Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 253, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 October 1913 — SNAKES THAT REALLY WALK [ARTICLE]

SNAKES THAT REALLY WALK

Scientists Assert They Have Method of Locomotion of Which Few Are Aware. Apropos of the recent discovery in Africa of the Gigantosaurus Africanus It is interesting to note the many facts which point to the conclusion that snakes swam before they took to land. It Is not impossible that the traces of former snake locomotion Which are found in the python and other snakes are the remains of former fins. It is said that when the reptiles came to land and learned to burrow in the-sand they lost these. There is one explanation of the rudimentary foot of modern times in the snake world, and that is ln the remains of the flying dragon. When the dragons ceased to fly and came to earth it is said that some of them survived as snakes and that the remains of their feet and wings survive ln the species that tempted Adam and Eve. The usual method of walking in the snake tribe is peculiar and is more like walking in a bag. A snake walks; he does not crawl, as the average layman imagines. Snakes walk on their ribs. The old Germans or Teutons used to have a warlike custom of proclaiming their kings. The sturdy warriors would lock their brazen shields together lifted high above their heads, on which the future king was elevated. The snake’s belly is in some respects like the interlocked shields. His feet are his ribs, which he is capable of working forward or backward, at the same time bending them. Over each rib there Ib a shield, and as the foot moves the point of the foot is lowered and digs into the ground or takes hold of any projection on the surface over which it la going. This moves his bulk along. He also curls himself up and thus moves along more swiftly. Grabbing with his front ribs, an ugly snake can hold fast while he palls up his other half. Scientists do not believe that snakes can spring, but that they sometimes jump.