Snakes: Curiosities and Wonders of Serpent Life

by Catherine Cooper Hopley

THE TAIL OF A SNAKE.

SETTING aside for the present the true death-dealing powers of the ophidians, viz. the fangs of the poisonous families and the constricting powers of the larger non-venomous kinds, another supposed medium of mischief, second only to the tongue, is the tail!

The old-time fables of the ‘stinging tails’ have always obtained credence, and do so still among the ignorant classes in many countries. Nor is the belief without some apparent reason, for the tail of a large number of snakes, both of the poisonous and the non-poisonous families, terminates in a horny spine more or less hard and pointed. In a few, this sharp spine is curved with an undeniably weapon-like aspect. Some of these thorn-like tips might even be capable of inflicting a slight wound were the owners conscious of this, and had they a disposition to avail themselves of it. But, as a weapon, snakes do not instinctively use their pointed tails; they are chiefly assistants in locomotion. As a fulcrum, and sometimes a propeller, certain species make constant and important use of them. You may observe that when in a position of danger, many snakes trust greatly to the pressure of their tails, whether pointed or not, as a balance or even a support. This pressure, which is forcible, but not aggressive, no doubt gave rise in the first instance to the belief that the snake was intentionally endeavouring to inflict a wound—a myth which, like all the other ophidian myths, is so hard to eradicate.

Sir Thomas Browne, in his Pseudoxia, more than two hundred years ago, mentioned this as one of the ‘Vulgar Errours.’ As very little was known of foreign snakes at that time, 1672, excepting through classic writers, one must suppose that our poor little native Anguis fragilis was included among the weapon-tailed snakes, ‘that worm with venomed tongue’ which does really in a remarkable manner make important though innocent use of its very blunt tail as a means of progression. He says, ‘That Snakes and Vipers do sting, or transmit their Mischief by the Tail, is a common Expression, not easy to be justified.... The Poison lying about their Teeth and communicated by Bite in such as are destructive. And Bitings mentioned in Scripture are differentially set down from such as Mischief by Stings.’[50] ‘God commanded Moses to take up the Serpent by the Tail,’ Sir Thomas Browne reminds us, as if in proof that the caudal extremity was perfectly harmless. ‘Nor are all Snakes of such empoisoning Qualities as common Opinion presumeth,’ the author endeavours to impress upon his readers, because there are several histories of domestic snakes from ‘Ophiophagous Nations and such as feed on Serpents.’ Then follows an opinion equally wise and witty. ‘Surely the destructive Delusion of Satan in this Shape hath much enlarged the Opinion of their Mischief. Which was not so high with the Heathens, in whom the Devil had wrought a better Opinion of this Animal, it being sacred unto the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, and the common symbol of Sanity.’

But, alas! many spiny-tailed snakes have sprung to light in various countries, long since Sir Thomas Browne so wisely instructed his readers; and even now, the ‘death adder of Australia (Acanthophis antarctica) is much dreaded on account of its thorn-like tail.’ Krefft’s[51] description of the repulsive aspect of this snake is sufficiently terrifying, apart altogether from its looks alone, its ragged-looking head, with its loose scales, thick body, and its short, rough, unmistakeable tail, terminating in a suspicious-looking point, as if one sharp spine had taken root there, and was capable of inflicting a wound. The tail spine hardens only in age, he tells us, and ‘is really not a weapon either of attack or defence.’

Death Adder
(from Krefft’s Snakes of Australia).

Another tail of evil repute belongs to the Water Viper of the United States, vernacularly known as the ‘Thorn-tail’ snake, Trigonocephalus piscivorus of American herpetologists.

John Lawson, in his History of Carolina, published in 1707, was one of the first to describe it. After him we hear of it from Catesby. The quaint descriptions of each of these early travellers are amusing; and from such accounts the progress of science is traced.

‘Of the Horn Snake,’ says Lawson, ‘I never saw but two that I remember. They are like the Rattlesnake in Colour, but rather lighter. They hiss exactly like a Goose when anything approaches them. They strike at their Enemy with their Tail, and kill whatsoever they wound with it, which is armed at the End with a Horny Substance like a Cock’s Spur. This is their Weapon. I have heard it credibly reported by those who said they were Eye-Witnesses, that a small Locust Tree, about the Thickness of a Man’s Arm, being struck by one of these Snakes at Ten o’clock in the Morning, then verdant and flourishing, at Four in the Afternoon was dead, and the Leaves dead and withered.’ (Probably the tree had been struck by lightning during the interval, a very frequent occurrence in those parts.) ‘Doubtless, be it how it will, they are very venomous. I think the Indians do not pretend to cure their wound.’