THE VIPER AND THE SCORPION
“YOU just said,” interposed Emile, “the _bite_ of the viper, and not the
_sting_. Then serpents bite, and do not sting. I thought it was just the
other way. I have always heard they had a sting. Last Thursday lame
Louis, who is not afraid of anything, caught a serpent in a hole of the
old wall. He had two comrades with him. They bound the creature round
the neck with a rush. I was passing, and they called me. The serpent was
darting from its mouth something black, pointed, flexible, which came
and went rapidly. I thought it was the sting and was much afraid of it.
Louis laughed. He said what I took for a sting was the serpent’s tongue;
and to prove it to me, he put his hand near it.”
[Illustration: Head of Snake showing Forked Tongue]
“Louis was right,” replied Uncle Paul. “All serpents dart a very
flexible, forked, black filament between their lips with great
swiftness. For many purposes it is the reptile’s weapon, or dart; but in
reality this filament is nothing but the tongue, a quite inoffensive
tongue, which the creature uses to catch insects and to express in its
peculiar manner the passions that agitate it by darting it quickly from
between the lips. All serpents, without any exception, have one; but in
our countries the viper alone possesses the terrible venomous apparatus.
“This apparatus is composed, first, of two hooks, or teeth, long and
pointed, placed in the upper jaw. At the will of the creature they stand
up erect for the attack or lie down in a groove of the gum, and hold
themselves there as inoffensive as a stiletto in its sheath. In that way
the reptile runs no danger of wounding itself. These fangs are hollow
and pierced toward the point by a small opening through which the venom
is injected into the wound. Finally, at the base of each fang is a
little pocket full of venomous liquid. It is an innocent-looking humor,
odorless, tasteless; one would almost think it was water. When the viper
strikes with its fangs, the venomous pocket drives a drop of its
contents into the canal of the tooth, and the terrible liquid is
instilled into the wound.
“By preference the viper inhabits warm and rocky hills; it keeps under
stones and thickets of brush. It is brown or reddish in color. On the
back it has a somber zigzag band, and on each side a row of spots. Its
stomach is slate-gray. Its head is a little triangular, larger than the
neck, obtuse and as if cut off in front. The viper is timid and fearful;
it attacks man only in self-defense. Its movements are brusk, irregular,
and sluggish.
“The other serpents of our countries, serpents designated by the general
name of snakes, have not the venomous fangs of the viper. Their bite
therefore is not of importance, and the repugnance they inspire in us is
really groundless.
“Next to the viper there is in France no venomous creature more to be
feared than the scorpion. It is very ugly and walks on eight feet. In
front it has two pincers like those of the crayfish, and behind a
knotty, curled tail ending in a sting. The pincers are inoffensive,
despite their menacing aspect; it is the sting with which the end of the
tail is armed that is venomous. The scorpion makes use of it in
self-defense and to kill the insects on which it feeds. In the southern
departments of France are found two different kinds of scorpions. One,
of a greenish black, frequents dark and cool places and even establishes
itself in houses. It leaves its retreat only at night. It can be seen
then running on the damp and cracked walls, seeking wood-lice and
spiders, its customary prey. The other, much larger, is pale yellow. It
keeps under warm and sandy stones. The black scorpion’s sting does not
cause serious injury; that of the yellow may be mortal. When one of
these creatures is irritated, a little drop of liquid can be seen
forming into a pearl at the extremity of the sting, which is all ready
to strike. It is the drop of venom that the scorpion injects into the
wound.
[Illustration: Scorpion seen from above]
“There are many other important things I could tell you about the
venomous creatures of foreign countries, about divers serpents whose
bite causes a dreadful death; but I hear Mother Ambroisine calling us to
dinner. Let us go over rapidly what I have just told you. No creature,
however ugly it may be, shoots venom or can do us any harm from a
distance. All venomous species act in the same way: with a special
weapon a slight wound is made; and into this wound a drop of venom is
introduced. The wound, by itself, is nothing; it is the injected liquid
that makes it painful and sometimes mortal. The venomous weapon serves
the creature for hunting and for defense. It is placed in a part of the
body that varies according to the species. Spiders have a double fang
folded at the entrance of the mouth; bees, wasps, hornets, bumble-bees,
have a sting at the end of the stomach and kept invisible in its sheath
when in repose; the viper and all venomous serpents have two long
hollowed-out teeth on the upper jaw; the scorpion carries a sting at the
end of its tail.”
“I am very sorry,” said Jules, “that Jacques did not hear your account
of venomous creatures; he would have understood that caterpillars’ green
entrails are not venom. I will tell him all these things; and if I find
another beautiful sphinx caterpillar I will not crush it.”
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