Through the Brazilian Wilderness | Page 7

absolutely insoluble is why some snakes
should be so vicious and others absolutely placid and good-tempered.
After removing the vicious harmless snake, the doctor warned us to get
away from the table, and his attendant put on it, in succession, a very
big lachecis--of the kind called bushmaster--and a big rattlesnake. Each
coiled menacingly, a formidable brute ready to attack anything that
approached. Then the attendant adroitly dropped his iron crook on the
neck of each in succession, seized it right behind the head, and held it
toward the doctor. The snake's mouth was in each case wide open, and
the great fangs erect and very evident. It would not have been possible
to have held an African ring-necked cobra in such fashion, because the
ring-neck would have ejected its venom through the fangs into the eyes
of the onlookers. There was no danger in this case, and the doctor
inserted a shallow glass saucer into the mouth of the snake behind the
fangs, permitted it to eject its poison, and then himself squeezed out the
remaining poison from the poison- bags through the fangs. From the
big lachecis came a large quantity of yellow venom, a liquid which
speedily crystallized into a number of minute crystals. The rattlesnake
yielded a much less quantity of white venom, which the doctor assured
us was far more active than the yellow lachecis venom. Then each
snake was returned to its box unharmed.
After this the doctor took out of a box and presented to me a fine,
handsome, nearly black snake, an individual of the species called the
mussurama. This is in my eyes perhaps the most interesting serpent in
the world. It is a big snake, four or five feet long, sometimes even
longer, nearly black, lighter below, with a friendly, placid temper. It
lives exclusively on other snakes, and is completely immune to the
poison of the lachecis and rattlesnake groups, which contain all the
really dangerous snakes of America. Doctor Brazil told me that he had
conducted many experiments with this interesting snake. It is not very
common, and prefers wet places in which to live. It lays eggs, and the
female remains coiled above the eggs, the object being apparently not
to warm them, but to prevent too great evaporation. It will not eat when
moulting, nor in cold weather. Otherwise it will eat a small snake every
five or six days, or a big one every fortnight.

There is the widest difference, both among poisonous and
non-poisonous snakes, not alone in nervousness and irascibility but also
in ability to accustom themselves to out-of-the-way surroundings.
Many species of non-poisonous snakes which are entirely harmless, to
man or to any other animal except their small prey, are nevertheless
very vicious and truculent, striking right and left and biting freely on
the smallest provocation--this is the case with the species of which the
doctor had previously placed a specimen on the table. Moreover, many
snakes, some entirely harmless and some vicious ones, are so nervous
and uneasy that it is with the greatest difficulty they can be induced to
eat in captivity, and the slightest disturbance or interference will
prevent their eating. There are other snakes, however, of which the
mussurama is perhaps the best example, which are very good captives,
and at the same time very fearless, showing a complete indifference not
only to being observed but to being handled when they are feeding.
There is in the United States a beautiful and attractive snake, the
king-snake, with much the same habits as the mussurama. It is friendly
toward mankind, and not poisonous, so that it can be handled freely. It
feeds on other serpents, and will kill a rattlesnake as big as itself, being
immune to the rattlesnake venom. Mr. Ditmars, of the Bronx Zoo, has
made many interesting experiments with these king- snakes. I have had
them in my own possession. They are good-natured and can generally
be handled with impunity, but I have known them to bite, whereas
Doctor Brazil informed me that it was almost impossible to make the
mussurama bite a man. The king-snake will feed greedily on other
snakes in the presence of man--I knew of one case where it partly
swallowed another snake while both were in a small boy's pocket. It is
immune to viper poison but it is not immune to colubrine poison. A
couple of years ago I was informed of a case where one of these
king-snakes was put into an enclosure with an Indian snake- eating
cobra or hamadryad of about the same size. It killed the cobra but made
no effort to swallow it, and very soon showed the effects of the cobra
poison. I believe it afterward died, but unfortunately I have mislaid my
notes and