. Birds of other lands, reptiles, fishes, jointed animals and lower forms;. Zoology; Birds; Reptiles; Fishes. 196 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD and are tipped with enamel, thus constituting supplementary throat-teeth. Normally this snake subsists on the eggs of the smaller birds, but when short of this supply has been known to leave the trees and rob hen-roosts, being able, notwithstanding its comparatively small size, to dilate its mouth and throat for the reception of a hen's egg. The egg is split longitudinally by the action of the throat-teeth, the contents swallowed, and the shell eject
. Birds of other lands, reptiles, fishes, jointed animals and lower forms;. Zoology; Birds; Reptiles; Fishes. 196 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD and are tipped with enamel, thus constituting supplementary throat-teeth. Normally this snake subsists on the eggs of the smaller birds, but when short of this supply has been known to leave the trees and rob hen-roosts, being able, notwithstanding its comparatively small size, to dilate its mouth and throat for the reception of a hen's egg. The egg is split longitudinally by the action of the throat-teeth, the contents swallowed, and the shell ejected. The Seconal or " back'-fanged " group includes many exceedingly poisonous species. Among these may be mentioned the Inihav VVhip-SNAKES and their allies, comprising many tree- frequenting species, closely resembling in habits and colours the harmless solid-toothed tree- snakes of the preceding section. It is among the third or " front-fanged " group, however, that the most venomous species occur. To this section belongs the CiiLiRA, the yet more formidable Hamahrvad, the IndiaxN Craits, the P2( .vitian Asp, and the Australian Black Sxakes and Ula i h-adders. The Cobra-de-CATELLO, Hooded, or Spectacled Snake, as it is \arinusly known, is perhaps the most notoriously familiar example of its section, being responsible for the greater moiety of the man}' thousands of fatalities that annually occur among the nati\'es of India from the bites of venomous serpents. The craits, which resemble the cobras, but do not possess an erectile hood, are accredited a second position in death-dealing. The peculiar feature of the erectile hood that characterises the cobras is due tij the circumstance that a certain number of the ribs in this region are I independentl)' movable, and ' can be elevated and depressed at will, the skin-fold that overlies them being loose and elastic. The back of the hood in the ordinary' Indian cobra is usually ornamented with two
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecad, booksubjectfishes, booksubjectzoology
