There Are Also Various Species Of The Genus `Dendrophis',
As The `Bucephalus Viridis', Or Green Tree-Climber.
They climb trees
in search of birds and eggs, and are soon discovered by
all the birds in the
Neighborhood collecting and sounding an alarm.*
Their fangs are formed not so much for injecting poison on external objects
as for keeping in any animal or bird of which they have got hold.
In the case of the `Dasypeltis inornatus' (Smith), the teeth are small,
and favorable for the passage of thin-shelled eggs without breaking.
The egg is taken in unbroken till it is within the gullet,
or about two inches behind the head. The gular teeth placed there
break the shell without spilling the contents, as would be the case
if the front teeth were large. The shell is then ejected.
Others appear to be harmless, and even edible. Of the latter sort
is the large python, metse pallah, or tari. The largest specimens of this
are about 15 or 20 feet in length. They are perfectly harmless, and live on
small animals, chiefly the rodentia; occasionally the steinbuck and pallah
fall victims, and are sucked into its comparatively small mouth
in boa-constrictor fashion. One we shot was 11 feet 10 inches long,
and as thick as a man's leg. When shot through the spine,
it was capable of lifting itself up about five feet high,
and opened its mouth in a threatening manner, but the poor thing
was more inclined to crawl away. The flesh is much relished
by the Bakalahari and Bushmen. They carry away each his portion,
like logs of wood, over their shoulders.
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* "As this snake, `Bucephalus Capensis', in our opinion, is not provided
with a poisonous fluid to instill into wounds which these fangs may inflict,
they must consequently be intended for a purpose different to those
which exist in poisonous reptiles. Their use seems to be to offer obstacles
to the retrogression of animals, such as birds, etc., while they are
only partially within the mouth; and from the circumstance of these fangs
being directed backward, and not admitting of being raised so as to form
an angle with the edge of the jaw, they are well fitted to act
as powerful holders when once they penetrate the skin and soft parts
of the prey which their possessors may be in the act of swallowing.
Without such fangs escapes would be common; with such they are rare.
"The natives of South Africa regard the `Bucephalus Capensis' as poisonous;
but in their opinion we can not concur, as we have not been able
to discover the existence of any glands manifestly organized for
the secretion of poison. The fangs are inclosed in a soft, pulpy sheath,
the inner surface of which is commonly coated with a thin glairy secretion.
This secretion possibly may have something acrid and irritating
in its qualities, which may, when it enters a wound,
cause pain and even swelling, but nothing of greater importance.
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