Canopus

“ Let no one any longer blame his ignorance for being merely acquainted with one Bear, when there are two. It is probable that the second was not considered a constellation until, on the Phœnicians specially designating it, and employing it in navigation, it became known as one to the Greeks.15 Such is the case with the Hair of Berenice, and Canopus, whose names are but of yesterday ”

“ Your huge arms, so strong, so many, Like tarantula's antennæ_, Just like tenderest tripe, they say! Only wait a little longer, Turtle soup—as from the Conger— They will make from you, but stronger. "Octopus is cheap to-day!"
Octopus—or is't Octōpus?— Fame, that should outshine Canopus, All too swiftly fleets away. Yet our feelings it must harrow, That your demon-fame should narrow To cook-bench and coster barrow. "Devil-fish is cheap to-day!" [172] SALUBRITIES ABROAD. ("Is this the Hend?"—Miss Squeers.)
Skurrie puts us in the train, gives us our Cook's tickets all ready stamped and dated. ”

“ The natives also know and tell stories of many other stars [556] . Another authority states that they can tell from the position of Arcturus or Vega above the horizon in August and October respectively when it is time to collect these pupae and these eggs [557] . An old chief of the Spring Creek tribe in Victoria taught the [133] young people the names of the favourite constellations as indications of the seasons. For example when Canopus at dawn is only a very little way above the eastern horizon, it is time to collect eggs ”

“ The genus Conophis Peters, 1860, contains four species. Three are monotypic and the fourth has three subspecies, making a total of six taxa.
The genus is characterized by maxillary teeth of equal size followed by a diastema and two enlarged grooved fangs. The scales are smooth, in 19 rows at mid-body, and 17 nearer the tail. The anal is divided, apical pits are lacking, the head shields are normal for a colubrid, and the hemipenis is bilobed having many large basal spines. ”

“ Every stripe originates either as broad continuous stripe or as a row of spots or dashes, forming a discontinuous stripe, which in some specimens becomes continuous posteriorly. The stripes are usually black or deep brown, although auxiliary stripes are sometimes paler. The dorsal ground color is pale brown, tan, olive, or white; usually the ground color is palest ventrally and darkest dorsally.
In some specimens of Conophis the lateral tips of the ventrals are spotted, one spot on each end of each ventral. Otherwise, the ventrals are immaculate white. ”

“ Sexual dimorphism is evident in all species and subspecies of Conophis. Differences always exist in the number of subcaudals and in the tail/body ratio; males have more subcaudals and relatively longer tails than do females (table 3) . ”

“ Here lies one in the earth who scarce of the earth was moulded,
Wise Æthalides’ son, himself no lover of study, 51
Cnopus, asleep, indoors: the young invincible runner.
They from the cliff footpath that see on the grave we made him,
Tameless, slant in the wind, the bare and beautiful iris,
Stop short, full of delight, and shout forth: “See, it is Cnopus
Runs, with white throat forward, over the sands to Chalcis!” ”

“ Patterns of dorsal coloration at mid-body of adults of all species and subspecies of the genus Conophis except C. lineatus concolor. A. C. lineatus dunni (UMMZ 107339) from Santa Rosa, Guatemala. B. C. lineatus dunni (UMMZ 116537) from 1.5 mi. N Matagalpa, Nicaragua. C. C. lineatus dunni (ANSP 3480) from "San Jose," Costa Rica. D. C. l. lineatus (KU 23253) from Río Blanco, 20 km. WNW Piedras Negras, Veracruz, México. E. C. nevermanni (ANSP 22424) "San Jose," Costa Rica. F. C. pulcher (UIMNH 33646) from Soconusco, Chiapas, México. G. C. vittatus (KU 39626) from Atencingo, Puebla, México. ”

“ The following two genera, each containing one species only, are restricted to the Galapagos Islands. Darwin [160] gives a long and vividly written account of their habits.
Conolophus subcristatus.–Fully grown specimens are a yard long. Their shape is stout, the head and fore part of the body appearing especially heavy. The head is covered, or rather paved, with large cobble-stone-like scales. On the neck is a low crest of recurved spines, while the median line of the back appears simply serrated. All the teeth are trilobate. A gular sac is absent. The coloration is striking. ”

“ The six taxa are separated primarily on the basis of color pattern, but characters of scutellation, including numbers of dorsals, ventrals, [Pg_293] caudals, and places of reduction of the number of dorsal scale-rows, were analyzed.
Snakes of this genus are distributed throughout semi-arid environments from southern México southward into Costa Rica. They feed upon lizards, primarily of the genus Cnemidophorus; in addition they are known to eat small rodents and other snakes. ”

“ The "Krait" seems to cause more deaths in India than any other snake, since it is very common, especially in Bengal and in {634}Southern India, and often creeps into the houses. It lives chiefly on rats, lizards, and snakes.
Callophis.–With only thirteen rows of smooth scales. The head is small, not distinct from the neck. The small eye has a round pupil. The short tail has two ventral rows of scales. The whole body is cylindrical. Several small species, one or two feet in length, in South-Eastern Asia. ”

“ The foundations of this were made by forming a dome-shaped canopy some eighteen inches in diameter over the top of the bush, the Spiders running backwards and forwards in all directions laying down the silk. I presume that eventually the edges of this canopy would be drawn together to form the outer shell of the nest, but unfortunately I was unable to remain longer to watch the process, and as I never found an opportunity to revisit the spot, I never learnt the sequel of this interesting chapter in the life-history of Stegodyphus. ”

“ From B. t. allex, B. t. canutus differs in: dorsal ground color grayish rather than fawn color having grayish overtones; underfur on dorsum darker gray; dorsal surface of forefeet and hind feet flesh-colored to grayish rather than flesh-colored; incisive foramina tapering to a point posteriorly rather than rounded posteriorly; interparietal relatively smaller; body and skull averaging larger throughout.
Remarks.—Burt (1938:54) reluctantly assigned specimens from Ciudad Obregón to B. t. paulus, probably being influenced by the resemblance in size. ”

“ The vomer has a thin anterior ridge that gradually disappears before it reaches the border of the premaxillary. The vomer is approximately U-shaped, when viewed from below. It has no posterior process and does not articulate with the parasphenoid; there is a sizeable gap between the two bones. The septo-maxillary has a lateral process that terminally is directed slightly anteriorly.
Fig. 6. The skull, lacking dentigerous bones, of Conophis lineatus concolor (UMMZ S-788) showing (A) dorsal, (B) lateral, and (C) ventral views. × 3. ”

“ The lineatus-group, thus, consists of pulcher, nevermanni and the three subspecies of lineatus. In this group the color pattern is characterized by the high frequency of ventral spotting, darkening of part of the supralabials, dark pigmentation on the 1st scale-row, and more than four dark stripes on the body of adults. Conophis lineatus concolor, on which the dark pigmentation on the body apparently is secondarily lost, is an exception. ”

“ The larva is broad, and when full grown apparently occupies nearly all the space of the interior of the abdomen of the bee; it has very peculiar terminal stigmata. The pupa is formed in the larval skin, which is greatly shortened and indurated for the purpose; this instar bears, in addition to the posterior stigmata, a pair of slightly projecting, anterior stigmata. We have several species of Conopidae in Britain; those belonging to the division Conopinae are all rare Insects, but the Myopinae are not so scarce ”

“ Variation in coloration and in number of supralabials appears to be of no geographic significance.
Although no juveniles have been collected, I expect that juveniles resemble adults in coloration. Probably there would be a greater contrast between the dark stripes and the pale ground-color in juveniles.
In life an adult from three miles northwest of Lerdo de Tejada, Veracruz, México (UMMZ 114484) , had black stripes on the 4th and 7th rows of dorsal scales, and black spots on a brown background on the 1st row. ”

“ Eastern Ecuador, North-eastern Peru, Bolivia.
The species of the genus Elaps, which are remarkable for the brightness and beauty of their colours, are generally found in forests.
“The traveller,” says Neuwied, “who ventures into the great Brazilian forests, where the ground is covered with leafy plants, is astonished to see shining through the verdure the black and red rings of the beautiful Coral Snake. Uncertainty as to whether the creature is dangerous alone prevents him from seizing it. The body of the snake is not lithe enough to enable it to climb trees. ”

“ Table 1.—Variation in the Place of Dorsal Scale Reduction in Conophis.
Ventrals.—The number of ventral scutes varies from 149-183, and shows no significant variation in the means (table 2) .
Subcaudals.—The number of subcaudal scutes varies from 55 to 89. In some populations there is no overlap in the range of variation of males and females. The total variation and sexual dimorphism are analyzed in table 3. ”

“ Slowly a huge, hideous, wedge-shaped head took form before his dilated eyes, and from the darkness oozed, in flowing scaly coils, the ultimate horror of reptilian development.
It was a snake that dwarfed all Conan's previous ideas of snakes. Eighty feet it stretched from its pointed tail to its triangular head, which was bigger than that of a horse. In the dim light its scales glistened coldly, white as hoar-frost. Surely this reptile was one born and grown in darkness, yet its eyes were full of evil and sure sight. ”

“ First of all, the sight of it makes me so uncomfortable, that I want to hop away the instant I set eyes upon it. Then, too, it's so difficult to be polite to the Platypus, because one never knows how to behave towards it. If you treat it as an animal, you offend its bird nature, and if you treat it as a bird, the animal in it is mighty indignant. One never knows where one is with a creature that is two creatures," said the Kangaroo. ”

“ Total length, 640 millimetres; tail 50.
Habitat: Malabar.
All the snakes belonging to the genus Callophis are remarkable for their bright and varied colours, whence the generic name, which signifies “beautiful snakes.”
They feed exclusively on other snakes belonging to the Family Calamaridæ; consequently they are not found in regions where Calamaridæ do not occur, as, for instance, in Ceylon.
They are essentially terrestrial, and live in old tree-trunks, or clefts in rocks. They are sluggish, slow-moving, and chiefly nocturnal.
As a rule they do not seek either to defend themselves or to bite ”

“ There is no ontogenetic change in color pattern; juveniles have the same coloration as adults from the same geographic area.
Color in life is not greatly different from that of preserved specimens. One specimen (UMMZ 114483) from 10.8 miles south of Oaxaca, had in life black stripes, a pale yellowish tan dorsal ground-color and a pale off-white venter. ”

“ Family 30, Conopidæ.—The larvæ of most of these insects are parasitic on Orthoptera and Hymenoptera. Many species have a resemblance to wasps in appearance, being striped with yellow and black. The typical genus, Conops, are slender flies measuring half an inch in length.
Family 31, Pipunculidæ.—These are black or brown insects. The head is large and round, generally broader than the thorax. The larvæ are mostly parasitic on other insects. The flies may often be seen in great swarms in shady places in the vicinity of hedges, in lanes, etc. ”

“ There seems to be a correlation between the type of preservation, the age of the snake, and the number of grooved teeth. Old (large) individuals always have only one grooved tooth that is rooted and functional, whereas some of the younger animals have two in place. Usually replacement teeth are present in alcoholic specimens, but these unrooted teeth are lost in the preparation of dried skeletons. Thus, it seems that in Conophis only one pair of grooved teeth is functional at any one time, although usually replacement teeth are present behind and beside the functional one. ”

“ Although many juveniles differ greatly in general coloration from the adults, both the juveniles and the adults of any species or subspecies can be identified from the following key; juveniles differ from adults in extent and intensity of dark pigmentation but not in rows of scales involved. ”

“ Feeling [Pg 278] the cold lubricous surface she suddenly raised herself, when the reptile rose, and, extending its hideous crest, wound itself gently round her neck. She was riveted to the spot; every muscle in her body became rigid, all vital action appeared suspended as she felt the venomous reptile spanning her neck within its horrible coil. She did not move; her breath was arrested, and her eyes fixed in mute horror, when the snake, gliding down her shoulder, passed round her arm, slid upon the palampore, and made its escape. ”

“ At length, to our infinite satisfaction we saw the head of the venomous reptile drop towards the ground, and we no longer heard the rattle of its tail; still the black snake, which had from the first kept its sharp eyes intently fixed on those of the rattle-snake, did not appear satisfied that life was extinct, but held it in a fast embrace, carefully avoiding the risk of a puncture from its fangs. ”

“ I knew that a large number of the snakes in Ceylon are not venomous, and all I could do was to try and persuade myself that these were among the harmless ones. Those that came near me I struck at with my stick, and quickly sent them to the right-about, for, happily, most serpents are cowardly creatures, and only seize their prey when they can do so unawares or at a great advantage. Even the deadly cobra di capello, one of the most venomous of all, is speedily put to flight, and only bites when trod on or carelessly handled. ”