The venomous snakes of India / J. Fayrer.

  • Joseph Fayrer
Date:
[1889]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The venomous snakes of India / J. Fayrer. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    sidse, which bring forth their young alive. The viperine—e.g. the daboia, the adder, the rattle-snake—are viviparous. There are ex- ceptions, as some Trimeresuri are oviparous, it is said, but there is no great physiological distinction after all, the question being whether the eggs are hatched before or after leaving the oviduct. The progeny is numerous ; the cobra lays twenty to thirty white, leathery eggs, which are hatched in some warm place by the natural heat. The viper is equally prolific. Some oviparous snakes are said to incubate ; the cobra probably watches its eggs; the python is said to have been observed to coil itself round its eggs until hatched. Young vipers emerge from the oviduct alive, the process being expedited by the mother exposing herself in a warm, sunny place. The female of all snakes is said to be larger than the male. There may be differences in colour and slight variations in form, but no other prominent external characters distinguish the sexes. Snakes hybernate in cold climates ; returning warmth rouses them into activity. I have seen a python in the north-west of India, quite torpid in the early morning in the cold weather, roused to activity by the heat of the sun’s rays. Snakes are carnivorous, and generally eat living creatures, but some will swallow eggs—the cobra sometimes robs the hen-roost—insects, molluscs, and even, it is said, vegetable matter; they prefer living prey, and some are cannibals—the ophiophagus and callophis, especially, live on snakes. In captivity they will, it is said, drink milk; needless to add that the bucolic tradition of robbing the cow is a myth. Snakes differ in their habits and modes of life, and are grouped accordingly. Tree and grass snakes live in the trees, bushes, and grass, and are often coloured like the vegetation they frequent. When slender and active they are called whip snakes ; innocent and poisonous forms are found among them. Ground snakes are found in all three sub-orders ; they generally live above ground, and the great proportion of snakes, whether innocent or venomous, belong to this group. Burrowing snakes live much underground, have a rigid, cylindrical body, short tail, narrow mouth, small teeth, and are all innocent. There are fresh- and salt-water snakes. The salt-water snakes are peculiarly adapted for an aquatic life, and are all venom- ous ; the fresh-water snakes have not the same characters as the hydrophidae, or salt-water snakes, and are innocent—a curious fact! The hydrophidae are viviparous. It may be well here to say a few words on the structure of the jaws, teeth, and poison apparatus of the venomous snakes. The cranium is made up of a number of bones modified in accordance with the general structure and habits of the creature. It is only necessary to refer to these as far as concerns the mode in which the prey is seized and swallowed, and the poisonous wound inflicted. Deglutition is effected in a peculiar way: the prey being seized, the
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