_NOTES FROM THE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS._
ARRANGING the following examples, not so much in chronological sequence
as in elucidation of special facts, I will first give some cases of
venomous serpents killing themselves and each other. My notes began
in 1872, after the interest so strongly awakened in Cheyne Walk,
Chelsea, when those tame snakes were fed to gratify our curiosity (see
Introduction).
Holland was then the keeper at the Reptile House of the London
Zoological Society’s Gardens, and had occupied this place upwards of
twenty years, gathering much experience and knowledge of reptilian
habits. Incidents known to him, when not witnessed by myself, may
therefore be received as trustworthy.
On Sunday, July 20th, 1873, a ‘River Jack’ (_Vipera rhinoceros_), from
West Africa, really did kill itself, though the act can scarcely be
called intentional ‘suicide.’ It was from dashing its head against
its cage either in anger or pain. Holland was of opinion that it had
been severely bitten by one of the others of the same kind in the
cage at the time; for he had known snakes to die from bites in this
way, sometimes from their own bites. On one occasion three Puff adders
(_Vipera arietans_) all died through quarrelling and biting each other.
One of the three survived ten days, the others dying sooner.
One day in April 1873 or 1874, on going to the Gardens, I was informed
that a water viper (_Cenchris piscivorus_) had been found in the tank
in its cage, presenting a very unusual appearance, and enormously
swelled. On going his rounds that morning, the keeper observed it, and
touching it with his iron rod, he discovered that it was quite dead.
He said these vipers frequently quarrel, biting each other and causing
this great inflation of the body, as if blown out by wind. The vitality
of this species is very strong. From such bites the inflation is
sometimes only temporary, and they recover, but not always. One of them
lived a long while with a broken back. It was endeavouring to escape
by the sliding door, which was raised while the keeper was making some
arrangements. The movements of the reptile were so swift that Holland
was obliged to suddenly drop the slide; and though he succeeded in
partly pushing back the snake, it got caught and was jammed under it,
completely dislocating its spine. But it did not appear to suffer very
much, he said, and entirely recovered from the injury.
Some ‘viperine snakes’ (named from their aspect, but not really
venomous) not only bit each other, but killed and swallowed each other.
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 repeatedly, and in so many places that it was ‘torn
to pieces,’ in the language of the keeper. ‘The body was all over
sores.’ Notwithstanding this, it was several weeks dying. This painful
spectacle did not fall under my own observation, happily, but there is
no reason to doubt the occurrence.
Next to the rattlesnakes few are more nervously timid than cobras;
only, while the former displays fear by a shrinking retreat, a cobra
is aggressive, inasmuch as it raises itself with a threatening aspect
and distended hood. It is on account of their extreme timidity that the
cobras’ cages are screened with painted glass at the lower part, or
the reptiles, in aiming at offending spectators, would be continually
dashing their heads against the front, to their own detriment. In this
manner snakes wound themselves very seriously, producing various mouth
diseases.
Before writing another word of what, as a student, I have witnessed at
the Gardens, I must here affirm that any distressful occurrences are
not related to gratify a morbid curiosity in those who read only to be
amused, but to enable other students to acquire a better insight into
ophidian habits and physiology, and as a duty which I have set myself
to accomplish—a duty which has cost much moral courage to carry
out, and which demands, as I now discover, an equal amount of moral
courage to commit to writing. A good deal is painful, if not revolting;
therefore I would commend the perusal of this chapter only to those
who, as naturalists, wish to be informed on these subjects.
‘Lip fungus,’ gum boils, canker, and abscesses are among the
mouth diseases to which snakes in confinement are subject, and
for these, very delicate surgical operations have sometimes to be
performed,—‘very delicate’ often, by reason of the dangerous character
of the patient, and in consideration for the operator as much as for
the sufferer. The keepers have sometimes to lance the gums, sometimes
to wash the sores! One very venomous patient was so covered with sores
that the keeper’s only resource was to throw the lotion all over the
reptile.
‘Why not let the odious serpent die, or kill it at once?’ some will
exclaim. Well, in the first place, many snakes cost large sums of
money to purchase; secondly, humanity as well as economy demands that
their sufferings should be allayed wherever possible. And in return,
they frequently reward such care by recovering and entertaining the
visitors, climbing with renewed vigour about their cages.
On the other hand, so tenacious of life are some snakes, that they
might survive as disgusting objects a long while—not in a state to
be exhibited at all, but only to be an additional care and trouble to
those whose duty it is to attend to them. One very astonishing instance
of tenacity of life must be introduced. It was in a rattlesnake which
would not feed, and must have greatly suffered in some way, whether
physically or from nervous terror cannot be determined; but the
reptile struck its head so repeatedly against the side of its cage,
that, in the keeper’s words, ‘it completely smashed it.’ At last it
died, its head one mass of putrid sores; and in that state it had
sustained life for many months. It had eaten nothing for ten months.
It must be owing to the excessive and nervous timidity of snakes, that
some of them reject food for so long a time during the first months of
their captivity. I think for even more than two years snakes have been
known to fast, and to recover their appetite afterwards. So strong a
disinclination for food do cobras show, when first brought that it is
of no use whatever to put mice into their cages. Now and then, if no
one is near them, they will partake of a mouse or a sparrow, but never
until they become somewhat reconciled to their surroundings.
Almost equally alarmed and irreconciled was the Hamadryad, which is
closely allied to the cobras. When first brought to the Gardens in
the spring of 1875, he did little else than suspiciously watch for
some weeks. With his head elevated in front of the glass, and his hood
expanded, he made a dash whenever any one approached or stopped to
look at him, and ate nothing for many days. Within a year these fears
gradually subsided, and he became so tame as to watch for the keeper
instead of for supposed enemies, raising himself to the roof of his
cage, and remaining close to the little trapdoor at the top, awaiting
the snake which, as he had already learned, made its appearance through
there for dinner. Much caution is requisite in feeding him; for though
he does not now display spite or anger, once let his head find egress
through that little trapdoor when raised, he, one of the most venomous
snakes in existence, would be through in a moment, creating a stampede
indeed among the visitors, to say nothing of danger both to them and to
himself. He well recognised a change of guardianship when poor Holland
was compelled from ill-health to resign his place; and not even yet,
in spite of the kindest treatment, will he trust his present keeper
as he trusted Holland. During the interregnum and frequent change of
attendants, his nerves were tried in a manner that he has been slow to
recover.
The Hamadryad’s appointed diet is one ring snake per week; but ‘Ophi,’
as we now call him, is occasionally required—and with no sacrifice of
his principles either—to eat an extra snake to satisfy the curiosity
of some distinguished visitor. Sometimes, too, colubers are plentiful,
and two small ones are not too much for his ten or twelve feet of
appetite. This splendid serpent has rewarded care by remaining in
perfect health, and growing several feet. He was between eight and
nine feet long when he came, and is now not far short of twelve, and
proportionately larger in circumference. Sometimes during winter,
when ring snakes are scarce, ‘Ophio’ is compelled to fast; for, as
related p. 62, he is not to be tempted with other food. During the
first year of his residence in the Gardens, the supply was good, and
he ate no less than eighty-two fellow-creatures before the winter was
well over. Towards spring, however, the supply ran short, and only two
more remained for him. He had now fasted two entire weeks, and looked
hungry and eager. The keeper offered him a guinea-pig, at which he
took great offence, spreading his hood and hissing angrily for a long
while. Eggs he declined, also a lizard and a rat, in great disgust. In
India the Ophiophagi are said to feed on lizards and fish occasionally,
but _our_ Ophiophagus preferred to fast. At last one of the two ring
snakes was produced, and Ophio was to be regaled. It was the 31st of
March 1876, and he had been a denizen of the Gardens just one year. My
notebook informs me that it was a lovely, soft spring day, and that
Ophio was quite lively. He had rejected frogs on his own account, but
in the uncertainty of more ring snakes arriving, he was now decoyed
into eating half a dozen. Holland contrived that the snake destined for
his dinner should answer the purpose of a feast, and had allowed it to
eat as many frogs as it chose. Like the poor wretch who, doomed to the
gallows, is permitted to fare sumptuously the last morning of his life,
the ring snake ate three frogs, by which the Ophiophagus was to derive
chief benefit; he, all unconscious of the cause of his victim’s unusual
plumpness, swallowing him speedily.
Soon after this Ophio doffed his winter coat entire, and having again
fasted for ten days, was at once rewarded by the last remaining ring
snake in a similarly plethoric condition, namely, with three more frogs
inside him. Now and then during the winter months the scarcity of
ring snakes has compelled the sacrifice of some far rarer colubers to
Ophio’s cannibal tastes. And yet each year we hear of hundreds of ring
snakes being ruthlessly killed in country districts, while at great
cost and trouble others are purchased or brought from the Continent for
the Hamadryad’s sustenance. Lord Lilford, one of the Ophidarium’s best
patrons, sometimes sends presents of game in the shape of ring snakes
to the Hamadryad.
While watching this snake-eater over his dinner, one is struck with the
remarkable tenacity of life exhibited in the victim, or the slow action
of the venom if poisoned in the first grasp. The Ophiophagus seizes it
anywhere, that is, at whichever part happens to come first, and then,
after holding it quietly for a time, works his jaws up to the head
in the usual hand-over-hand, or ‘jaw-after-jaw’ fashion, invariably
swallowing the snake head first. On one occasion when I watched
attentively, Ophio, having seized a ring snake by the middle, held it
doggedly still for one quarter of an hour, while the lesser snake did
its very best to work its way out of the jaws, and also to fetter his
captor by twirling itself over his head and coiling round his neck.
This continued while Ophio, with his head and neck raised, remained
motionless, and after the quarter of an hour commenced to work his
jaws up towards the head of the ring snake, which, as more and more of
its own body was free for action, twirled itself about, and at length
coiled its tail round the bit of branch nailed into the cage.
Persistently, like a sailor making his vessel fast to the windlass, the
ring snake lashed as much of himself as was free round the branch a
foot off, and so pulled and pulled till he looked in danger of severing
himself in two. Meanwhile Ophio, slowly but surely advancing, caused
its head and neck to disappear, grasping tightly with his venomous
jaws, as if he would say, ‘We’ll see who is master.’ It was a close
tussle, so firmly did the little coluber retain his hold on the ‘tree;’
but as the upper part of him was gradually drawn into those unrelaxing
jaws, he by degrees gave way, and by and by was gone.
Not far short of an hour was occupied in this meal, during which the
victim showed no signs of being poisoned, nor were his coils round the
stump relaxed in the slightest degree, till Ophio reached the tail. The
ring snake is not a constrictor, yet he thus tied himself round the
tree by the coils of his tail.
One more singular case of tenacity of life must be recorded. A ring
snake had been caught in the usual way, and the usual struggle ensued
between captor and captive. Coluber, with its head tightly gripped in
the jaws of his enemy, had still all the rest of himself at liberty
and in full activity, and after wriggling a violent protest, he coiled
what was left of himself so closely round the neck of his persecutor
that the latter made little or no progress with his dinner for a time.
He seemed to be deliberating how to proceed next, and asking, ‘What is
the meaning of this?’ then shook his head, lowered it to the shingle,
and tried to rub off the coils. The only result thus achieved was that
the extreme end of coluber’s tail was loosened for a moment, but only
to coil afresh round Ophio’s jaws, which nevertheless slowly and surely
advanced.
For nearly an hour the progress was very slow; but when the ring snake
was all swallowed except a few inches of tail, these became so tight a
muzzle that Ophio in turn was the victim. Shaking his head and vainly
endeavouring to free his jaws of this muzzle, a minute or two elapsed,
during which he seemed to suffer some discomfort, when suddenly his
mouth opened widely, and out crawled Natrix, apparently none the worse
for this temporary entombment. He had turned round when two or three
feet from daylight, and come back to see the world once more. But it so
happened that Ophio closed his jaws in time over the few inches of tail
which still remained between them. Nor did he once relax his grasp of
this, but quickly and patiently began to work his way up to the head
and recommence his meal, and this time with better success. An hour
and a quarter I watched, nor was any evidence of poison seen, so as to
reduce the powers of the bitten snake for bitten it must have been in
those prolonged and forcible grasps.
In these conflicts one could but observe a dogged stupidity on the part
of the venomous snake, who, had he but brought coils to his aid, might
have simplified matters so easily. The little Heterodons and even the
Lacertines often assist themselves with coils in managing their prey,
though not themselves constrictors but the venomous ones have not the
slightest notion of helping themselves in this way, as if confident
that in time their venom would do its work. In self-protection,
however, we have seen that a rattlesnake can coil, p.394.
This Ophiophagus has caused to vanish, on an average, not far short
of a hundred snakes per annum since his arrival in England, say seven
hundred in all. In his native haunts, actively moving and climbing
amidst plenty of other snakes, one might multiply the consumption by
at least three, and give to the Hamadryads the credit of assisting
Government in exterminating snakes to the extent of 300 each per annum.
These snakes, therefore, should be much prized by the Government
snake-exterminators, and in reward for services rendered, have their
own lives spared. They are not very common, nor very obtrusive; and we
do not hear of so many deaths laid to their charge as to cobras and
Bungari. So long as you do not molest their nests or their young, they
get out of your way; but for all that, they might be turned to very
good account as snake consumers.
So might some in Australia and in South America, and elsewhere; for
although this especial Hamadryad usurps the name of ‘Snake-eater,’
there are Ophiophagi in many parts of the world. They are chiefly
_Elapidæ_. Probably on account of the small head and slender form of
these snakes, a fellow-creature is more convenient to swallow than an
animal all joints and elbows, and fur-covered. Many snakes are also
involuntarily or rather unintentionally cannibals, as in the case of
the Tropidonoti, when two seize the same frog, or the python swallowing
Geoptyas (p. 38). In such cases the swallower does not first seize his
comrade with the intention of devouring him; but both having hold on
a meal which neither chooses to relinquish, it is a mere question of
which one first reaches the jaws of the other, and which pair of jaws
happens to be most widely extended. A case is recorded in _Nature_,
March 8th, 1877, of a Mr. L. Heiligbrodt in Texas capturing an
unusually thick ‘Water moccasin’ (_Ancistrodon pugnax_), and on opening
it finding a large ‘Copper-head’ (_Ancistrodon contortrix_), recently
swallowed.
This was ‘the only case on record,’ for it is very unusual for the
_Crotalidæ_ to eat each other; and very probably, in this instance, the
cause was a mutual meal. ‘Moccasins’ (_Tropidonoti_) at the Gardens
sometimes have such a hard grip on each other as to fetch blood. I
once saw two of these rearing themselves high in their scuffle for
the unhappy frog of which both had equal hold. The keeper was obliged
to administer corporeal reproof, which caused one of them to let go,
when the other swallowed the frog almost at one gulp, as you might
swallow an oyster. Nor do they invariably turn the frog round to
swallow it head first. This is done if the frog is likely to escape.
These so-called ‘moccasins’ are of a very pugnacious disposition. One
of them once startled me by dashing at me through the glass, with
such violence that I thought the glass would have been broken. I was
doing nothing whatever to alarm it, and I knew the snakes quite well.
But in that angry mood its aspect seemed so changed, that I asked the
keeper if that were a new snake and a venomous one, which it certainly
resembled at the moment. I may here mention that Professor Brown Goode
(who presided over the ‘American Science Convention on Snakes’) once
caught a _Tropidonotus fasciatus_ in Florida, which was so like the
‘dreaded moccasin’ (_Ancistrodon piscivorus_), that not until he had
examined the mouth and found it was harmless could he identify it.
These _Tropidonoti_ have been known to take raw meat occasionally; so
has the Xenodon, and so has a rattlesnake at the Gardens. Indeed, of
one of these the keeper said, ‘It will eat any dead thing;’ and he
found it convenient sometimes to give it a rat or a guinea-pig which a
neighbouring snake had killed by poisoning, but not eaten. The Crotalus
in such cases imbibed some foreign venom with his dinner. One Crotalus
at the Gardens would eat only rats, others prefer guinea-pigs.
‘Look at that rat!’ exclaimed a lady to her friend, when the keeper
gave the rattlesnake a good-sized guinea-pig.
‘I think it must be a rabbit; it is too big for a rat,’ returned the
friend.
Before they could decide this zoological question, it lay dead. The
rattlesnake struck it and left it. It gave one gasp, fell over, and
in half a minute was dead. Another day a guinea-pig was six minutes
dying, but on this occasion the rattlesnake had expended some of its
venom in angrily striking the iron rod with which the keeper was moving
something in the cage. When the guinea-pig seemed to be dead, the
Crotalus, after eyeing and smelling it all over, that is, investigating
it with its tongue as if to be assured, was about to take it, when the
little animal had one slight spasm more, and the snake darted back its
head and rapidly retreated. Watching them as I have done for years,
I am still undecided whether excessive timidity or their low order
of intelligence is paramount in the rattlesnakes. They are so slow
and sluggish of movement, that those accustomed to them hold them in
tolerable contempt. I have seen Holland watch his opportunity, open
the cage, and put his hand in to snatch away a guinea-pig to give to
another snake if the Crotalus did not want it.
‘They always coil before striking,’ is often said. They certainly take
time to think about an attack and to make ready by having plenty of
coils—slack rope, as it were—at their command, in order to reach
their aim, the ‘always coiling’ not truly meaning that they wind
themselves round and round as a sailor coils a rope, with their head
in the middle. The ‘coiling’ has been thus described by persons with
‘unscientific imaginations;’ but having its head in the centre of such
a coil, the snake would _not_ easily reach its object. Often the coils
are like those of ‘Totsey’ when taking her choice of a bird, having
loose folds near the head, which is always _forward_ in readiness for
the attack.
Excellent opportunities of observing the relative venoms present
themselves in zoological collections—not only the degrees of poison
seen in the different serpents, but the effects produced by one serpent
at different times. Of those species when in full vigour there is no
doubt but that the South American rattlesnake (_Crotalus horridus_) is
one of the most virulent. Sometimes this species will strike at a young
rabbit or a guinea-pig, and death is almost instantaneous. One such
instance was observed when a rattlesnake struck a guinea-pig on the
head, the little animal falling as if shot, and in such a flash of time
that Holland examined it to ascertain the cause, and ‘its brains had
turned quite green directly.’
‘A new rattlesnake’ was introduced in the autumn of 1873. Not new to
science, but this, I regret to find, is all that my notebook records
in heading some observations made September 26th of that year, ‘a very
warm day’ for the season. A guinea-pig was put into the cage, when
the snake (I _think_ it was _Crotalus durissus_) approached its head
closely and stealthily till quite near to the little animal, shrinking
back at the slightest movement on the part of the guinea-pig, which sat
staring and blinking in a corner. Each time the snake recoiled, even
at a blink, it kept its eyes fixed in alarm on the piggy, who stupidly
returned the gaze, not knowing what to make of the snake or of the
people so close to him. By and by the snake, regaining courage, again
ventured nearer, and again when nearly close started back at a slight
movement of the guinea-pig. Three times a similar approach was made
before the snake ventured to strike, betraying its extreme caution and
timidity. As soon as struck, the guinea-pig was convulsed, and falling
on its side was dead in three minutes.
Rats do not succumb to the poison nearly so quickly as rabbits,
guinea-pigs, and birds.
Another guinea-pig struck by a rattlesnake immediately fell over on its
side, and died, panting hard, in _about_ three minutes. One could not
discern the precise moment of its last gasp; but in this case there
were no convulsive jerkings of the limbs.
The rattlesnakes always strike and then recede quickly, keeping a
stealthy watch over their prey until it is perfectly still, often
much longer. Puff adders and some others of the African vipers,
on the contrary, retain their hold after biting. Cobras sometimes
strike and retain their hold, and sometimes let the prey go and wait
for it to die. On a small creature the effect of Puff-adder venom
is instantaneous; and a remarkable difference is observable between
the effect on a timid victim and on a rat. One of these adders ate a
sparrow alive August 20, 1874, that is, struck and held it, swallowing
it so quickly that it had not time to die. A sparrow is, however, a
very small prey for so large a serpent. Another Puff adder, about to
cast its coat, bit a guinea-pig, which was rapidly convulsed, as with
spasms, accompanied by sharp jerkings of the limbs for nearly five
minutes, when it became motionless. In this case the charge of venom
might be feeble. In September of that year a Puff adder (I think the
same as the last named) bit a rat, which at first ran about trying
to escape, going close to the viper, as if unconscious of an enemy,
and apparently unharmed during the first minute. Then it became aware
of pain, and began to lash its tail, whisking it round and round in
a frantic manner. Then one of its hind legs kicked out, probably the
bitten limb, jerking violently for a time, and the rat lay helpless
thus for about two minutes. In four minutes from the bite it gasped,
and continued to gasp harder and harder for nearly three minutes more.
It then bled at the mouth. The Puff adder then bit it again, when,
after two or three more minutes, it leaped violently in convulsions
from the effect of the second bite. The convulsions became gradually
less; but fully twenty minutes elapsed, in spite of a double charge of
venom, before the rat was dead. In all similar cases I noticed that
rats were very tenacious of life. A guinea-pig has been killed in five
seconds from the bite of a Puff adder.
On the same day, a ‘nose-horned viper’ (_Vipera nasicornis_) struck a
rabbit, which immediately ran and started spasmodically, panting as if
astonished and wondering what had hurt him. Then he leaped into the
well at the back of the cage, but in that short moment was too feeble
to crawl back again. He attempted to run, but sank quickly. Being out
of sight, it was impossible to state the exact moment in which it died,
but the whole was in less than two minutes. These vipers are no doubt
intensely virulent. Another day one of them with a bad swelled face
from abscess bit a guinea-pig, which in thirty seconds fell over on its
side. It squeaked convulsively the moment it was bitten, and several
times afterwards. It lay motionless for half a minute, appearing to be
dead, but gave one slight start afterwards, and was perfectly still
before three minutes expired.
In stating these periods of time decisively, it is by the watch. When I
did not keep my watch in hand, I do not state the time so positively.
Between those larger African vipers, when all are in full vigour, there
would appear to be not much difference in power of bite. A ‘River Jack’
(_Vipera rhinoceros_) struck a guinea-pig, holding it in his mouth till
dead, which was in less than two minutes. Poor little piggy struggled
convulsively the first few moments as if in pain; then only gasped as
if labouring to breathe, but soon was insensible.
The poison of _Cenchris piscivorus_, though a much slighter snake,
seems as potent as that of the rattlesnake. One of these struck
a guinea-pig—the action being so swift that some of us who were
attentively observing were not sure that the animal had been bitten
at all, except from the instantaneous effects, the guinea-pig leaping
frantically and dashing itself about for a few seconds; then it sank
gasping heavily, and kicking convulsively, until in a few minutes
life was extinct. Some of the creatures live ten minutes, others not
ten seconds. I was glad to observe that in most cases insensibility
rapidly overcame them. And without exception, it was observable that
of the two—the snake or the destined food—the first named was by far
the most alarmed, or ‘charmed.’ In the actions of the little creatures
thrown into the cages, there was a fearless, unsuspicious freedom, when
once they had recovered the surprise of finding themselves suddenly
there instead of in a dark box. Rabbits hop about and over the snakes,
and then sit up and clean themselves. Birds plume themselves and look
about to see what they can pick up, perching upon the snake as if it
were a log of wood. Rats run hither and thither to find something to
eat, and then wash _their_ faces. Many of the little animals run over
the snakes, quite unconscious of their being live enemies, or force
their noses under them, to the evident alarm and discomfort of the
Ophidian, should he be disinclined to move. Sometimes, if faint and
languid, and huddled together in a corner, it is because they—the
victims—are oppressed with the closeness of the cage and the vitiated
air, but quite apart from any ‘spell’ or magnetic influence. They may
stare at the serpent that is staring at them, and as they stare in
alarm at the people, but they have never seen a python, a puff adder,
or a rattlesnake before in their lives, and have not the slightest idea
that they are going to be eaten by one. And for this reason you so
often see the startled and surprised look the moment of being struck.
Thus far they have been unconscious of danger; and when a shock does
come, it is incomprehensible, because instinct does not guide them
under the circumstances.
On account of the excessive timidity of cobras, it is seldom that they
can be observed when feeding, which is frequently in the night, or
‘when no one is looking,’ to repeat the keeper’s words; but the little
Indian viper (_Echis carinata_) should not be omitted in these notes,
because there is difference of opinion regarding its virulence. Being
one of the smallest vipers, only from sixteen to eighteen inches in
length, one would argue extraordinary power from effects seen. A friend
who had resided in India expressed great astonishment on hearing it
said that a cobra was supposed to be more deadly than this one, known
as the ‘carpet viper’ or the ‘whip snake,’ which, he said, could kill
a man in a half-hour, and that he had seen men thus die. ‘If a cobra
bite you, you have at least four or five hours to live,’ he said;
‘but half an hour for the whip snake, and you are a dead man.’ The
individual brought to the Gardens in 1875 died the day after it gave
birth to three young ones. While alive it ate nothing, and, as it was
then thought, because it had not its natural food, Dr. Günther having
discovered nothing but _scolopendræ_ in the specimens which he had
examined. Now it would be interesting to discover whether, as Aristotle
affirmed, the bites of all venomous animals are more pernicious if
they have devoured each other, or if snakes have devoured scorpions,
and whether the toxic powers of the little Echis are aggravated by the
venomous food it evidently prefers at home. ‘In India is a certain
little serpent for the bite of which alone the natives have no remedy,’
said Aristotle; and one can scarcely err in deciding this to be the
Echis, being not only the smallest venomous snake there, but the only
viper, except Russell’s viper, a much larger snake.
Only twice could I observe the toxic effects of the _Echis carinata_ at
present (1882) in the collection; both cases being in hot weather. It
has so far conformed to circumstances in England, as to consent to dine
on small white mice, failing scorpions. In the first case it struck
the mouse savagely as soon as it was dropped into the cage, and the
mouse died in less than two minutes. Echis approached it stealthily
and timidly, but having at last got courage to seize it, ate it very
quickly; and as the snake moved and dragged it, the mouse appeared
to be quite stiff in that short time. On the second occasion, it bit
a mouse on the leg, and it was five minutes dying. At first only the
leg was paralyzed; then a spasm followed, and the mouse fell over and
lay extended flat and still as if dead; but presently a spasmodic
convulsion followed. It again appeared to be dead, and the little viper
approached; but on a very slight spasm receded swiftly, not once taking
its eyes off the mouse, which was dying slowly. The viper was at least
five minutes swallowing this, and as if it did not much care about it.
One must argue, therefore, that the charge of venom had been scantily
expended, as the difference between this and the previous victim was
remarkable. Echis poison has been seen to take instantaneous effect.
The small _Vipera atropos_ from the South African mountains is also
astoundingly virulent. One in the collection in 1881 struck a mouse as
soon as it arrived, and death occurred in fifty seconds by the watch.
A large store of poison must have accumulated during its journey and
since its previous meal.
One more African snake must be mentioned before I conclude the painful
duty of describing the inevitable—though happily short—sufferings
inflicted by venomous serpents.
Three young _Najas_, the well-known _Ring Halsschlange_ of South
Africa, were brought in the spring of, I think, 1877. They were very
black and very shy, and for a long while one could see nothing more
of them than three little heads in a row peeping out from under
their blanket, and watching with their large round black eyes, but
vanishing like a shot at your approach. ‘They cut away the moment you
go near them,’ said the keeper. When they did give us an opportunity
of looking at them, we found that one was quite black, and another
was speckled with white; they erected their heads and distended their
necks defiantly. Their eyes had a white rim round them, and were bright
and undeniably beautiful, even though belonging to a venomous snake.
Whether because they were young and inexperienced, or naturally stupid,
I could not decide but of all the snakes none ever went so awkwardly
to work in feeding, or put their victims to such unnecessary torture,
as did these ridiculous little _Najas_. The feeding observations were
made in August, when they had grown considerably, and had become
accustomed to their home. They seemed to bite the prey anywhere without
much effect, sometimes retaining it in their mouth, and at other times
beginning at once to eat it. One frog was ten minutes from the time
it was struck until it was swallowed, and for no reason beyond the
feeder’s awkwardness. The little snake began at a hind leg, and not
being able to get the frog into its mouth, put it down and began again
at the side, but with no better result, the legs being in the way. Then
he gave it up and let the frog go, and presently his comrade struck
the half-dead thing and took five minutes to eat it. One might decide
from this that frogs were not their natural food; but with very young
sparrows the same mismanagement was observable. The bird was awkwardly
bitten on the tip of the wing, and the snake held it helplessly for
a quarter of an hour while the bird was struggling violently. Not
getting good hold, the snake put it down and began again, so that the
poor little sparrow was twenty minutes in being swallowed, gasping to
the last, and evidently only very feebly poisoned. One of the Najas bit
his companion, and held on for about ten minutes, and for no reason
whatever that one could discern. In no other venomous snakes have I
seen such prolonged suffering caused by such stupidity or bungling
as in those young African ‘Ring Hals.’ Their fangs are, however,
exceedingly short, as I found on examining a dead one, and this may
account for the slow effect of them.
Three other heads were often seen in a row peeping out, but belonging
to harmless ‘glass snakes,’ and there was intelligence in their looks;
for they recognised the keeper, and advanced to the glass whenever he
passed, asking for their dinner as plainly as little snakes could ask.
A _Heterodon_ exhibited equal intelligence when it was dinner-time,
and sprang at the glass when he saw the keeper coming. Some of the
pythons display intelligence too, on feeding days, but of quite an
epicure form. One day in May 1876, on remarking that the pythons were
disinclined to eat, Holland said ‘they were waiting for young ducks,’
only elderly birds being in their cage at the time. Even in summer they
don’t eat the old ducks so eagerly, because the large, hard quills
annoy them. A bunch of these quills passes undigested. Hair or feathers
in a desiccated mass pass through the snakes, and occasionally, when
they are not in health, digestible but undigested substances too, also
the beaks of the ducks.
Vegetable substances have been found in snakes, from which it has been
argued that they sometimes eat vegetables. But it rather argues that
they don’t digest vegetables, which have probably been swallowed in the
stomach of a rabbit or some other herbivorous animal that they have
caught.
An indifference to food was noticeable in the snakes in ungenial
weather. One cold, raw, foggy day in October 1873, a python caught
a duck and partially coiled it, but so feebly that the bird, after
passively submitting for a time, at last disengaged her feet and walked
away to shake herself, and then turn and stare as if to discover what
possibly had kept her there.
A similar disinclination to exert themselves was seen that same chilly
day in the largest cage, where were three large pythons. One of them
having killed a duck, could not get a satisfactory hold of its head,
and let go repeatedly. Another held a duck, but not to crush it or
hurt it; for it, like the one above named, only gazed deliberately
around, and as if asking the meaning of its detention. A third duck
was put into the den for the third python, who, however, only lazily
stared at it and made no attempt to seize it; while the bird gazed in
astonishment at the one in the embrace of the other snake, as if to
inquire, ‘What are you doing there?’ Presently this duck also got away,
and was again caught and only partially coiled. The python seemed too
large and fat to constrict so small a thing as a duck. It was like
tying up a pill-box with a rope. Some of the spectators expressed
satisfaction that the duck was not more tightly coiled, and hoped it
would succeed in getting away (the duck was not worth two shillings,
the python could not be bought for twenty pounds), and were far more
horrified when a vigorous constrictor caught and killed its prey in
one flash, as when an extended watch-spring flies back to its original
position. But a half-constricted creature does suffer, and happily
this does not often occur, the chilly weather that day diminishing
ophidian energy considerably. A gentleman, disappointed because they
did not eat, and wishing to assign some reason for such unaccountable
abstinence, remarked to his friend, ‘I have an idea they sting
themselves.’
Watching these gigantic ophidians on one of those half-wintry days,
it happened that two of them were lazily gliding, partially hidden by
their blanket, and with neither heads nor tails visible, so that the
two bodies seemed as only one snake. Two youths stood watching and
vainly endeavouring to calculate the numbers of feet or of yards which
were entwined and entwisted in those moving coils. Portions and loops
of two other pythons in the same cage were visible beyond the rug, but
only one head of all the four snakes was to be seen; and to distinguish
to which of the gliding, shining curves that head belonged, was
impossible. ‘It seems to me that snake’s such a length that he doesn’t
know the other part belongs to him,’ remarked one boy to his friend.
‘I don’t think he knows where it is,’ returned the other boy
sympathetically.
Not a little are the keepers sometimes tried in replying to the
inquiries of visitors desirous of improving their minds. Let me repeat
one or two conversations overheard on those Fridays.
‘Is that duck put in there for the snake to eat?’ asked a respectably
dressed man of the keeper on one of those autumnal days, when a duck
sat pluming itself as if settling itself for the evening.
‘Yes, sir,’ replied the keeper.
‘Will he swallow it whole?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘Choke him! I should think?’
‘No, sir; no—it won’t choke him.’
The man studied the duck, and studied the size of the python’s head
and throat for some time. The duck apparently going to rest, but not
quite reconciled at so many persons intruding upon her, the man looked
disappointed, and again began:
‘Now is that duck charmed, sitting there?’
‘I should think, sir, she was not at all charmed with the prospect,’
sedately replied Holland.
‘Does that duck _know_ it’s going to be eaten?’ then inquired the man
after fresh scrutiny.
‘No, sir,’ returned the keeper with the utmost gravity.
‘That snake don’t seem to be hungry,’ then said the disappointed
observer.
‘No, sir. He’ll eat well enough next Friday. He’s going to change his
skin.’
‘Oh!’ said the man to a boy by his side, satisfied, though still rather
puzzled, ‘that snake’s going to change his skin next Friday.’
Though there are always on an average fifty snakes in the Reptile
House, and on an average each casts its coat three times a year, the
visitors are for the most part much mystified about this phenomenon.
A snake that had just completed a new toilet had a portion of the old
slough still adhering to its tail, when a boy drew attention to it,
saying, ‘Papa, that snake is all ragged and torn on its tail.’
‘Yes, my dear, it is casting its tail.’ Papa must have been reading
Aristotle, who wrote: ‘Tails, also, of serpents and lizards when cut
off are reproduced.’ With regard to the reproduction of their eyes,
Aristotle spake more cautiously. ‘It is reported that the eyes of
serpents, if dug out, will be reproduced.’ But, on the contrary, the
eyes of snakes are easily injured, and _not_ easily healed; snakes are
therefore frequently seen partially blind. As need scarcely be said,
only lizards ‘reproduce’ a tail that has been accidentally abridged;
and the repair is after all only a boneless one. The truncated member
gradually heals, and by and by a short point is again formed, but can
always be recognised as a repaired, and not the original, tail; and
as far as I have been able to observe, viz. for three or four months,
no bone was reproduced. Probably also a snake’s tail might heal in
the same way, and to a casual observer appear quite perfect; but the
anatomical structure in either case would not, I imagine, be restored.
That boy was not far wrong when he said he thought the python did not
know which was its own tail. At all events, it is not endowed with much
external sensation, as one might judge by the way in which the rats and
guinea-pigs take liberties with it. This must be owing to the thickness
of the cuticle, because, as we have seen in the constricting snakes,
there is keen muscular sensibility in the tail. I may cite an instance
of each case. One day a young rabbit caught hold of a small python
with its teeth and held firmly on. The reptile was moving across the
cage, and did not appear to feel any hindrance. Indeed, being much the
stronger of the two, the persistent bunny was compelled to hop along at
the same pace, still holding on by its teeth. But presently, from the
position of the snake, the rabbit was obliged to let go, when it next
caught hold of the tip of the python’s tail, and again holding tight,
hopped after the retreating reptile as if enjoying the joke. In this
case I do not think the snake was conscious of the insult, as perhaps
the rabbit had hold of the skin only.
On the other occasion a guinea-pig was biting a coiled and passive
constrictor, _Python sebœ_. The snake wished to be quiet, but piggy
got among its coils and worried it, hopping over it and biting its
tail. The python on this, moving only the end of its tail, pushed away
the guinea-pig, which soon returned to the attack. The snake again
gave the little animal a caudal hint that his fidgeting was annoying;
but as the guinea-pig did not take the hint, and still nibbled and
teased the snake, the latter with two coils of the tail put an end
to the annoyance, not once turning its head, but just tucking up its
persecutor in the end of its tail as you might tuck up a parcel under
your arm. The python was not hungry, and took no more notice of the
offender, though thus effectually punishing the offence with the last
two feet of its practical tail. Could we suppose such a quality as
muscular intelligence, we might think the tails of those constricting
snakes were surely endowed with it. As in other instances already
described in chaps. xi. and xii., the eyes took no part in directing
the movements of the snake; the whole nine or ten feet of the animal
remaining passively coiled, while only the extremity of the tail
exerted itself. When reptiles are in a partially torpid condition,
their sensations are slow; when hibernating, they are reduced to a
minimum. At such times, the creatures being half dead, they may be
maimed or injured without any apparent effect. Rats have been known to
attack and nibble snakes under these circumstances, and even to eat
bits out of them, the snakes being at the time unconscious of injury,
though possibly dying from the after effects.
A good deal of very interesting matter might be added on the economics
of the reptilian _ménage_, the mode of ventilating and warming it, the
cost of its larder, and the best means of preserving the health of the
inmates. There are, besides, some incidental experiences not devoid
of sensationalism in connection with snake guardianship, but my own
herpetological experience does not extend beyond the keeping of pet
lizards, including blindworms. I may add a word, however, in reply to
some often-heard lamentations of disappointed spectators who object to
the coverlets, after sometimes waiting in vain to see the snakes emerge
from beneath them.
‘Those horrid blankets! Why not give the snakes moss or hay in their
cages? or turf and sand and dead leaves? Much more natural for them
than those woollen rugs.’
I, too, may have echoed such plaints until a better comprehension of
ophidian nature showed the wisdom of what is certainly a somewhat
disappointing arrangement. And those who have honoured these pages
with a patient perusal, and discovered the nervous timidity and
sensitiveness of these reptiles, their proneness to reject or to
disgorge their food, to injure themselves or each other when molested,
not to mention the danger of meddling with the venomous kinds and
the easy escape of the swifter snakes, will admit the importance of
providing them with such retreat and shelter as can be most speedily
arranged, and which will secure the least annoyance to the terrified
serpents while the keepers are doing their best to preserve order and
cleanliness.
The allusion to lizards tempts me to add a word or two on the
exceptional species which has lately become an inmate of our Zoological
Gardens. There are certain features in it so much in common with
viperine snakes, that I may be pardoned for dragging a lizard into
these pages. I allude to the Heloderm (_Heloderma horridum_) from
Mexico, presented to the Zoological Society in July 1882 by Sir John
Lubbock. Its advent was an event in reptilian annals; and being
surrounded by a halo of curiosity, it claims a passing notice. We have
been at some pains to exonerate saurians from the evil character which
our ancestors were apt to give them; but suddenly—and to the surprise
of even some herpetological authorities—there comes a lizard that with
one grip of his jaws caused a frog to fall dead in a moment, and a
guinea-pig in three minutes, the symptoms appearing to be the same as
those produced by deadly snakes. The Heloderm is ‘said’ to be furnished
with poison glands in both jaws! But until a dead specimen has been
further examined and described, the signification of ‘poison gland’
must be restricted. Its teeth—many and strong—are grooved with a deep
furrow; its salivary glands are largely developed; and under excitement
a thick, acrid secretion flows abundantly from its jaws. Yet so far as
present observations enable us to form an opinion, the reptile does
not use these formidable teeth to secure its prey, or even in feeding.
It did not devour the victims of its bite, nor has it since killed any
creature for the express purpose of eating it. Up to the date at which
I write (Oct. 1882), eggs have formed its chief diet, varied by an
occasional dead mouse. Now it certainly does not require deeply-grooved
teeth and venomous saliva to bite raw eggs and dead mice. Nor does
the noxious secretion flow continuously from its gums in repose, but
abundantly so when irritated.
Though a stranger in England, this lizard was known more than two
hundred years ago. Hernandez, in his _Nova Animalium Mexicanum_,
published at Rome in 1651, described its bite as ‘hurtful, but not
deadly;’ and that it was ‘more dreadful in appearance than reality.’
Its Mexican name, _Acaltetepon_, is (or was then) applied to all large
and suspicious-looking lizards. _Scorpione_ is its modern name. As
_Heloderma horridum_ was awarded plenty of space in the journals at
the time of its arrival, full accounts of it will be found elsewhere;
it is introduced here merely as one of the venomous reptiles that form
the chief subjects of this chapter, and to trace its analogy with them.
In its slow, stealthy movements there is the same striking contrast
between the Heloderm and most other lizards, that there is between the
deadly vipers and the active colubrine snakes; and the inquiry suggests
itself, Can the venom elaborated in their system so act upon themselves
as to produce this habitual lethargy? Drowsiness and coma are almost
invariable effects of snake venom in the blood, and why is it that the
deadly serpents are so constitutionally different from others? The
Heloderm has a round, heavy tail, of no service to it in swimming,
and short, weak fingers, ill suited to climbing; and it passes its
lethargic existence on the sandy plains of Mexico, manifesting in its
actions, or rather in its inactivity and stealthiness, a conscious
timidity and cowardice. Motionless for hours, with an impulse to
retreat if molested, but attempting to bite if angered, its noxious
saliva would seem to be rather protective than aggressive. It may have
formidable enemies at home; and by all we see of it here, it does not
use its teeth as a means of obtaining food. In this respect, therefore,
it is an exception to deadly serpents, and cannot take its venom into
its stomach as they do. And, again, the remarkable development of its
tongue suggests a peculiarity of food. In lapping the egg, the action
of it is apparently perfected by practice; the tongue is twisted,
extended, twined under, then over, now used as a shovel, a scoop, or a
broom, as occasion requires. It is the very reverse of what I noticed
in some other lizards feebly lapping up an egg (see p. 71), for in a
most expeditious manner does Heloderm cause its raw eggs to disappear.
A word _à propos_ of its name _horridum_, supposed by many to refer
to its objectionable qualities. Unfortunately the word ‘horrid’ has
almost entirely lost its original signification and become mere slang
in English. But when Wiegmann assigned it the name of _Heloderma
horridum_ in 1829, ‘horrid’ was understood according to its original
meaning, from _horridus_, rough, rugged, etc.; and as this reptile has
a remarkable skin, dotted over with little prominences, like knobs
or warts (hence its generic name, _Heloderma_, warty skin), there
can be but little doubt as to the intention of _horridum_. In a
communication to _Knowledge_ (Sept. 29), I ventured to call this the
‘Warty-skinned Lizard,’ in consequence of the confused accounts of it
which have appeared in print. There are several other warty-skinned or
‘tuberculous lizards.’ The specific _horridus_, as applied to the South
American Crotalus, also signified its terrible or dreadful character,
and not the ‘horrid’ which spectators apply indiscriminately to snakes
and their blankets.
With the rapid advance of ophiology comes the splendid new home for
snakes which will shortly grace our Zoological Gardens; and in taking
leave of my readers, I cannot offer them a kinder wish than that their
visits there to _observe_ the snakes will be productive to them of as
much pleasure as has been mine to describe them.
INDEX.
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.
Am., American; Ass., Association; Br., British; co., cobra; Con.,
Convention; cons., constrictor; cro., crotalus; cy., cyclopædia;
C.M.Z.S., Corresponding Member of the Zoological Society; F.Z., Fellow
of the Zoological Society; hist., history; nat., natural; N.Y., New
York; py., python; Soc., Society; s., snake; ss., snakes; ser.,
serpent; v., viper; vs., vipers; U.S., United States; z., zoological;
Z.G., Zoological Gardens; Trans., Transactions; Proc., Proceedings.
A
‘=Aberfoyle=’ (the barque), sea-ser. seen from, 249.
=Abnormal= development, of teeth, 67;
of sea-sers., 265, _et seq._;
of hair, 302;
two heads, 189.
=Abnormal=, health in captivity, 84, 440, 450, 457, 565;
gestation, 437, 439, _et seq._, 459, 466, 505.
=Academy= of Sciences, Paris, 444.
_Acaltetepon_, the, 590.
‘=Account=, of the Beasts in Virginia’, 280;
of the rattlesnake, 275.
=Acrobats=, 181, 196, 198, 214, _et seq._, 219, 239, 472, _et seq._
=Adaptation=, of organization, 70, 135;
of habits to temperature, 159, _et seq._ (_see_ hibernation);
of coils, 200, 204;
of ribs in progression, 207;
of form, 215.
=Adaptive= development, of head bones, 31, 34;
of spine bones, 70;
of windpipe, 132;
of salivary glands, 342, 350, 537, 557;
of teeth, 348, 350, 364, 408.
=Adipose= tissue, 394.
=Admiralty=, the, report of a sea-ser. to, 255, 259.
=Advance= of Ophiology, 3, 21, 75, 81, 191, 273, 353, 363, 372, 443,
485, 515, _et seq._
=Ælian=, an error traced to, 191.
=Æsculapius=, his remedies, 522.
=Africa=, range of sea-s., 236.
=Air-bladder=, the, 262.
=Air-breathers=, 44, 146, 222, 265.
=Air-tube=, 132, 135, 137, _et seq._ (_see_ glottis, respiration).
‘=Albert= Nyanza’, the, 358.
=Alceste=, Voyage of the, 111, _et seq._
=Alcohol= a popular remedy, 548, _et seq._
=Aldrovandus=, 102;
his work, 272.
=Alexander= the Great, 407 (_see Bucephalus_).
=Alligators=, 43, 261.
=Amazon=, the Jararaca, 421;
Wallace’s ‘Travels in’, _ib._;
anaconda from, 455.
‘=American= Agriculturist’, the, 485.
=American= Ass. for the Advancement of Science, 485, _et seq._, 572;
secretary to, 490.
=American= colonies, the, 284.
‘=American= Naturalist’, the, 93, 151, 308, 310, 450, 485, _et seq._,
490;
editor of, 485 (_see_ Putnam).
=American= sea-ser., 252.
=Ammonia= an approved remedy, 533, 547.
_Amphibia_, the, 46.
=Amsterdam=, py. at, 437.
=Anatomy=, of head, 30;
of jaws, 31, 34;
of the spine, 209;
of the rattlesnake, 275.
‘=Anatomy= of the Vertebrates’, 67, 119, 131, 143, 147, 180, 184, 196,
_et seq._, 212, 336 (_see_ Owen).
‘=Anecdotes= of Serpents’, 216, 523.
‘=Animal= Biography’, 134.
=Animal= kingdom, 51.
‘=Animal= Physiology’, 147, 210 (_see_ Carpenter).
‘=Animal= Physiology’ (Roget’s), 120, 195 (_see_ Roget).
‘=Animal= World’, the, 169.
‘=Animalium= Mexicanum’, 190, 590.
‘=Annales= des Sciences Naturelle’, 78, 91, 442, 444.
=Antennæ= of insects, 118, 120, 126, _et seq._
=Antidotes=, 275;
Fayrer’s definition of, 533;
various reputed ones, _ib._, 534, 539, 547, _et seq._
=Apodal=, ss. are, 206.
=Appendages=, mythical, 101;
caudal, 172, _et seq._;
epidermal, 315;
‘horns’, 320;
crest, 325;
tentacular, 326;
as ‘claws’, _ib._ (_see_ rattle, epidermis).
=Aquatic= ss., 53, 145, 150, 174, 221, 225, _et seq._, 233, _et seq._,
401, 423, 453, 495, 496.
=Arabs= chew herbs, 525.
_Archeopteryx_, 44.
=Aristotle=, his name for reptiles, 45;
bite of s., 96;
marine ss., 244;
vs., 432, _et seq._
_Arius_, the, 489.
=Armadillo=, 413.
=Association=, Am., 485, _et seq._
=Association=, Br., 42.
=Atlantic=, the, 249;
sea-ss. in, 238;
sea-ser., 252.
=Atrophied= limbs, 326.
_Atter_, _ætter_, 479.
‘=Aunt= Judy’s Magazine’, 21, 72, 303, 312, 333, 470.
=Aural=: powers of _anguis fragilis_, 476;
apparatus of ground ss., 527.
=Australia=, s.-hunting in, 167;
sea-s., 236, 246.
‘=Australia=, Snakes of’ (_see_ Krefft).
_Axolotl_, 44.
B
=Bacon=, Lord, quoted, 49, 57;
a poor naturalist, 99.
_Bagrus_, the, 489.
=Baird= of U.S. on the bull-s., 502.
=Baker=, Owen, a sea-ser. seen by, 257, _et seq._
=Baker=, Sir Samuel: v. fangs, 357.
=Balance= of Nature, 17, 57.
=Balfour’s= ‘British India’, 74, 76, 86.
=Balfour’s= ‘Cyclopædia of India’, 86.
=Bancroft=, H. H., ser.-worship, 514.
=Banks=, Sir Joseph, action of ribs, 207;
letter to Waterton, 418.
=Bard= of Avon, the, 97.
=Bartlett=, Mr. A. D., on the sea-ser., 255, 261, _et seq._;
presenting a v., 322;
buying an anaconda, 455.
=Barton=, Benjamin Smith, on the _Cro._, 299.
=Bartram= (Mr., of U.S.): a ‘roaring’ s., 155;
‘cluster of teeth’, 371.
=Bates= (H. W.): a cannibal s., 39;
_Jararaca_, 421.
_Batrachia_, the, 51.
_Battues_ of ss., 286, _et seq._, 289.
=Beal= (J. W., of U.S.): sound of the rattle, 309.
=Beaufort=, Duke of (A.D. 1709), 173.
=Beaumont= and Fletcher, quotation from, 487.
=Beauvoir=, Palisot de, his testimony, 488.
=Bell=, Prof. Thomas, 4;
food of ring-s., 74;
his tame s., 76;
his ‘British Reptiles’, _ib._;
a trustworthy herpetologist, 78;
ss. drink, _ib._, 91;
editor ‘Zoological Journal’, 140;
on _anguis fragilis_, 453;
gestation of _anguis fragilis_, 466;
sloughing of _anguis fragilis_, 481;
the maternal refuge, 493.
=Bellowing= s., 155, _et seq._
=Ben= Jonson, 99.
=Bengal=, Bay of, range of sea-ss., 236.
=Berkeley=; rattlesnake remedies, 538.
=Beverley=, Colonel: a stinging tail, 174;
his ‘History of Virginia’, 281;
a severed head biting, 390.
=Bezoar=, 523.
=Bibron=, 80 (_see_ Duméril).
=Bingley=, a boa feeding, 134.
‘=Blackie=’, 458, _et seq._
=Bladder=, the swim-, 145.
=Blake= (Colonel, of Virginia), a rattlesnake, 284.
=Blanket=, swallowed, 35;
disappointing, 588.
=Blowing=: the, vi. 152;
as ‘puffing’, 148;
like a bull, 155.
=Bluets=, 65.
=Bond=, Rev. H., his testimony, 491.
=Bones=: of the head, 30;
intermaxillary, 31;
of spine, 178, 198, 213;
in _Deirodon_, 67;
of tail, 183;
of ‘claw’, 220 (_see_ jaw, vertebræ, tails, etc.).
=Bonnat=, 228, 383.
=Borneo=, _Crotalidæ_ in, 386.
=Boston=, U.S., sea-ser. off, 251.
=Buffon=, 197;
his era, 383.
=Bourbon=, Isle of, py. incubating in, 444.
=Bournemouth=, lizards at, 164;
a capture, 458.
=Bourrelets=, of the rattle, 304.
=Bowerbank=, a two-headed s., 190.
=Braden=, J. G., Esq.: specimens of rattle, 306.
=Brazil=, tree s. in, 219;
‘Discourse’ of, 271;
names of _Crotalidæ_, 277;
specimens from, 339, 360;
_Jararaca_ in, 396;
‘Travels’ in, 397;
experiments in, 406;
vernaculars of, 419, 423, _et seq._
=Breathing=: irregular, 142, _et seq._;
sometimes partial, 144;
suspension of, 145, 161, 168, 253;
as ‘puffing’, 149, 155 (_see_ hibernation, respiration).
=Bridgewater= Treatise, 120.
=British= Ass., 42.
=British= Guiana, Hist. of, 420.
=British= India (_see_ Günther, Fayrer, Balfour, Nicholson, etc.).
=British= Museum, 19, 131, 291, 377, 405, 418;
Dr. Günther’s catalogue of ss. at, 354.
‘=British= Reptiles’ (Bell’s), 76, 140, 453 (_see_ Bell).
=Brittain=, Mr., evidence of, 504.
=Broderip=, Dr. J., a naturalist, 113;
his works, _ib._;
on the larynx, 135;
quoted by Gosse, 112;
observations by, 134, _et seq._
=Browne=, Sir Thomas: ‘Vulgar Errours’, 171;
a two-headed s., 191;
the maternal refuge, 487.
=Bruton=, Dr. Lauder, 552.
=Buckland=, Frank: his visit to Chelsea, 13;
a ‘flannel sausage’, 36;
the Coronella, 83, 435;
a waggish s., 104;
a mistake of, 115;
sensitiveness of tail, 183;
a sea-s., 238;
a ribbon fish, 250;
sea-ser., 255, _et seq._, 264;
two-headed s., 189;
reserve fangs, 346;
s. eggs, 437;
anaconda, 455;
invited, 464;
obituary notice of ‘Cleo’, 515.
=Bull=-frog, 156.
=Bullen=, George, Esq., of Br. Museum, 19.
=Bulletin=, U.S., Zoological ‘Reports’, 291, 309, 388.
=Burman= coast, sea-ss. range, 238.
=Burrowing= ss., 46, 53, 188, 459, 468.
C
=Caledonia=, New, sea-ss. at, 238.
=Cannibalism=, 37, 182, 199, 401, 562;
sometimes unintentional, 38, 572;
common among the _Elapidæ_, 567, 571.
=Cañons=, ss. in, 162.
=Cantor=, Dr. Theodore, sea-ss. drinking, 82;
quotes Schlegel, 90;
tongue of sea-ss., 125;
sea-ss. asleep, 169;
on pelagic sers., 235;
their poison, 243;
their food, 245;
number of species, 246.
=Cape=, the, sea ser. at, 252, 259.
_Capybara_, the, 229.
=Carbolic= acid, kills ss., 544;
a remedy for the venom, _ib._
=Carinate= scales, 319 (_see_ ‘keel’).
‘=Carolina=, History of’ (_see_ Lawson).
‘=Carolina=, Natural History of’ (_see_ Catesby).
=Carpenter=, Dr., F.R.S., etc., links and transitions in nature, 44;
his opinion of Bacon, 99;
lungs of ss., 143;
hibernation, 165;
length of spine, 210;
insalivation of food, 352;
vegetable protectives, 539.
=Carver=, Jonathan, a ‘blowing’ s., 153;
large swarms of ss., 225;
the maternal refuge, 487.
=Catesby=, Mark: an egg robber, 63;
the ‘blowing v.’, 152;
‘Horn ss.’, 174, 189;
‘water vs.’, 226;
rattle-ss., 284;
‘hog-nosed’ ss., 410;
Indian remedies, 538.
=Catlin=, George, rattlesnake _battues_, 287;
an alarm, 391;
conjugal ss., 502;
Indian superstitions, 509.
=Cats=, their whiskers as feelers, 124;
tenacious of life, 559;
resist venom, _ib._
=Caudal=, eloquence, 155, 179, 311, 587;
appendages, 170, _et seq._ 174 (_see_ tail, rattle, etc.).
=Caverns=, the retreat of ss., 287, 443.
=Caves=, sacred, 509;
abode of ss., 124, 162, 166, 288.
=Centipedes=, legs of, 212.
‘=Ceylon=, History of’ (_see_ Tennant).
=Chalk= epoch, 262.
‘=Challenger=’, voyage of the, 262.
=Chambers=: ‘Anecdotes of Serpents’, 216, 523;
editor of the ‘Journal’, 23;
observations at the Z.G., 217;
the ‘Miscellany’, 523.
=Chancery=, ss. in, 13, 515.
=Chandernagor=, travels in, 444.
=Charas=, Moyse: his work, 273;
he ‘grovels’ for fangs, 359, 372;
experiments on vs., 371;
a ‘nursery’ of fangs, _ib._;
knew of the mobility of fangs, 372.
=Charming=, Sir H. Sloane on, 281;
its origin, 515, _et seq._, 578, 585 (_see_ fascination).
=Charms=, 281;
in s. relics, etc., 509, _et seq._
=Chase=, a, with a s., 214.
=Chased= by a s., 185.
=Chateaubriand’s= descriptions of ss., 153, 175, 197, 307;
the maternal asylum, 487.
_Chelonia_, 51.
=Chelsea=, tame ss. at, 13, 27, 515, 525.
=Chicago=, observations at, 496.
_Chimaphila_, 65.
=Chinese= mythologies, 509.
=Chittagong=, rare beast from, 261.
_Chordæ vocales_, 147.
=Circulation= of blood, 56;
checked by cold, 161;
renewed by warmth, _ib._;
moisture essential to it, 162 (_see_ hibernation, respiration,
etc.).
‘=City= of Baltimore’, the, sea sers. seen from, 249.
=Clarke’s= translation of Der Hoeven’s ‘Handbook of Zoology’, 118.
=Classification=, 50;
at present defective, 51;
five principal groups of ss., 53;
by dentition unsatisfactory, 354, _et seq._;
difficulties occurring in, 413, 421;
Krefft on, 423 (_see_ nomenclature).
=Clayton=, Mr. J., the ‘tayle’ of rattlesnakes, 280.
=Climbing=, 180, _et seq._, 196, 214, _et seq._, 230;
of sea-ss., 238;
of Anguis fragilis, 475, 482.
=Cockburn= _versus_ Mann, 13.
=Coiling=, the, 48;
in constriction, 29, 203;
of tail, 182, 587;
in convolutions, 185;
for a spring, 198;
to substitute hands, 199, _et seq._, 206;
swiftness of, 200;
flexibility of, 218;
of the sea-ser., 257;
of _Heterodon_, 409, 570;
in repose, 447, 587;
of ‘Lizzie’, 472, 478;
of _Natrix_, 569;
of the _Lacertines_, 571 (_see_ constriction);
before striking, 573.
=Cold=; ss. affected by, 143, 159, 165, 584, _et seq._
=Cold-blooded=, 56;
why so, 142, 146, 159 (_see_ hibernation, etc.).
=Colours= of ss., 10;
under excitement, 153, 572;
of tree ss., 219, 386;
of rattlesnakes, 270, 285;
of African vs., 321, 338, _et seq._;
of ‘Bushmaster’, 417, _et seq._, 426;
variable in young ss., 424;
in other ss., _ib._;
after moulting, 508 (_see_ sloughing).
=Combats= between ss., 37, 199, 563.
=Congress= (U.S.), Government Commissions, 199, 376.
=Constriction=, 29, 199, 203, 214, 245;
of young boas, 216, 439, 446;
sometimes feeble, 583.
=Constrictors=, 14, 35, 38, 135, 141, 182, 198, _et seq._, 213,
_et seq._, 258, 336, 438, 446, 454, 583.
=Convention=, a, of ss., 104;
U.S. on ss., 485, 505, 552, 572.
=Cooke=, M. C., ‘Our Reptiles’, 491;
editor ‘Science Gossip’, _ib._;
a herpetologist, _ib._
=Cooper=, W. R., ‘Serpent Myths’, 514.
=Cope=, Professor, of U.S., 386.
=Cotton=, Dr., of Tennessee, his rattlesnake, 298.
=Coues=, Dr. Elliott, of U.S., a combat, 199;
sound of the rattle, 309;
development of rattle, 312;
action of fangs, 362;
cro. fang, 376, _et seq._;
species of cro., 386;
virulence of bite, 390;
pigs not exempt, 394.
=Council= of Z. Soc., 78, 322.
=Cows= sucked by ss., 84, 478.
_Coypu_, 229.
=Cragin=, Mr. F. W., on _Heterodon_, 450.
=Cranberry= swamps, the _Massasauga_, 393.
_Crepitaculum caude_, the, 294.
=Crispe=, Dr. Edwards, F.Z.S., on the œsophagus, 490;
the maternal refuge, _ib._
_Crocodilia_, the, 51, 261.
_Crotalina_, 292.
_Crotalum_, 292.
_Crotchets mobiles_, 353, 362.
=Cruden=, s. poison, 102.
=Cruelty=, 17, 169, 206, 321, 469.
‘=Curiosities= of Natural History’ (_see_ Buckland).
=Cuvier=; his classification, 46;
his ‘boa’, 47;
he distinguished fangs, _ib._;
his era, 90, 383;
quoted by Darwin, 176;
his ‘vs.’, 353;
incubation, 434, 456.
‘=Cyclopædia= of Anatomy’, 118
‘=Cyclopædia= of India’, 86.
‘=Cyclopædia=, the Penny’, 113, 120.
D
=Dahomey=,
ser. deities at, 514;
natives fearless of vs., 523.
=Dalton=, the ‘Bushmaster’, 420.
=Danish= vernaculars, 479.
=Darwin=; complex organisms, 44;
_cro. mutus_, 176;
a living fossil, 244;
the _Platypus_, 263;
survival of the fittest, 267;
on the rattle, 311;
atrophied limbs, 326, 452.
=Daudin=, 353, 383, 488.
=Davidson=, Mr. (R. N.), a sea-ser., 251.
=Davis=’ Lectures at the Z. G., 24, 51, 214, 413 (_see_ Flower,
Huxley, Mivart).
=Dean=, Dr., a sea-ser. seen by, 249.
‘=Deccan= Days’, 517 (_see_ Frere, Miss).
=Deer= kill rattlesnakes, 394.
=Deglutition=; manner of, 30, 111, _et seq._, 132;
facilitated by saliva, 35, 109, 113;
in drinking, 92, _et seq._;
Schlegel on, 362;
watched at the Z. G., 581, _et seq._
=De Kay=; ‘Zoology of N.Y.’, 85.
=Demerara=, ‘Bushmaster’ there, 423.
=Dentition=, 34;
of _Deirodon_, 67, _et seq._;
of sea-ss., 241;
of sea-ser., 266;
various forms of, 342, _et seq._;
distinguishing names in, 347;
illus. of, 349, 355, 356, 360;
not used in classification, 353;
Cuvier’s distinctions, 353;
Günther on, 354;
dentition of _Zamenis_, 137;
of _Xenodons_, 400, 404, 408;
of _Liophis_, 408 (_see_ fangs).
=Der Hoeven=, on the tongue, 118;
on gestation, 435.
=Dermis=, _see_ epidermis, sloughing, etc.
=Desquamation=, 329 (_see_ sloughing).
=Development=; of poison glands, 535;
of fangs, 356 (_see_ fangs, etc.).
=Digestion=;
power of, 36, 69, 352;
assisted by salivary secretions, 352, 557.
_Dinornis_, 43.
_Dinotherium_, 43.
‘=Discourse= of Brazil’, 271.
=Disgorging=, 38;
to facilitate escape, 36, 39, 61;
compulsory, 36, 38;
from terror, 61.
=Dissection=;
of a rattlesnake, 275, _et seq._;
of _Xenodon_, 405.
=Dog-teeth=, 347, 369, 370 (_see_ fang).
=Doubleday=, H., Esq., important evidence, 491.
_Drachen_, 48.
_Dracon_, _ib._
_Dracunculi_, 196.
=Dragon=, 48, 101.
=Drevar=, George, a sea-ser. seen by, 257.
=Drink=, Do ss.? 76, _et seq._
=Drinking=; 76, _et seq._;
frequently, 79, _et seq._, 83;
die without, 89;
milk, 76, 85, 88, _et seq._;
lured by milk, 76, 87;
two methods of, 80;
by suction, _ib._, 92;
by lapping, 89, 93 (_see_ milk).
_Drosera_, 458.
=Drummond=, Lieutenant (R.N.), sea-ser. seen by, 260.
‘=Dublin= University Magazine’, 21, 312, 333.
=Du Chaillu=: ‘whistling’ ss., 154;
his _Wild Life_, 186.
=Dudley=, Paul: on the cro., 281;
a long rattle, 302.
=Duméril=: much quoted, 3;
Professor _d’Erpétologie_, 78;
py. drinking, 80;
on Schlegel, 90;
the tongue, 122, _et seq._;
glottis, 136, 157, 222;
_la languette_, _ib._, 138;
hissing, ‘_soufflement_’, 147, _et seq._, 157;
quotes Linnæus, 161;
absorption of heat, 164;
physical feats of ss., 181;
anaconda, 228;
its spots, 338;
the rattle, 303;
cro. does not hiss, 313;
system of dentition, 347;
species of vs., 374;
_les fossettes_, 384;
tail of _Lachesis_, 387;
species of cro., 388;
the _Jararaca_, 427;
_Python bivitatus_, 444, _et seq._
=Duncan=, Professor Martin, 376, _et seq._
E
=Echidnine=, 534.
=Edentata=, 413.
=Edentulous=, 67, 414.
=Effeldt=, Rudolph; observations of the tongue, 124.
=Egg=: producers, ‘insects’, 43;
covering, 432, 433, 435, _et seq._ (_see_ incubation, oviparous,
ovoviviparous, etc.).
=Eggs= of ss., 78, 431;
produced by pys., 437, 442, _et seq._, 446, 449;
by boas, 449, _et seq._;
by anaconda, 456;
by _anguis fragilis_, 462, _et seq._;
by other ss., 431, 433, 435, 437, 440, _et seq._
=Eggs=; of birds food of ss., 59, 63, 66, 430;
swallowed whole, 60, _et seq._;
sometimes disgorged, 62, 69;
passed entire, 61, 69;
‘sucked’, 70;
food of lizards, 71, 591.
‘=Egypt=, History of’, 96;
sculptures of, 508;
jugglers in, 523;
ser. deities in, 172, 511;
myths of, 514;
charmers, 515, 523;
antidotes in, 525.
=Electric= fluid, 161.
‘=Elementary= Lessons in Physiology’, 121, 303 (_see_ Huxley).
‘=Elsie= Venner’, 301.
=Elwes=, Mr. A. T., artist, 25, 516;
a witness, 185.
=Emblems=, 101, _et seq._, 172, 272, 509, _et seq._, 518.
=Embryo=, 435, 448, 451, 462, 466.
=Emmons=’ ‘Nat. Hist. of N.Y.’, 85.
=Emotions=;
feeble, 56, 159, 161;
expressed by the tail, 177, 179, _et seq._, 183;
by the ribs, 150, 328.
=Encyclopædias=, as books of reference, 90;
perplexing, _ib._, 418;
errors in, 362, 418.
‘=Encyclopædia= of Anatomy;’ the tongue, 118;
incubation, 434.
‘=Encyclopædia= Metropolitana;’ the ‘Bushmaster’, 420.
=Endurance=, powers of, 124, 166, 168, 321, 457, 489.
=Epidermis=; expansile, 30;
scales of, 46, 193, 316;
illustrated, 316;
magnified, 317;
head-shields, 318;
carinated, 319;
‘horns’, 320, 323;
developments of, 325, _et seq._;
casting or sloughing, 329, _et seq._;
the process watched, 333, 481;
health affected by, 329, 337;
patterns of skin, 338, _et seq._, 517;
illustrated, 339, 340.
=Epiglottis=, 132 (_see_ glottis).
=Erie=, Lake, U.S., swarms of water ss., 226;
and of rattlesnakes, 289.
‘=Erpétologie= Générale’ (Suites de Buffon), 80, 122, 136, 147, 157,
161, 164, 181, 223, 305, 313, 384, _et seq._, 427, 444 (_see_
Duméril).
‘=Essai= sur la Physionomie des Serpents’, 35, 77, 182;
translation of, 3, 209, 356, 363 (_see_ Schlegel).
=Essequibo=, rambles in, 419.
=Estivation=, 162.
=Evolution=, 70, 132, 314, 327;
in fangs, 342, 350, 364.
=Ewart=, Dr., his experiments, 552.
=Expansion=: of the throat, 31;
of jaws, _ib._;
of the skin, 30;
of the ribs, 150, 328.
‘=Expedition= to the Zambesi’, 230.
=Expedition=; U.S. Explorations, 162, 291, 376.
=Experiments=; on vs., 273, 281, 321;
on the fangs, 369, _et seq._, 377, _et seq._;
in s. venom, 534, 535, _et seq._;
in antidotes, 537, _et seq._
=Explorations=, U.S., 162, 291, 309.
=Eye= of ss., 285, 328, _et seq._, 337, 350;
watching, 581, _et seq._;
easily injured, 586.
=Eye= covering, 328, _et seq._
F
=Fabulous=; animals, 101;
tongues, 102, 103;
ideas of reptiles, 511.
‘=Fairie= Queen’, the, 486.
=Fangs=; Cuvier’s distinction, 47, 353;
of sea-ss., 241, 266;
early experiments with, 274, 281;
mobility of early, described, 278, 283, 369, _et seq._;
a means of defence, 311, 516;
functional pair, 345, 364, _et seq._;
construction of, 356;
the ‘slit’, involution, 356, 358, 372;
illus. of, 356;
diversities of, 357;
succession of, 346, 350, 363, 372, _et seq._;
action of, 370;
specially described, 377, _et seq._;
a hypodermic syringe, 364, 379;
control of, 375;
fixed and moveable, 362;
reserve or supplementary, 366;
shedding of, _ib._, 376;
exquisite finish, 358;
illus., 349, 355, 356, 360;
fangs of young vs., 360, 361;
of young cos., 361;
of _Xenodons_, 403, 408;
of _Heterodon d’Orbignyi_, 409;
of _Bucephalus_, 407;
of _Ring Hals_, 582.
=Fascination=, Sir Hans Sloane on, 281;
investigated, 527, _et seq._;
conclusions, 531.
=Fat=; abundant in ss., 165;
absorbed during hibernation, _ib._;
an article of commerce, 286;
a remedy, 522, 541;
protective to pigs, 394.
=Fatalists= in India, 22, 511, 513, 540, 555.
=Fayrer=, his _Thanatophidia_, 5, 19;
ss. eat eggs, 62, 63;
swallow them whole, _ib._;
drink milk, 87;
_Echis carinata_, 150;
prehensile tails, 177;
sea-ss., 236;
_Enhydrina_, 238;
illus. of scales, 240;
bite of sea-ss., 241, _et seq._;
sloughing of co., 332;
illus. of dentition, 349, 355, 356;
fangs of young cos., 361;
renewal of fangs, 364;
in vipers, 365;
vibratile fangs, 375;
the _Crotalidæ_, 386;
‘Bushmaster’, 422;
vernaculars of India, 425;
cos. incubating, 442;
maternal affection, 503;
Hindû superstitions, 512;
what an antidote is, 533;
virulence of _Echis_ venom, 537;
of co. venom, 554, _et seq._;
effect of strychnine, 543;
carbolic acid and creosote, 544;
how to deal with the bites, 545, _et seq._;
gift of cos. to the Z. Soc., 563.
=Fear=; a strong feature in ss., 387, 412, 471, 517, 565, 574, 578,
_et seq._;
paralyzing effect of, 529;
causes a bitten victim to succumb, 536, 544, 558.
=Feeding=; mode of, 28, _et seq._, 133, 199, _et seq._, 528 (_see_
Friday, notes from the Z.G.).
=Feeling=; expressed by tail, 155, 158 (_see_ tail);
by the tongue, 126 (_see_ tongue);
by sound, 526;
vibration, _ib._
=Feigning= death, 411, 412.
=Ferguson=, ‘Tree and Serpent Worship’, 513.
=Fernandez=, ‘Animalium Mexicanum’, 190, 279, 590.
=Festivals= to snake deities, 63, 74, 511.
=Fetish= customs and superstitions, 514.
=Fiction=; ss. of, 41, 50, 101;
tongues of, 94, 97, 102.
=Fish=; lizard, 44;
experiments with, 243;
ribbon, 250;
supposed sea-sers., 251, 255, _et seq._;
living at great depths, 262;
carrying their eggs, 489.
=Fissure=, the gular, 328.
=Fistulous= teeth, 280.
=Fitzinger=, 383.
=Flappers=, 255, _et seq._, 267.
=Flattening=; of head, 410;
of body, 215, 216, 217, 411.
=Floods=, ss. carried down by, 230, 231, _et seq._
=Florence=; Redi on vs., 273;
experiments at, _ib._, 275;
Fontana at, 368, 370, 372;
‘knowing physicians’ at, 273, 556;
the ‘Florentine philosopher’, Redi, 555.
=Flower=, Prof., on Armadillos, 413.
=Follicles=, secreting, 384.
=Fontana=, Felix, structure of fangs, 368;
prior observations, 370;
earlier experiments, 274.
=Food=; often declined, 62, 83, 460, 566, 567;
sometimes disgorged (_see_ disgorged, feeding, constriction, Z.G.,
etc.).
=Forbes=, Alexander K., co. guardians, 511.
=Forbes=, F. E., ‘The Dahomeans’, Fetish deities, 514;
natives fearless of vipers, 523.
=Forms=; sectional, of ss., 215;
of scales, 337 (_see_ epidermis, scales, etc.).
=Forsyth=, Mr. D. M., saw a ‘monster’, 255.
=Fosse=; the gular, 328;
nasal, 385, _et seq._ (pit.).
=Fossil= forms, 42, 44;
anomalous, 263;
living ones, 244.
=Fraxinius= Americanus kills rattlesnakes, 541.
=French=, early naturalists, 4, 273, 383.
=Frere=, Miss, ‘Old Deccan Days’, 513, 517.
=Fresh=-water ss., 55, 224, _et seq._
=Friar=, a, of Brazil, 271 (_see_ Purchas).
=Friar=, a, of Portugal, 271.
=Friday=, feeding-day at the Z.G., 38, 94, 138, 585, _et seq._ (_see_
Z.G.).
=Frogs=; food of ss., 28, _et seq._;
gigantic, at sea, 256;
sometimes reappear, 489;
_de profundis_, 504.
=Functions= retarded, 431, 434, _et seq._, 497.
G
=Galileo=, 480.
=Gall= a remedy for bites, 284.
=Gambia=, _Lepidosiren_ of, 244.
=Ganges=, sea-ss. climbing, 239.
=Gape= of ss. wide, 31, 378.
=Gardens=, Zoological, of London, 10, 16, etc. (_see_ Z.G.).
=Garnett=, Richard, Esq., of the Br. M., 25.
=Gastric= juice, 489.
=Gatty=, Mrs. Alfred, 21.
=Gautier=, Prof., his experiments, 556.
‘=Generall= Historie of Virginia’ (John Smith, 1632), Indian beliefs,
272.
‘=Geographical= Distribution of Animals’, A. R. Wallace, 382.
_Geophagus_, the, 489.
=Gesner=, his ‘Historia Animalium’, 102, 272.
=Gestation=; period of uncertain, 431, 434, 457, _et seq._;
depends on temperature, 458, 466.
=Gigantic=; worms, 45;
gooseberry, 254;
developments, 251, 261, 266.
=Gilmore=, Parker, water vs., 227;
‘puff adders’, 501.
=Gill=, Prof., on the maternal refuge, 489.
=Gills= retained through life, 44, 244.
=Glands=, salivary, 35, 109, _et seq._, 113, 350, 352, 536, 556, 560;
of the _Heloderm_, 590.
=Glottis=; position of, 133, 136;
sheath of, 137;
of water ss., 223;
how far extended, 140.
_Glyphodon_, 347.
=Goode=, Prof. Browne, on the maternal refuge, 485, _et seq._, 498,
572.
=Gosse=, Philip H., 5, 9;
in Jamaica, 63, 187;
how ss. drink, 90;
quotes M’Leod, 112;
the tongue, 120;
ss.’ power of springing, 186;
on the sea-ser.], 248;
the ‘Bushmaster’, 419;
_Chilobothrus_, 449, _et seq._;
vegetable antidotes, 525.
=Gossip=, 94, 105, 321, 480, 585.
=Gradations=; in teeth, 342, 348;
in fangs, 350, 360;
in length of jaw, _ib._;
in glands, _ib._;
in venomous secretions, 408.
=Grasshopper=, a ‘reptile’, 43.
=Gray=, Dr. E., 5;
quotes Schlegel, 90;
on the tongue, 118;
species of _cro._[, 291;
ed. of ‘Zoological Miscellany’, 385;
his work, 383, 427;
_Jararaca_, _ib._
=Gray=, Captain David, on the sea-ser., 255, 264.
=Green=, Joseph H., muscles of the larynx, 141.
=Green=, Mr., collector at Bournemouth, 461.
=Greenland=, sea-ser. off, 251.
=Grooved=; scales, 320;
teeth, 225, 347, 356, _et seq._;
of _Heloderm_, 590;
fangs, 348, 361.
=Grosvenor= Gallery, 117.
=Ground=-snakes, 53, 54, 187, _et seq._, 458, 479.
=Grovelling= for fangs, 359, 372, 378.
=Gular=; teeth, 67, _et seq._;
illus. of, 68;
fissure, 328.
=Gullet=; of _Deirodon_, 67, _et seq._;
position of, 133, 415.
=Gunpowder= used for bites, 543, 544, 546.
=Günther=, Dr. Albert, F.R.S., etc., of the Br. M., 5, 24;
deglutition, 30;
Br. M. collection of snakes, 50;
his five groups, 53;
ss. require water, 89;
Schlegel an authority, 90;
abundant saliva, 109;
on the tongue, 118;
vibrating tails, 177;
burrowing forms, 188;
a mistake of Schlegel, 209;
fresh-water ss., 222, 224;
sea-ss., 235, 237, 240;
a semi-pelagic s., 243;
the epidermis, 315;
names of head-shields, 316;
illus. _ib._, 318;
a friend in need, 322;
on dentition, 354;
the _Xenodon_, 400;
a poser, 405;
on the venom, 536.
=Gurney=, Mr. T. H., 491;
the maternal refuge, 492.
H
=Hakluyt’s= voyages, 99, 271, 276.
=Halford=, Prof.: a vain search, 405;
disclaims an ‘antidote’, 533;
his experiments, 547;
explanations, _ib._;
‘On the Condition of Blood from Snake-bite’, 548;
approves of stimulants, 547, 550.
=Halifax=, sea ser. off, 251.
=Hall=, Captain, dissection of rattlesnake, 370.
=Hardwicke’s= ‘Science Gossip’, ed. of, 491;
evidence, 492.
=Harrison=, Captain, R.N., describes a marine animal, 251.
=Harting=, J. E., F.Z.S., etc., 411.
=Hartwig=, Geo., ‘Tropical World’, 418.
=Haynes=, Lieutenant, R.N., describes a gigantic anomaly, 255.
=Hayward=, S., Esq., viper-swallowing evidence, 493.
=Hayward’s Heath=; hibernating ss. found, 166.
=Head=; expansile, 30;
double, 189, _et seq._;
shields of, 315, _et seq._;
illus., 316-18;
forms, 318, 319;
generic characters of, 319, 383, _et seq._, 427;
appendages of, 320 (_see_ horns, etc.).
=Hebrides=, sea-ser. off, 251.
=Hellmann=, 5;
on the tongue, 120.
_Heloderm_, the, 590, _et seq._
=Hernandez=, 271;
double-headed s., 190 (_see_ Fernandez), 279, 591.
=Herpetology=, confusion in, 45;
derivation of, 47.
=Hibernation=; character of, 159;
convenience of, 160;
analogy in vegetation, 161;
renewal of vitality after, 162;
when partial, 163;
when fatal, 165;
fat absorbed during, 165;
in communities, 166;
seasons of, 168;
of sea-ss., 169;
of slow-worms, 461, 468.
=Hindû=; superstitions, 22, 425, 509, 511, _et seq._, 517, 555;
eggs sacred offerings of, 74, 86;
vernaculars, 425;
transliteration, 429.
=Hissing=, 148;
prolonged, 149;
exceptions in, 150, 313;
variations in, 147, 153, _et seq._, 158.
‘=Histoire= Naturelles’ (Daudin), 488.
‘=Historiæ= Rerum’, etc. (Marcgravius), 397.
‘=History= of British Guiana’ (Dalton), 420.
‘=History= of Egypt’ (F. Holt Yates), 96.
‘=History= of Selborne’, 490.
‘=History= of Virginia’ (Col. Beverley, 1722), 174, 281.
=Holbrooke=, Dr. J. E., of the U.S.A., ss. like milk, 86;
on the Bull s., 155;
‘thorn tail s.’, 175;
_battues_ of rattlesnakes, 289;
length of the rattle, 301;
on _Heterodon_, 412.
=Holland=, Mr., keeper at the Reptilium; ss. drink often, 91;
ss. don’t ‘lick’, 110;
ss. sloughing, 334;
bitten, 438;
in danger, 448 (_see_ Z.G.).
=Holmes=, Oliver Wendell, ‘Elsie Venner’, a tradition, 301.
_Holodontes_, 347.
=Home=, Sir Everard; action of ribs, 207;
the scutæ, 213, 217.
=Hood=, the, of co., 31, 327, 517.
=Horns=; of vs., 315;
sloughed, 320;
peculiar action of, 323 (_see_ epidermis).
‘=Horrid=’, 592;
original signification of, _ib._
=Howe=, ‘History of Ohio’, 191;
_battues_ of ss., 289.
=H.R.H.= the Prince of Wales, 22;
co. performances in India, 87.
=Humboldt=, antitoxic plants, 539.
=Hunter=, St. Jno. Dunn, rattlesnake testimony, 488.
=Hutchinson=, Mr. H. F., progression of ss., 216.
=Huxley=, Prof., F.R.S., etc., prehistoric man, 42;
smell and taste, 121;
locomotion of ss., 196;
a beautiful bit of anatomy, 211;
growth of nails, 303;
on evolution, 327;
‘eyelids’ of ss., 329;
teeth, 342;
perfection of fang, 364;
a hypodermic syringe, _ib._
=Hybrids= born at the Gardens, 425, 440.
=Hypodermic syringe=, 364, _et seq._