The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1890-10-16
THE oREGoN nArrLEsrARr.

while forms otherwise vary TO rounded and
fnsiiorm contonrs. Temporary changes like
wise take place In the body. Adders, etc, d.
late themselves greatly; cObras and others
swell the neck alone, and tree snakes, which
are generally innoxious, seem capable OF gen.
eral lateral compression and vertical expansion
The other pecularities Of Ophidia may, for
the most part, be summed up in the statement
that their organs Of special sense are defective
having no eye-lids the eye is always open, and,
says DIR. Yarrow, their sight is poor. Taste Is
almost II not entirely. absent. Hearing Is very
duiI and there are no external organs belong.
Ing TO this sense. Serpents feel the jar of air
waves or other concussions, rather than hear
them.
The tongue which Is essentially tactile
organ, can be protrudcd through an opening In
the mouth. plates when the Jaws arc closed,
Their nostrlls are situated at tho apex of the
snout, and In water snakes these are provided
with valves. Members Of this order are, as q
rule, dumb. They hiss, however, aud certain
boas are said to whine, while others drum.
Ptyas mucosus also cmts a sound like a tun-
ing-fo in all cases they slough regularly,
though not at the same time, or die when this
process is prevented, even partially The ski
splits at fhS margin of the mouth, and IL got
rid of and surned inside out in some narrow
orihce, or by crawling through loop of tho
body.
SNAKES, WHICH ARE OF ALL coLoRs,
become torpid, either from cold or heat at
some period during tho year. IL Is very gem
orally believed that they swallow their young
when the latter are in danger. With re.
gard to this point, Bumpus observes that the
latter could live in the mouth or gullet Of their
parents lis the young of certain amphibians are
known TO do. Moreover, that they might ex-
ist In the stomach itself; but he adds. no
naturalist has ever seen any Of these things
occur, aud all snakes who have been found in
other serpents' stomachs were discovered In
those OF species that prey on thoir own kind.
The Ophidlan teeth are never permanent hut
successfully renew themselves as occasion re-
CURES. Their concavO- convex vertebre sel-
dom exceed 200 in number Being united by
Tree ball and-s0cket joints, they admit of CON
siderable range Of motion, aud twisting is pre-
vented by their horizontal articular surfaces.
Food is insaivated in the act Of deglutition. and
the stories about prey being fabricated before.
hand are as false and physically impossible as
those concerning the swallowing of animals 90
large as man. Some snakes possess nothing
more Than an alr-sac for purposes Of respiration.
and most creatures Of this group
HAVE ONLY ONE LUNG.
There are others, however, as the boas. who
are provided with two. The reprOductive or.
gans In this order are duplicated Their eoos
are obiOng, aud covered with leathery mem
prahe Whlch the embryo ruptures by means of
a special egg tooth. Usually the female leaves
them to incubate in the heat of the sun. hut
pythons wind them in their coils and communi.
cate 10 them their own feeble caloric.
What remains to be said about serpents will
ION account OF limited space) come under the
head OF Observation-Disclosures and Bodm,
aud the poison fanged -ProterogIypha
and Solenoglypha.
Pythonide, so called from their great size,
which, however, has been grossly exaggerated
In all countries where they exist aud during
ell times in which men have written or spoken
about them, bear strong general resemblance
TO our boas Both are constructors, and employ
much the same methods in taking prey. They
wrap their prehensile tails around the bouQhs
OF trees amid whose foliage the greater part Of
their length Ia diannaed and there ,uitL H.