Show snake stories stor ies are mostly unfounded tale of hypnotic power Is declared untrue london in spite ot of the fact that the majority ot of snakes are quite barm harmless less the popular prejudice against them Is insurmountable writes E G boulenger in the london sunday observer al most any absurd story about these rep tiles is accepted at its face value and without the slightest attempt to ascer tain the true facts of the case specially remarkable Is the current belief that snakes have the power to fascinate or exert hypnotic influence over their victims it Is possible that the absence of eyelids and consequent inability to close the eyes may be partly responsible for this fetish the crea ture tures s sinuous movements and habit of probing the ground with its forked tongue may perhaps further encourage the common superstition psychological influence that the snake has from early times exerted a very powerful psychological influence over the imaginative mind of man there can be no doubt whatever one bone has but to recall the grotesque etory story of the hoop snake or the amer lean ican indian a belief that the rattlesnake adds a joint to its rattle every time it takes a human life serpents moreover have been deified in many lands as Is evidenced by the frequency with which many figure on innumerable tombs temples etc the actual fascinating power of the snake over intended victims has been dl disproved proved by many marly carefully con ducted experiments many years ago when it was customary to feed the zoo s snakes in public on living rats mice inice etc it was usual to see such small animals contentedly feeding or cleaning themselves w thin a few inches of the reptiles some years ago I 1 met with a curious instance illustrating the indifference that most small mammals sl st ow toward serpents A white rat was offered as food to a 4 foot long south african snake kept in the natural history mu seum but the reptile apparently no not t being hungry the rodent was left un touched for several months with the approach of winter the snake retired into a snug hole which it had excavate ed this retreat apparently appealed so strongly to the rat that it ejected the unresisting tenant and promptly appropriated the coveted shelter snake D gs in again once more the snake dug itself a burrow and yet again was the rightful owner ejected peace finally reigned for a considerable period with the approach of spring however the snake recovered both appetite and initiative with the result that the rat onetime one time bully of the cage was made to provide the snake with the first meal of the season certain tree snakes inhabiting east ern asia have the head produced into a form often grotesquely patterned the long bl bifurcated furcated tongue Is so marked that when thrust rapidly in and out it continues the markings of the head and gives the snake snakes s face the appearance of telescoping in a very startling fashion it has been established that the small birds and arboreal lizards on which these snakes habitually feed watch this phenomenon until the snake Is enabled to approach within striking distance and so make a meal of them such an occurrence occur ence however can scarcely be regarded as an example of a snake exer alsing hypnotic influence but rather evidence of a natural curiosity on the part of the birds and lizards |