can be traced. Ro
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CHAPTER XXIX.
CHAPTER XXIX.
More recently still permanganate of potash has been announced as an antidote; and no doubt in some cases it has proved a successful remedy , as occasionally, but not invariably, other treatments have been. There still, however, appears to be the same lack of substantial evidence with regard to its being an ‘infallible antidote’ in the chemical acceptation of the term; and indeed as venoms themselves vary, a remedy that might prove effectual in one case might fail in another. Dr. Stradling, than
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CHAPTER XXX.
CHAPTER XXX.
Several cases of cobras injuring each other and themselves are on record at the Gardens. On one occasion a cobra got loose, and, as may be supposed, created considerable terror. While being caught, it turned and bit itself, burying its fangs in its own flesh. I could not learn exactly the spot where it wounded itself; but it was no doubt where the hooked rod, or the snake tongs, had been offendingly applied. A couple of cobras were presented by Sir Joseph Fayrer. One of them bit the other repeat
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