Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 18.djvu/327

* SNAKE. 275 SNAKE-CHARMING. American blacksnake, liunt largely by scent. Jlany serpents lay eggs, but most venomous ones, and many of our commonest species, are vivi- parous. The young arc ready to take care of themselvcs as soon as they escape from the egg, but are usually guarded for a time by the mother. A very remarkable means of livelihood and of ■iefense among snakes is the poison apparatus with which one large group ( Solenoglypha ) and some members of the generally harmless Colubri- d 3 P ^ c a' POISON APPARATUS OF A RATTLESNAKE. a, poison gland; a', poison duot tpadingr to the fang (/); /). anterior temporal muscle h', mandibular portion of same; c, posterior temporal musL'le: (1, digastricus muscle; /, siieath of fang; g^ middle temporal muscle; h, external pterygoid muscle. d.T are provided. This consists of a pair of very large labial glands, one beside each upper jaw. modified from parotid salivary glands, and con- taining saliva imbued with an alkaloid poison, likely to be fatal to all animals into whose cir- culation it enters. (See illustration.) These fangs are of three kinds. They may be the most for- ward of the maxillary teeth in the upper jaw, immovable and deeply grooved on the anterior side, as in the cobras and others of the Protero- glypha ; or they may be thus fixed and grooved, but posterior in position (Opisthoghpha) ; or they may be lengthened and the maxillary bone so hinged as to dip down, al- lowing the fangs when not in use to lie back in a fold of the gum (where there are no other teeth) : and the fang-groove may be closed over for most of its length, forming a canal opening near the point of the tooth, as in vipers and rattle- snakes. This contrivance in- the conveyance of the poison into the deepest part of the wound. When the snake is about to bite, the mouth is opened very ■nnde, the fangs are unsheathed, swung forward and held fixed by muscular contraction, and then sunk into the llesh of the victim with a marvelously sudden and swift forward and downward stroke. Sec- ondary and partly involuntary action of other muscles presses the poison out of the gland and through the duct and tooth. The venom will sometimes exude and drip from the fangs of a snake excited and ready to strike, and some of this may be blown forAvard by the forcible ex- pulsion of the animal's breath: but the stories of 'spitting poison' have no better foundation than this. For the nature, effects, and antidotes of snake poison, see Toxicology. The older families of snakes are circumtropi- cal, and none are found where a really cold cli- A FANG. Poison tooth of a rattlesnake: a, den- gures tine of the tooth ; h, poison duct, leading into it ; c, the canal-groove ; d, pulp cavity. mate prevails. The great family Colubridtp i3 cosmopolitan, as also is the Boida", being absent only from New Zealand, which, like most oceanic islands, has no serpents at all, and fnmi the colder latitudes. Their near allies, the Ambly- cephalidu', are altogether Oriental and Malayan. The V'iperida." (including the crotaline group) are cosmopolitan, but no true vipers occur in America, whereas some crotalines arc found in Southern Asia, although all the rattlesnakes projicr are American. The number of species of snakes is about 1800. Snalces perform an important part in preserv- ing the balance of life, for all are carnivorous, and prey principally upon insects and the small animals, mostly rodents, which tend to multiply excessively. They are, therefore, of great service to agriculture in keeping down the hordes of in- jurious locusts, mice, gophers, and the like, which afflict the farmer. Their flesh is white, chicken- like, and wholesome, and is eaten by savage peo- ples, and occasionally by persons in civilization who are free from the traditional prejudice. Fossil Snakes. About thirty-five species of Tertiary fossil snakes are known, and none of them presents any wide difTerences from its nearest living allies. They occur mostly in the fresh-water Tertiary deposits of Germany, France, England, and North America. No un- doubted snake remains are known older than the Tert iary. BiBLiOGEAPHY. Dum^ril et Bibron, Erpeto- logie gcncrale. Suites a Buffon, vol. vii. (Paris, 1852) ; .Jan et Sordelli, Iconographie des ophiai- ens, 3 vols, of plates (Milan, 1866-81) ; Boulen- ger. Catalogue of Snakes hi British Museum (2d ed., London, 1893-96) ; Cope, Crocodilians, Liz- ards, and SnaJces of North America (United States National Museiun, Washington, 1900) ; Gadow. Amphibia and Reptile« (London and New York, 1900) : Holbrook. North American Herpetology (Philadelphia, 1842) ; Garman, ''Ophidia of North America," in Builctin of Mu- seum of Comparative Zoology, vol, xiii. (Cam- bridge, 1888) ; Stejneger, Poisonous Snakes of North America (LTnited States National Mu- seum, Washington, 1893) : Kreft, Snakes of Aus- tralia (Sydney, 1869); Fayrer, Thanatophidia of India (London, 1874) ; Ewart, Poisonous Snakes of India (ib,, 1878) ; Hopley, Snakes (ib., 1882) ; and general works. For fossil snakes, consult Rochbourne, "Revision des ophidiens fossiles," in Nonvelles Archives du Musee d'llis- toire Naturclle, ser. ii., vol, iii. (Paris, 1880) ; Cope, "Vertebrata of the Tertiary Formations of the West," Report of United States Geological Survei/ of the Territories, vol. iii, (Washington, 1883). See Boa; Rattlesnake; Viper; and other names of the various groups and species of ser- pents; also Plates of Foreign Venomous Serpents ; American Harmless Snakes ; Boas ; Rattlesnakes. SNAKEBIRD. . steganopodc bird with long liill, often known as the Dai!Ti;k (q.v. ). SNAKE-CHARMING, A popular form of amusement which h;is existed in Egypt and throughout the East from remote antiquity. There are several allusions to serpent-charming in the Old Testament, and many classical writers refer to it. Serpent-charmers ascribe their power