SERPENTS, or OPHIDIAN REPTILES.

Ιn our article Reptilia (see Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. xix. p. 150) we deemed it advisable to postpone the consideration of the Ophidian order, in the hope that our readers might be benefited by the termination of MM. Dumeril and Bibron’s work, the most complete and careful publication by which the history of the reptile race has been as yet illustrated.^[1. Erpétolοgie Générαle, οu Histoire Naturelle complète des Reptiles, four vole. 8vo, with plates (containing hitherto only the Chelonian and a large portion of the Saurian orders). Paris, 1834-38. ] But having been disappointed in that expectation, we proceed to fill up our sketch of the class in question from other equally authentic sources. The student will bear in mind that our present treatise, relating to the third great order of reptiles, called Ophidia (from ὄφις, a serpent), interpolates at the page above referred to, and connects, in the natural system, the Sauria, or lizard-like reptiles, with the Batrachia or frogs, sirens, and salamanders. We also take leave to remind our readers (and this the more emphatically, seeing that the imperfect treatise now put forth is the last of the zoological essays for this work likely to proceed from the present pen), that the study of nature is a high and solemn calling, for the proper performance of which, according to the measure of each capacity, men are as accountable to their Creator as they are for the discharge of all other duties, whether moral, intellectual, or professional. We may not say to him who desires an entrance into that magnificent temple which God has erected in his works, “Take off thy shoes, for the place on which thou standest is holy ground ;” but we shall say, “Divest yourself of arrogance, conceit, and self-delusion; worship closely, continuously, and fervently; and ever bear in mind that you are yourself a reptile, debarred by the very constitution of your nature from seeing any thing otherwise than in a glass darkly.” Should not this feeling act as a monitor in favour of humility and distrust? From whence come contentions among you? From ignorance and folly, from the blinding effect produced by the undue importance which every man is apt to attach to his own small doings, and the frequent absence of that kindly consideration with which each Christian observer should view the labours both of predecessor and contemporary. It is indeed woful to think that those to whom God has given a taste for pursuits in themselves so pleasing and consolatory should so often disgrace their lofty calling by meanness and malice, and that irritability and “all uncharitableness” should in any way arise among men who, when not willingly blinded, may perceive at least a glimpse of what the divine Milton (with how much of inward light, though himself so “dim-suffused!”) has beautifully called “the bright countenance of truth shining amid the still air of delightful studies.” If naturalists are the priests of nature, then let them bear in mind that theirs is no vain or selfish ministration, and so conduct themselves
As ever in their great task-master’s eye.

The exact lines of demarcation which separate the primary orders of the reptile race are somewhat difficult to draw, as in truth must always be the case wherever there are strong affinities of form and habits. Natura non facit saltum, is a saying the truth of which the student of her manifold wonders must ever remember; and in our present department especially, there are several very singular creatures, which so combine the characters of two contiguous orders, that well-instructed naturalists differ as to whether they should terminate the one or commence the other. Thus Baron Cuvier’s last Ophidian genus is Caeilia, which Professor Bell regards as a Batrachian reptile, or ra-[7:20:122] ther as belonging to his separate class Αμρηιβιλ, which, after the example of Blainville and Latreille, he constitutes by means of the entire Batrachian order.^[2. Encyclopedia of Anatomy and Physiology, part i. p. 91. These amphibian orders are as follows: 1st, Ampl∣ipneurta, containing the Sirens and Proteans; 2d, Anoura, the frogs and toads; 3d, Urodela, the salamanders; 4th, Abranchia, the genera Menopoma and Ampbiuma; and, 5th, Apoda, the genus Crecilia. “It is easy,” adds Mr Swainson, “to perceive that this last passes into the first by means of the dipod Sirens, and thus the whole form a circular group more or less perfect in its connecting links.” ( Cabinet Cydopoedia, vol. cxvi. p. 86.) ] Thus also Lacerta apoda of Pallas, though furnished on each side with a small bone analogous to the femur, and pertaining to an actual pelvis concealed beneath the skin, is yet classed by the great French anatomist with the Ophidians, being, so to say, the “very head and front of their offending ;”^[3. See Règne Animat, ii. 69. ] s while several systematic writers range our Anguis fragilis, and other snakes commonly so called, among the lizards. An American reptile, Anguis ventralis of Linn., now forms Daudin’s genus Ophisaurus, the name of which (derived from ὄφις , serpent, and σαυϑoς, lizard) implies the peculiar combination now referred to. The Saurian genus Seps, described at the conclusion of our former treatise, is characterized by Cuvier as having an elongated body, “tout-à-fait semblable à celui d’un orvet” (Anguis) ; and, on the other hand, the same author enters upon his Ophidian order by means of the Anguidae, or slow-worms, which he simply describes as “des seps sans pieds.” These, and other examples which it would be easy to adduce, demonstrate the close connection which subsists between the Saurian and Ophidian orders.

It has indeed been customary to class among serpents whatever reptiles combined the absence of limbs with an extremely lengthened form of body; but a more rigorous observation will demonstrate that several species which, in accordance with that principle, will take their place as serpents, are yet in their prevailing organic structure removed from them in most essential points, the chief resemblance being that of the external and extremely lengthened form. Now this attenuated aspect, and absence of all the ordinary locomotive members, are likewise exhibited by several Saurian reptiles, and of course in an increased degree as they actually approach the serpent or Ophidian tribes; but the two characters just mentioned do not convert them from one order to another, being still held, as it were, in subordination to the general structure.^[4. “Lin examen comparatif,” observes M. Schlegel, “des objets m’a démontré que ces Sauriens anomaux, c’est-à-dire, à formes alongées et à extrémités rudimentaires, appartiennent toujours par l’ensemble de leur organisation à quelque espèce de l’une ou l’autre des familles de cet ordre, parmi lesquelles ils doivent être distribués. On ne peut nier, par exemple, qu’il y a un passage graduel des Scinques à l’Anguis et aux Acontias, par l’intermède des Scinques brachypus, decreensis, serpens, seps, du Pygodactyle et du Bipes,—êtres moins différons entre eux par leur organisation que par leurs formes, et qui ne composent qu’une scule famille, celle des Scincoides, de laquelle on ne saurait exclure ui les Ablephares ni les Gymnophthalmes. Le mime passage graduel existe dans la famille des Lézards, des genres Lacerta et Tachydromus au Monodactyle; on y peut ajouter comme espèce anomale le Pygopus. On pourrait rapprocher dans la méthode le Tetradactyle, le Chalcis, le Pseudopus, et l’Ophisaurus. Viennent enfin la famille des Amphisbènes,—Chirotes, Leposternon, Amphisbaena, et celle des Typhlops,—Typhlops, Rhinophis, Uropeltis.” {Physiognomie des Serpens, i. p. 2.) ]

We bring forward these observations at present, chiefly that the reader may understand why we commence our treatise on serpents by a brief sketch of several species which in truth we can scarcely regard as serpents at all, however raised “to that bad eminence” by many noted writers. We might have placed them at the termination of the Saurian order of our former article Reptilia ; but the fact being that we did not do so, we feel it incumbent on us, before proceeding to the serpents properly so called, to present a short notice of their names and nature. In doing this we shall follow for a space the arrangement of Baron Cuvier, presuming that the reader will now understand our views regarding the doubtful nature of all those genera which precede the true serpents, of the advent of which due notice will be given.

The French anatomist defines serpents as,—reptiles without feet, which advance by means of sinuous movements of the body. He divides them into three great groups,—the Anguidae or slow-worms,—the true serpents (subdivided into, 1st, double movers, i . e . the genera Amphisbaena and Typhlops; 2dly, serpents properly so called, containing all the actually Ophidian species),—and the naked serpents, composed of the single genus Cacilia.

We commence, then, with the

ANGUIDAE, OR SLOW-WORMS.

These still exhibit the bony head, the teeth, the tongue of Seps, and the eye is furnished with three eyelids. They correspond to the ancient unrestricted genus Anguis of Linnaeus, and are characterized externally by imbricated scales covering the whole body. The species now form four minor genera, of which the first three still exhibit beneath the skin certain small bones corresponding to those of the shoulder and pelvis.

Genus Pseudopus, Merrem. Tympanum visible externally. A prominence on each side of the anus, containing a small bone analogous to the femur, and appertaining to a true pelvis hid beneath the skin. Rudiments of the anterior extremities barely manifested by an inconspicuous fold, containing no interior humerus. One of the lungs is a quarter less than the other. The scales are thick and imbricated, and between those of the back and belly are some smaller scales, which produce a longitudinal furrow on either side.

Of the species, the earliest known is P. Pallasii, Cuv,, Lacerta apoda, Pallas,—discovered in the south of Russia by the naturalist last named.^[5. • Non. Com. Petrop. zix. plate 9, fig. 1. ] * It measures from one to two feet in length, and the colours are ferruginous above, pale yellow beneath. The scales of the back are smooth, those of the tail carinated. This species occurs also in Hungary and Dalmatia, and the specimen figured by Dr Shaw^[6. * General Zoology, iii. plate 86. ] s was procured in Greece by Dr John Sibthorpe, the professor of botany in the university of Oxford. M. Dur-ville discovered another species (which bears his name) in the Archipelago.^[7. Griffith’s Animat Kingdom, ix. 307. ] See Plate CCCCXLIII. fig. 1.

Genus Ophisaurus, Daudin. No external appearance even of the hinder extremities, but the tympanum is still apparent, and the scales exhibit a plication or folding upon each side of the trunk. The smaller lung only equals a third of the greater.^[8. Of the cranium of this genus, Cuvier has remarked, “C’est one vraie tête de Saurien.” Règne Animal, iii. 430. ]

The best known species is Oph. ventralis,—Anguis ventralis, Linn.,—an American reptile, common in the southern states of the union. It is of a greenish yellow, spotted above with black. Its tail is longer than its body, and the creature itself is so brittle and easily broken, even in the living state, as to be known by the name of glass serpent. According to Catesby, “a small blow of a stick causes the body to separate, not only at the place struck, but at two or three other places, the muscles being articulated quite through the vertebrae.”^[9. • Curotina, ii. plate 59. ] ·[7:20:123] GeNus Anguis, Cuv. No extremities visible externally. Tympanum concealed beneath the skin. Maxillary teeth compressed and hooked,—no teeth upon the palate. Body surrounded by imbricated scales, without plication on the sides. One of the lungs is a half less than the other.

The English slow-worm, Anguis fragilis, is common over a great part of Europe.^[10. Lacépède. Quadrupèdes Ovipares, ii. plate 19, 1. ] It is very smooth, of a shining brownish-gray above, inclining to reddish on the sides, and bluish-black upon the under surface. It rarely measures more than a foot in length. It lives on insects and small mollusea, excavates circuitous holes in the earth, of several feet in extent, and with more than one issue. It is an innocent and gentle creature, remarkable for stiffening itself so much when seized as sometimes to break in two. Hence its specific name of fragilis. Genus Acontias, Cuv. No osseous pieces corresponding to the sternum and pelvis, the shoulder-blades and clavicles. Anterior ribs united to each other inferiorly by cartilaginous prolongations. Teeth small and conical: “Je crois,” says Cuvier, “leur en avoir apercu quelques-unes au palais.”^[11. Rèyne Animal, ii. 70. ] Muzzle enclosed in a kind of mask. One lung of medium size, and another of very small dimensions.

To this genus belongs the speckled slow-worm of Shaw, Anguis Meleagris, Linn., a native of the Cape of Good Hope·^[12. ’ Thesaurus, ii. tab. 21, fig. 4. It is not found in the East Indies, as both Seba and Shaw supposed. ] Its tail is much shorter and more obtuse than that of the British slow-worm. Its upper surface is spotted longitudinally with brown. Africa produces other species, one of which, according to Cuvier (Ac. caecus), is entirely blind.

We now reach Baron Cuvier’s second great division, the T rue Serpents, consisting of all those genera which exhibit no vestige of either shoulder or sternum, but have a great portion of the circumference of the body surrounded by the ribs. The vertebras articulate by means of a convex facette at one end, entering into a concave facette of that which follows. (See Plate CCCCXLIV. fig. 2 a and 2 b .) The third eye-lid and the tympanum are wanting, but the osselet of the ear exists beneath the skin, and its handle passes behind the tympanic bone. Several still manifest a remnant of the posterior members hid beneath the skin, or even showing themselves externally under the form of small hooks.^[13. Naturalists, as we shall afterwards take occasion to notice, differ in their views regarding the exact nature of these outward appendages. They are described by M. Mayer, in the twelfth volume of the Academia Natur∣e Curiosorum of Bonn. ] The first two genera are scarcely entitled to the designation of True Serpents; and Baron Cuvier has himself drawn a line between them and those which he names Serpents properly so called, although the two terms seem not particularly distinctive. The reptiles in question form the tribe Double Marcheurs of Cuvier, and may be named

AMPIIISBAENIDAE, OR BLIND-WORMS.

The lower jaw still continues, as among the preceding groups, supported by a tympanic bone, articulated directly to the cranium, the two branches of that jaw being soldered together anteriorly, while those of the upper one are fixed to the cranium and the intermaxillary bone. This formation both produces an equality of dimension between the head and the rest of the body, and also prevents that peculiar power of dilatation for which the genuine serpents are so remarkable. (See Plate CCCCXLIII. fig. l a .) Their general form, according to Cuvier, “leur permet de marcher également bien dans les deux sens,” a fact, however, which that great observer does not seem to state as from the “ocular proof,” and for the confirmation of which we have sought in vain in the work of any well-instructed traveller. The bony frame-work of the orbit is incomplete behind, the eye is extremely small, and the body is covered with scales. The windpipe is elongated, the heart placed far backwards, and the anus situate close to the extremity of the body. None of the known species is venomous. Of the two genera, the one is closely related to Chalcis and Chirotis, the other to Anguis and Acontias.

Genus Amphisbaena, Linn. The entire body covered by circular ranges of quadrangular scales. A range of pores anterior to the anus. Teeth of a conical form, numerous on the jaws, none upon the palate; only a single lung.

The species are South American reptiles, to which an ancient classical name has been, with no great propriety, applied. (See Plate CCCCXLIII. fig. 2.) The white one, Amph. alba, Linn., measures from a foot and a half to two feet in length, and is proportionably of a bulky form.^[14. Lacép. ii. pi. 21, 1. ] It inhabits Brazil, where its native name of Ibriaram signifies Lord of the Earth. It was first described by Marcgrave, who, however, states erroneously that it is venomous, and will wound either with head or tail. It preys on insects, and is often found near ant-hills. Another species, from Martinique (Amph. caeca, Cuv.), is stone-blind.

It may be observed in passing, that the genus Leposternon of Spix is composed of Amphisbaenae, of which the anterior part of the body is furnished below with several plates, which interrupt the ranging of the circular rings. They have no pores anterior to the anus, the head is short, and the muzzle slightly projecting. Example, Lep. microcephalies, Spix,— Amph. punctata of Prince Maximilian (Neuwied).

Genus Typhlops, Schneider. Body covered with small imbricated scales (as in Anguis, with which group the species were for a long time combined). Muzzle advanced, furnished with plates. Tongue long and forked; eye in the form of a minute point, scarcely visible through the skin; anus almost terminal; one lung four times larger than the other.

These, as Cuvier remarks, are small serpent-like creatures, which bear a great resemblance to earth-worms. They inhabit the warmer countries both of America and the old world. Some have the head obtuse, and of equal diameter with the body. Such is T. braminus, Cuv., the punctulated slow-worm of Shaw, and rondos talooloopam of Dr Russel.^[15. * Serpente of the Coast of Coromandel, p. 48, pl. 43. ] It is a diminutive reptile, measuring about six inches in length, with the thickness of a hen’s quill. It is of a cream-colour, powdered over with innumerable black dots. It is common in Vizagapatam, and, according to the author last named, is vulgarly reputed mischievous. It is described as moving with great swiftness; and a specimen immersed in spirits remained alive for more than ten minutes. Others (and these the majority) have the muzzle depressed and obtuse, and furnished anteriorly with several plates. Example, T. reticulatus. ^[16. Scheuchzer. Physica Sacra, pl. 747, 4. ] A few have the front of the muzzle covered by a single broad plate. Such is T. subargenteus (Anguis lumbricalis, Linn. and Lacep.), the silvery snake of Brown.^[17. Civil and Natural History of Jamaica, p. 460, pi. 44, 6g. 1. ] “Finally, there are one or more peculiar species, in which the muzzle terminates in a small conical point, and the posterior extremity is enveloped by a horny buckler of an oval form. We here place T. Philippinus, Cuv., which measures about eight inches in length, and is entirely of a black colour. We presume that Dr Shaw’s snouted slow-worm, Anguis nasuta (A. rostrata of Weigel^[18. Berlin Transactions, iii. p. 190. ]), though differing in colour, is nearly allied, and ought to be placed in the same genus.[7:20:124] We now arrive, “by lingering steps and slow,” at the genuine serpents, or

OPHIDIAN REPTILES, PROPERLY SO CALLED.

The principal characteristic of the serpent race consists in an extremely elongated body, clothed with scales, destitute of limbs, and furnished with a tail, or caudal extremity. Locomotion is effected by lateral undulations, aided by the scales externally, and by the ribs within. Although the general form, viewed in relation to its transverse dimensions, is concentred to an extremely small diameter, the different parts are capable of great enlargement, which admits in many cases of their swallowing bodies bigger than themselves. In conformity with this peculiar structure, even the bony portions of the head are not so knit together as in other animals, but, with the exception of the parts which protect the brain, are capable of a certain degree of separation. (See Plate CCCCXLIII. fig. 16.) The development of the tympanic bones; their mode of attachment; the mobility which they enjoy from not being fixed to the cranium by their lower extremity; finally, the structure of the under jaw, the two branches of which are capable of separation in consequence of being united by elastic ligaments instead of symphysis; all combine to produce the vast swallowing powers of these reptiles. The entire absence of limbs is accompanied by an equal absence of those solid portions, such as the sternum and pelvis, which unite the limbs with the body. The ribs are free for the same reason, and thus readily admit both of the occasional enlargement of the intestinal cavity, and of that extreme pliancy of form for which all the species are remarkable, whether they creep, climb, or swim. To facilitate these various movements, the general envelope is minutely subdivided into numerous compartments, the scales of the Lower surface being usually much larger than those of the upper, and subserving the place of feet, the ribs being attached to the lateral margin of the inner surface of these abdominal plates. The space of bare skin between the scales is greater among serpents than other reptiles, and on the throat this bare expanse forms a longitudinal cleft, known by the name of gular furrow.

The true Ophidians are closely connected to the Saurian order by the preceding genera Amphisbaena and Typhiops, which certainly form a passage from one of those great ordinal groups to the other. It is these connecting links that render precise definitions, drawn from a few apparent characters, so difficult, if not impossible. “Il est très Sicile,” observes M. Schlegel, “de se faire one idée d’un serpent, lorsqu’on prend pour type one des espèces où tous les charactères de l’ordre se trouvent réunis; mais il est difficile de consigner des marques distinctives qui separent d’une manière tranchée les Ophidiens des Sauriens.”^[19. Estai sur la Physiognomie des Serpens, par IL Schlegel. La Haye, two vols. 8vo, 1837. Of this, the most recent and complete work on our present department with which we are acquainted, we have availed ourselves largely in the following treatise. ] Thus the gular furrow which characterizes all serpents except the genus Acrochordus, exists also among lizards, and several other Saurian reptiles. A few Ophidians even exhibit vestiges of the hinder extremities, analogous to what we may observe among the so-called apodal Saurions, although there is reason to suspect that the parts alluded to represent, in the latter the pelvis, in the former the actual extremities.^[20. ’ We have exhibited these parts as they exist in the genus Boa. See Plate CCCCXL1V. tigs. 1, la , and l b ] Perhaps the characters deduced from the bones of the cranium would afford the best distinctions between the two orders, were it not that in these, too, certain species of the genera Typhlops and Uropeltis make a near approach to the true Ophidians. It may be well, however, to state briefly the distinguishing features in the cranial osteology of the latter order. The bones of the face in serpents never form a fixed mass perforated by the nostrils, and incased by sutures in each other; and the intermaxillary bone, trigonal, and compressed in its form, is always free, and to a certain extent moveable, that is, never soldered by sutures to the maxillaries on either side. The maxillarius themselves, when united to the anterior frontale, are so merely by a narrow attachment, always preserving a certain mobility; and the lateral margins of the nasal bones are free throughout their whole extent. No Ophidian reptile has thick conical teeth perpendicularly incased; they rather resemblc hooks curved backwards, with sharp points; and we believe that all serpents, with the exception of the genus Oligodon, have the palate armed with teeth resembling those on the maxillae, whilst in the Saurian order the palatine teeth exist only in the form of small irregular asperities.

From the preceding brief sketch it may be inferred, that the most peculiar character of serpents consists in their mode of locomotion, and their extraordinary powers of deglutition. These conditions modify their entire organization, for the former determines the general shape of the body, and the latter that of the internal parts. On examining the position of the intestines, we find that these organs, which in the majority of other vertebrated beings occupy several spacious cavities, are in the Ophidians enclosed within a long and narrow cylinder. It is obvious that this disposition cannot prevail without great changes in the form of the viscera; and the disturbance alluded to is even destructive of bilateral symmetry. We thus find the heart sometimes far removed from, at others closely approached towards, the head, according as the stomach is more or less extended; it is thus also that most frequently there is only a single lung, sometimes extending in front of the heart, but usually placed behind that organ, and almost always terminated by a species of sack of greater or less extent, and serving as a reservoir of air. The liver, for the same reason, assumes a narrow ribbon shape, extending from the heart to the pylorus. The gall-vessel, that it may not be interrupted in its functions by the repletion of the stomach, is removed from the liver, and placed in the same curve of the duodenum as that which receives the pancreas and the spleen. The stomach resembles a lengthened narrow cylinder. Then follow the intestines of which the numerous inflections are filled with fat, and which, after descending in a straight line, terminate in the cloaca. the lower portion of the abdominal cavity not being sufficiently spacious for the reception of the rest of the organs there thence results an anomalous disposition of the kidneys testicles and ovaries. “La verge enfin, et un organe sécréteur, sont logés dans la queue.” These peculiar forms, however, of the majority of the internal parts of serpents exercise no influence over their functions; for, on more minute investigation, we find that they vary not only in distinct species but in different individuals of the same species.

The disposition of the external organs on the contrary, present much more constant forms; but these parts are modified by the habits of the species whether arboreal, terrestrial, or aquatic. The mode of locomotion is however, very uniform, the movement being nearly the same which aids a serpent while gliding on the surface of the ground, traversing the depths of lakes and rivers, or climbing around the umbrageous branches of forest-trees. The lateral undulations of the body suffice for these progressions; and it is chiefly the sea-snakes that make use of their tails which are expressly organized for that special purpose, acting as a scull. The degree of rapidity depends in a great measure on the nature of the surface in which the motion is[7:20:125] exercised. Serpents drag themselves along with difficulty over glass or any polished body, but make their way with great alacrity over any earthy irregular surface, or through tangled vegetation. For the exercise of these movements it is of course necessary that the bones and muscles should be fitly disposed; and every one who has examined a properly prepared serpent, must have been struck at once by the multiplicity and uniformity of its parts. The ribs and vertebrae are almost all alike in their formation, and it is only towards the caudal extremity that the bones diminish in bulk.

As all the vertebrae of serpents carry ribs, the usual distinctions of cervical, dorsal, and lumbar, do not exist; and it follows, that the number of ribs always corresponds to that of vertebrae. Moreover, as the sealyarticulations of the skin always correspond to the ribs, which are their levers, so the number of abdominal plates agrees with the amount of ribs and vertebrae. This number varies not only with the species, but the individuals, and to so surprising an extent, that we not unfrequently find a difference in the same species, amounting to thirty or even fifty vertebrae. The number of vertebrae of the body, properly so called, rarely exceeds 300, and is never fewer than 100; the vertebrae of the tail, on the contrary, are sometimes reduced to five, although in other cases they amount to from 150 to 200. The ribs are more numerous in serpents than in any other class of created beings, several having above 500,— that is 250, or upwards, on each side of the spinal column. We here figure the skeleton of the common ringed snake of England,— Tropidonotus natrix. See Plate CCCCXL1V. fig. 2.

The muscles exhibit various modifications in the different species. In some they are remarkable for their considerable size, and for the extraordinary development of tendons, especially among the venomous kinds. This organization is necessary for the production of that force and energy with which their undulating movements are often executed. The muscles which produce these effects are situate along the sides of the back, and on the anterior face of the vertebrae; but as the ribs likewise exercise the function of locomotive organs, the numerous muscles which are attached to these parts greatly facilitate the lateral movements. The muscles of serpents being greatly interlaced, it becomes difficult to describe them singly, and their comparison with analogous parts in the higher orders is by no means easy. These anatomical details, however, are not to be expected in the present publication. We therefore refer the reader to the works of Horae,^[21. Phil. Trans, vol. X.; and Lectures on Comp. Anat. ] Hübner,^[22. De Organis motoriis Boa canina. ] Dugès,^[23. Ann. des Seiences A'at. vol. xii. ] Duvernoy,^[24. « Ibid. ] Meckel,^[25. Vergt. Anat. vol. iii. p. 130, et suiv. ] ’ and Schlegel.^[26. Physiognomie des Serpens, vol. i. p. 18. ]

The muscles of serpents, as of other reptiles, preserve their irritability for a long time after what we may regard as the actual death of the animal; for these creatures, although deprived of their head, and divested of their skin, will continue to exhibit muscular movements for several weeks, if kept in a moist condition. Swammerdam, in his Biblia Naturae, has proved, both by his figures and descriptions of frogs, that even at that early period (1666), that peculiar galvanic effect was demonstrated in the muscles of these reptiles, which at a future period gave rise to such important discoveries regarding the phenomena of Voltaic electricity.

A few words may he said regarding the supposed vestiges of the hinder extremities observable in certain serpents. Several species exhibit on each side of the anus a small hook or crotchet, half concealed by scales. The existence of these parts has been long recognised, but we believe it is to Professor Mayer of Bonn that we owe a more precise know ledge of their nature. The only Ophidian genera in which they have been hitherto precisely observed, are Tortrix, Python, and Boa. They are most developed among the Boas, and the huge size of these reptiles admits of a more satisfactory examination. (See Plate CCCCXLIV. figs. 1, la, and 15.) These vestiges, then, consist of an assemblage on each side, of three principal osseous pieces, and of two small accessory portions attached at the point of articulation of the tibia and tarsus. The terminal bone, which alone appears externally, is in the form of a crotchet, covered by a hard and sealyskin. When a longitudinal incision is made in the flesh, we find that the interior piece, which is the most developed, more or less S shaped, and comparable to the tibia, is prolonged with its free extremity into the abdominal cavity. The middle portion, on the contrary, which seems to represent the tarsus, is thick, short, slightly arched, and completely concealed within the flesh. This apparatus is moved by flexor and extensor muscles of a sufficiently simple structure. The use of these vestiges of the posterior members is still unknown. Their feeble development debars the idea of their contributing in any way to locomotion. Certain observers maintain that they are prehensile organs, which give firmness of position on whatever bodies are embraced by the circumvolutions of the tail and trunk; or that they may even subserve the generative process. They exist in both sexes.

When in a state of entire repose, the majority of serpents love to roll themselves into a spiral mass, with the head in the centre, slightly raised above the other portions. Possessing the power of bending their bodies in almost all directions, we at the same time frequently find them simply extended on the ground or herbage in a sinuous curve. To produce progressive motion, they merely unrol the body, and bending it into successive lateral sinuosities, bring into play the numerous points of contact presented by the anterior extremities of the ribs, and thus push along with great facility. These reptiles are frequently observed to raise the anterior portion of their body into an erect position, supporting themselves on the tail and part of the abdomen, as if with a view to survey the scene around them. The body, itself, is then usually quite stiff and straight, although some assume a more curved attitude, besides exhibiting a peculiar swelling or enlargement of the neck. When suspended perpendicularly from the branch of a tree, the great Boas exhibit scarcely any sign of life or motion. They descend simply by dropping themselves downwards, their peculiar form and great elasticity of structure preventing their receiving any injury from the fall; and when they reach the ground, this rapid movement, so far from proving hurtful, aids by its impulsion their terrestrial progress.

Frequent mention has been made by vague observers, of serpents which could execute a retrograde movement,— gliding backwards as easily as in an ordinary direction. This fact has not been established on the authority of any instructed naturalist, and may well be doubted, notwithstanding what the ancients have said of the Amphisbaena (αμφὶς and βαίvειv, marching both wags), a reptile alleged to have a head at either end, and supposed to be endowed with the faculty of progressing in both directions.^[27. Pim. 8. 35i Aeiian, 9. 23. ] The name, originally applied to a species of the ancient world, probably the Brgx, has been erroneously bestowed by modern naturalists (following the example of the Portuguese) on a tribe of serpents peculiar to America,—a country which knew not Aristotle.

The majority of serpents (both of the innocent and the colubriform venomous kinds) defend themselves against the[7:20:126] attack of their enemies by darting upon them, with the head elevated, so as to enable them to bite with greater energy. A few, such as the Najas, raise a considerable portion of the anterior of the body, so as to assume a very singular position. Most of them give utterance to a sharp hissing sound as a prelude to battle; and they also produce a peculiar blowing, by forcing the air rapidly through the nostrils. Several species throw themselves upon their prey with a great and sudden bound, usually seizing it by the throat; while others encircle it by a tortuous embrace, thus pressing it to death by sinewy folds. The venomous kinds make use of the same means to obtain their food as they do to defend themselves from threatened danger. Quietly stretched along the earth, they will attack indifferently whatever incommodes them; but knowing the potency of their empoisoned fangs, they are satisfied by the infliction of a murderous bite, without recourse to muscular pressure.

As snakes swallow their food entire, and without mastication, their teeth serve merely to wound and retain their prey, or to instil into it the envenomed fluid. This deadly matter is the product of certain glands of the head. These are of two kinds; the one composed, like the salivary glands of quadrupeds and birds, of numerous small granules, which secrete a fluid analogous to saliva, and destined to prepare the food for digestion; the other, of a very different nature, forming a thick sack, of which the interior is divided into numerous compartments, and distilling a liquid which, by its fatal effects on the principle of life, becomes a dreadful instrument of destruction. The salivary glands are common alike to all Ophidian reptiles, but scarcely a fourth of the entire species are provided with those which secrete the poison. The teeth which conduct this fatal fluid into the wound are hollow and pierced at each extremity. They are always situate towards the anterior end of the maxillary bone, are covered by the gums, which there form a kind of sheath, and are always kept bent when in repose. The rest of the teeth, and the whole of those of the innocuous kinds, are solid, with the exception of the hollow which contains the nutritive organ of the tooth. Although these large anterior fangs are characteristic of the poisonous kinds, we yet find a considerable number of innocuous species, of various genera, which have the jaws armed with one or two teeth larger than the others, and usually furrowed by a cleft extending along the anterior face. These grooved teeth are always situate at the base or posterior extremity of the maxillaries, and it is but seldom that we perceive a second on the middle portion of the jaw. Their sole function is believed to be the pouring into their wounded prey an abundant supply of saliva secreted by the posterior part of the salivary glands, which are most voluminous in the region occupied by the teeth in question. The organization of these posterior glands entirely resembles that of the ordinary salivary ones; and recent observation has demonstrated, that the bite of species belonging to the genera Dryophis, Dipsas, and others with furrowed teeth, is followed by no fatal results, at least to the human race.^[28. The glands in the head of serpents have been discussed in numerous publications. See, among others, Ranby, Phil. Trans. No. 401, p. 377; Tiedemann, Mim. del’Acad, de Munich, 181.1, p. 25; Cloquet, Mém. du Mus., vii. p. 62; Demoulins ap. Magendie, Journ. de Physiol, iv. p 274; Meckel, Archie, i. 1; and Duvernoy, Ann. des Sciences Nat. xxvi. and xxx. Various observations bearing on the subject will also be found in the well-known writings of Redi, Mead, Fontana, and other physiologists. ] *

In studying in detail the teeth of the Ophidian reptiles, we may perceive a gradation from the solid to the hooked teeth. Each tooth in fact consists, in its earliest development, of a kind of lamella with curved margins, so as to open as it were on its anterior face. In the so-called solid teeth, this opening has become filled by the union of the margins at an early period; it continues open for a longer time in the hooks of the most venomous kinds, but in the completed state they exhibit only the two orifices destined for the entrance and emission of the poison,—the lower one continuing to preserve the character of a longitudinal cleft. In other poisonous species we find analogous fangs, but with a continuing vestige of the groove which formerly united the two orifices. Finally, the furrow in the lengthened posterior teeth of certain innocuous species, is nothing more than the permanence of the groove now mentioned.

The solid teeth occur indifferently in all Ophidian reptiles; but their number, form, and position, vary in the different species. With the exception of the genus Oligo-don, which is unprovided with palatine teeth, there are always four rows of teeth in the upper jaw (see Plate CCCCXLIII. fig. le), and two in the lower. Intermaxillary teeth are not observable, except in the genus Python, and occasionally in Tortrix scytale,— the number rarely exceeding four (see figure last referred to). These solid teeth are usually all of equal length; but in the Boas they enlarge towards the extremity of the muzzle (fig. 11), while the reverse is the case in several species of coluber, Tropidonοtus, &c. The Lycodons exhibit some teeth more largely developed than the others at the anterior extremity of the maxillaries; those of Dryophis and Psammophis are rather unequal, several being even greatly elongated towards the centre of the jaw; those of certain species of Dipsas, Homalopsis, &c. are often furrowed; while other genera, such as Xenodon, Coronella, and several kinds of Homalopsis, have the base of the maxillaries armed with a strongly developed tooth of a solid structure. The number of teeth, in general, obviously varies in relation to the development of the maxillaries and of the dental bone of the lower jaw.

The poison-gland, which forms so peculiar a character of the noxious kinds, is enclosed in a thickish tendinous envelope, hard and tenacious to the touch, and diminishing backwards into the form of a narrow ribbon, by which it is attached to the articulation of the lower jaw. Anteriorly this envelope is also restricted to a canal-shaped space, which stretches along the maxillaries, and then descends towards the orifice already mentioned, of the anterior face of the base of the hooked fang. (See Plate CCCCXLIII. fig. 10). Among the poisonous serpents properly so called, this canal is folded when the fangs are in a state of repose, but easily extends in conformity with the movement of the maxillary bones. The interior of the poison-gland is subdivided into a great number of minute cells, produced by very slender partitions, which cross each other at an angle more or less acute. To this peculiar structure, so dissimilar to that of the salivary glands, is due the secretion called poison, from its fatal effect when mingled with the blood of any living creature. It is true, that the bite of even the most innocent animal may sometimes produce the most disastrous results, by a concourse of peculiar circumstances, such as the temperature of the climate, the psychological or pathological condition of the creature bitten, or the rabid fury of that which has aggressed, and for this reason the bite of innocuous serpents may have sometimes proved fatal even to the human race; but the poison of the injurious kinds holds its noxious qualitics in its very nature, although the circumstances just alluded to may render more deadly its destroying powers.

The poison of snakes, when fresh, may be described as a transparent limpid fluid, of a greenish-yellow colour, slightly gluey, viscous, adhering to other objects when dried, and evaporating without burning when exposed to fire. It sinks in water, and when mingled with it by shaking, produces a troubled and somewhat whitish appearance. It partakes greatly of the nature of mucus; and when placed in contact with any re-active substance, we discover that it[7:20:127] is neither acid nor alkaline; there is nothing peculiar in its odour, and when applied upon the tongue it produces a sensation resembling that of fresh fat. Our recorded notices on the subject are, however, somewhat contradictory. Dr Mead and his associates, in certain experiments on the poison of the viper, inform us that that fluid, “when diluted with a little warm water, was very sharp and fiery when tasted with the tip of the tongue, as if the tongue had been struck through with something scalding or burning; this sensation went off in two or three hours; and one gentleman who would not be satisfied without trying a large drop undiluted, found his tongue swelled, with a little inflammation, and the soreness lasted two days.” The Abbe Fontana, on the contrary, describes it as of no particular acrimony of taste, but rather resembling oil or gum; and Dr Russel makes the same statement regarding the poison even of the Cobra de Capello, a species much more venomous than any viper. The accounts of its effect upon the stomach, when taken internally, also show that doctors differ. It is long since Celsus said, “nam venenum serpentis non gustu sed in vulnere nocet.” Boerhaave quotes the well-known case of Jacob Sozzi, who, at the court of the Duke of Tuscany, is alleged to have taken three drams of this poison, without experiencing any bad consequences; while Fontana affirms, that although its internal effect is not like that of a bite or puncture, it cannot be swallowed with impunity. On this point the older authors, as Dr Shaw informs us, also disagree. Matthiolus asserts, that even when sucked from a wound it has proved fatal; while others confirm the prevailing opinion of ancient writers, and the experience of Cato’s soldiery, that it is harmless when so received. The practice, indeed, of the Psylli and Marmarides of old,
Tame, at whose voice, spell-bound, the dread Cerastes lay,

probably proceeded upon this principle of suction. These Psylli were African tribes, and were employed, according to Lucan, by Cato, for the recovery of such of his men as had been bitten by serpents during their march among the Libyan deserts. The heroic Roman is also said to have assured his followers, who feared to drink, even in “a dry and desert land,” of the translucent fountains, lest they too should be infected by serpents, that, however noxious might be the bite of these envenomed reptiles, yet the poison must lose its effects when mingled with so pure an element.
And now with fiercer heat the desert glows,
And mid-day gleamings aggravate their woes;
When, Io! a spring amid the sandy plain
Shews its clear mouth to cheer the fainting train.
But round the guarded brink in thick array
Dire Aspics roll’d their congregated way,
And thirsting, in the midst, the dreadful Dipsas lay.
Blank horror seized their veins, and at the view
Back from the fount the troops recoiling flew.
When, wise above the crowd, by cares unquell’d,
Their awful leader thus their fears dispell’d:
Let not vain terrors now your minds enslave,
Nor dream the serpent brood can taint the wave;
Urged by the fatal fang their poison kills.
But mixes harmless with those bubbling rills.
Dauntless he spoke, and bending as he stood.
Drank with cool courage the suspected flood.

The poison of the viper, according to Boerhaave, is rendered inactive by digestion in the stomach and bowels, so that it will not afterwards exert its fatal influence on the blood; “for a whole ounce of this venom taken by the mouth will not kill an animal, while at the same time a small needle only dipped in the same fluid, and taking up perhaps not more than the hundredth part of a drop, when thrust into the blood of a living creature, almost infallibly destroys.”^[29. See Shaw’s General Zoology, iii. p. 371. ] The following is Bruce the travellers well-

known but extraordinary narrative. “I will not hesitate to aver that I have seen at Cairo (and this may be seen daily, without trouble or expense) a man who came from above the catacombs, where the pits of the mummy-birds are kept, who has taken a cerastes with his naked hand from a number of others lying at the bottom of the tub, has put it upon his bare head, covered it with the common red cap he wears, then taken it out, put it in his breast, and tied it about his neck like a necklace; after which it has been applied to a hen, and bit it, which has died in a few minutes; and, to complete the experiment, the man has taken it by the neck, and beginning at the tail, has ate it as one would do a carrot or a stock of celery, without any seeming repugnance.”

This opinion, however, that the poison of snakes may be taken internally without producing any troublesome effects, has been recently contradicted by the experience of Dr Hering, at Surinam. This traveller took at different times various doses of the poison of a rattle-snake (Crotalus mutus) mixed with water, and suffered from its effects for upwards of eight succeeding days. These manifested themselves by pains in the larynx and other parts of the body, by an increased secretion of mucus in the membranes of the nose and oesophagus, and by frequent diarrhoea, accompanied by pain in the rectum. To these symptoms were added several others of a rather curious kind, attributable to the influence which this poison seemed to exercise even over the moral faculties.

By far the most deleterious effect, however, of this subtle fluid is produced by its mingling with the blood, through the medium of an inflicted wound. It then shows its morbid influence with a rapidity often frightful, and usually proportioned to the quantity of the poison instilled, and to the abundance with which the wounded part is furnished with those vessels which bear the stream of life. For this reason, of course, the bite of a large snake is more dangerous than that of a small one; and so also a wound in the tongue, or in any vein, is almost always mortal, while it not unfrequently happens, that when a hard or callous part is bitten, no injurious results are found to follow. Coldblooded animals are much less affected by the bite of a snake than are quadrupeds or birds; and in the majority of invertebrated tribes it produces no effect whatever. Generally speaking, however, the smaller the victim, the more deadly are the consequences of a wound. In Europe, the human race scarcely ever suffers fatally from the bite of a viper; and it is supposed that the poison of several would be required to kill a bullock or a horse. So at least say many modern writers; yet we cannot help remembering what Boerhaave tells us regarding a viper, which, “being enraged by the members of the Tuscan Academy,” and then suffered to bite the nose of a strong bull, the ponderous creature died in a very short time. A small quadruped dies rapidly from an infliction of the slightest wound. In tropical countries, however, where the poisonous species are often of considerable size, and their venom is both more abundant and in a state of higher concentration, the effects are fatal both to man and beast. The activity of the poison, in truth, increases with the temperature of the climate.

Various experiments have been tried, with a view to ascertain the strength of this animal poison in different species of serpents, and the best means of arresting its fatal influence. The observations of Laurentius, Fontana, Russel, Davy, and Lenz, are familiar to the student of physiology, but less satisfactory in their results than might be desired, from the modifying effects of special circumstances. To obtain well rectified general inferences, it would be necessary that numerous experiments should be tried with serpents of corresponding size, existing under similar circum[7:20:128] stances, and in relation to victims of the same constitution; and by repeating these experiments with various kinds of serpents, and taking the average effect of each∣ kind as a result, we might in a measure ascertain the different characters of these animal poisons, of which we have as yet but a meagre knowledge.

The effect of a serpent’s bite usually manifests itself without delay. A sharp pain is felt in the part pierced by the fangs, although the puncture is extremely minute, and scarcely a drop of blood may flow; swelling follows, and inflammation soon declares itself. The progressive effects upon other parts of the system are exhibited by a general feebleness; walking becomes painful, and respiration laborious and constrained; the patient suffers from ardent thirst, followed by nausea, vomiting, glimmering of the sight, and other symptoms, which, combined with acute bodily pains, often deprive the victim of his senses. Livid spots sometimes surround the wound, the dread precursors of that fatal gangrene which, spreading more extensively, ere long puts a period to existence. “His strength is poured out like water, and all his bones are out of joint; his heart is like wax, it is melted in the midst of his bowels. His strength is dried up like a potsherd, and his tongue cleaveth to his jaws, and he is brought unto the dust of death.” Then, instead of the bloom of youth, the power of manhood, or the pride of beauty, we behold but a bloated corpse, the sad repulsive remnant of humanity. It may be remarked, however, that the poison of these subtle reptiles seems to deprive us of life under a considerable variety of aspects. A lethargic torpor without pain is said to follow the bite of the asp; and hence, we presume, its preference by that luxurious queen for whom Antony “lost the world.” The fact, though doubted by medical observers, seems in a great measure confirmed by the examples adduced by Captain Gowdie, as recorded by Dr Russel.^[30. • In his work on the Serpents of the Coast of Coromandel. ] Lucan of old has distinguished the poisonous serpents that infested the march of the Roman army over the deserts of Libya, by the various symptoms which they produced; but his dreadful catalogue should perhaps be regarded rather as a piece of poetical embellishment than as an historical relation. Yet it seems now believed, that however the symptoms may vary, the nature and action of the poison is the same in all, and is in most cases to be counteracted by the same means. The virulence of the bite even of individuals of the same species probably varies according to the season of the year, just as their manners and external aspect also vary, as so beautifully described by Virgil.
Postquam exhausta palus, terraeque ardore dehiscunt;
Exi lit in siccum, et flammantia lumina torquens
Sevit agris, asperque siti, atque exterritus aestu.
Ne mihi tum molles sub dio carpere somnos.
Neu dorso nemoris libeat jacuisse per herbas:
Cùm positis novus exuviis nitidusque juventu,
Volvitur, aut catulos tectis aut ova relinquens.
Arduas ad Solem, et linguis micat ore trisulcis.^[31. ’ Geor. lib. iii. 1. 432. ]

The excessive rapidity with which death was frequently produced by the bite of venomous serpents:, induced Dr Mead to conclude that its fatal influence affected the nervous rather than the circulating system. But the experiments of Fontana go far to demonstrate that the venom of the viper is perfectly innocent when applied to the nerves only; but that it acts immediately upon the blood, and through the medium of that fluid destroys the irritability of the muscular fibre, and so produces death. A different idea has been more recently proposed; that the poison of serpents acts upon the blood by attracting the oxygen which it contains, and which is believed to be essential to its vital functions. The human heart, and in general the heart of all animals with warm blood, has two ventricles or cavities; and the blood, before it is returned to the right ventricle, has to perform two circles, a lesser between the heart and the lungs, and a greater between the heart and the rest of the body. While the blood passes through the hmgs, it undergoes a very remarkable change of colour, and of other properties. A certain portion of atmospheric air is attracted and absorbed, while the remainder carries off by expiration whatever ingredient of the blood is either unnecessary or injurious. The atmosphere we respire is a compound fluid, of which one portion is oxygen or pure air, and another and much larger is noxious or azotic air; and it is the former ingredient only which is attracted by the blood in its passage through the lungs, and contributes to the maintenance of animal life. From this combination, the heat of animals, and the brilliant colour of the blood, are supposed to be derived.

The preceding observations will enable the reader to comprehend more clearly the theory of the action of poisons proposed by Mr Boag. He adduces the following arguments in its support: 1. Man and other warm-blooded animals, exposed to an atmosphere deprived of oxygen, quickly expire. The poison of a serpent, when introduced into the blood, also causes death; but carried into circulation by a wound, and in very small quantity, its operation is comparatively slow and gradual. 2. The appearances on dissection are very similar in both cases, the blood becoming of a darker hue, and coagulating about the heart and larger vessels. The destruction of the fibrous irritability, and tendency to rapid putrefaction, are also remarkable in each. 3. Although Dr Mead mingled the venom of a viper with healthy blood out of the body without perceiving it produce any change in its appearance, this is presumed to arise from his having mixed a very small portion of poison with a large portion of blood; but if two or three drops of venom be mixed with forty or fifty drops of blood, it immediately loses its vermilion colour, becomes black, and incapable of coagulation. 4. It is, moreover, a remarkable circumstance, that the poison of serpents has most power over those animals in which the blood is the warmest and the action of the heart the most lively, while it is but a tardy and altogether uncertain instrument of death to the majority of cold-blooded creatures. Of this the reason is, as Mr Boag supposes, that cold-blooded animals do not require a large quantity of oxygen to preserve their lives; a fact otherwise sufficiently obvious from the conformation of their heart and respiratory organs. Fontana’s experiments with a view to the prevention of the fatal effects of poison, may be here stated in a few words. He applied lunar caustic, which is a preparation of silver in nitric acid, and found on so doing, that not only was the venom thereby rendered innocuous, but the corroding power of the caustic greatly diminished. He next wounded a variety of animals by means of envenomed teeth, and scarifying the wounds, he washed them in a solution of lunar caustic and water, and by this means saved the lives of the greater number, although they belonged to species which he knew to be easily killed, while the death of others was greatly retarded. These experiments, it may be added, neither proceeded upon nor led to any theory.

Now the application of the following admitted facts is presumed by Mr Boag to explain the efficacy of Fontana’s treatment, and to illustrate the accuracy of his own views. I. Oxygen enters into the composition of all acids, and is the principle, as its name imports, on which their acidity depends. 2. Metals are united with oxygen under various circumstances, but chiefly in two ways; the first is by burning them in an open fire, or, to speak more philosophically, by the contact of heat and air, when they are converted into metallic oxides; the second is by the decomposition of acids, when they form compound salts. 3. Oxygen is at-[7:20:129] traded by different metals with different degrees of force; those which attract it with the least force are the more perfect metals, such as platina, gold, and silver, which cannot be converted into oxides, except at very high temperatures; whereas arsenic, and many other substances, attract it strongly, and are usually found in combination with it even in the bowels of the earth. If, therefore, the mortal effects which arise from the bite of a serpent result, as stated by Mr Boag, from the subtraction of oxygen from the blood, it is natural to suppose that the most efficient cure must consist in the renewal of that vital ingredient; and the most obvious and easy mode of accomplishing this will be, to employ such substances as are known to contain oxygen in the greatest abundance, and to give it up with the greatest facility. This is precisely the character of lunar caustic, which is made by dissolving silver in nitric acid, and afterwards evaporating and crystallizing the solution.^[32. See a paper On the Poison of Serpents, by W. Boag Esq., Asiatic Researches, vol. vi. p. 103; and Edinburgh Cabinet Library (Zoology of India), vol. viii. p. 117. ]

In further illustration of this singular subject, we may here give a brief account of the effect produced by the bite of some remarkable salt-water snakes, belonging to the genus Hydrus (Hydrophis of our present treatise). Soon after the opening of the bar in the month of October 1815, reports prevailed at Madras that a great shoal of sea-snakes had entered the river, and that many natives while crossing had been bitten, and had died in consequence. A reward was ottered for each of these creatures captured and carried to the superintendent of police. Pandauls were erected opposite to the two principal fords, and skilful natives, under the direction of Dr M‘Kenzie (to whom we are indebted for the information), were provided with eau-de-luce and other remedies, and ordered to afford immediate aid to those who might be bitten. Many were bitten accordingly (the snakes seeming in no way loathe to expedite the result), and all exhibited the symptoms usually consequent upon the action of a powerful animal poison; but none died. We shall state a couple of cases, with the mode of treatment. A native woman, while crossing near the customhouse, was seen, on emerging from the water, to shake off something from her foot. This to several spectators appeared to be a water-snake. The woman, after advancing a few paces from the river, fell down, and was immediately carried insensible to the pandaul. On examining her feet, two small but distinct wounds were perceived on the ankle of the right leg; her skin was cold, her face livid, her breathing laborious, her pulse scarcely perceptible. A ligature was immediately placed above the wound, which had been previously enlarged with a lancet, and a piece of the carnate of ammonia well moistened with pure nitric acid applied, while thirty drops of the eau-de-luce were administered nearly at the same time in a glass of water. In five minutes more a similar dose was poured down the throat, which seemed rather to increase the spasmodic affection of the chest; but the pulse at the wrist became distinct, though feeble. A third dose was repeated in three minutes more, on which she uttered a scream, and began to breathe more freely. Ten minutes had now elapsed since she had been carried to the pandaul, and in about three minutes more a tea-spoonful of the eau-de-luce was given, which almost immediately produced violent nausea, and a profuse perspiration. When a little salt was put into her mouth, she declared it was not salt, but sugar; and this the natives deemed an infallible sign of still-continued danger. She soon, however, entirely recovered, and merely complained for three or four days of a numbness in the limb above the wound. Another case was that of a Lascar, who was bitten by a snake while in the middle of the river. He advanced a few paces after quitting the bank, and then fell down in violent convulsions. When brought in, his breathing was laborious, his skin cold and clammy, his countenance livid, and his pulse feeble at the wrist, but distinct at the temples. A quantity of froth and foam was ejected from between his closed teeth. He too recovered, after a similar mode of treatment; but he complained for many days that he had no left leg. On another occasion a large healthy chicken was exposed to the bite of a Hydrus major, four feet long. It was bit in the foot, and in about ten minutes began to droop, and to show a slight convulsive flutter of both w ings. In three minutes more it became convulsed, and at the end of seventeen minutes from the infliction of the wound it suddenly dropped down dead.^[33. ’ Asiatic Researches, vol. xiii. p 326. ]

Dr Russel has figured and described forty-three of the most common serpents of Hindustan, and of these he found only seven that were provided with poison-fangs. He informs us, that a quantity of warm Madeira taken internally, with an outward application of eau-de-luce on the punctures, was generally successful in curing the bite of even the most venomous species. He also states that the medicine called the Tanjore pill was equally efficacious. On comparing the effects of the poison of five of the oriental species on brute animals, with those resulting from the rattle-snake and European viper, Dr Russel remarked, that they all produced morbid symptoms nearly the same, although they might differ in the degree of their deleterious power, and the rapidity of its operation.

The tongue of serpents is remarkable for its great extensibility. It is protected by a rather firm skin, becomes very slim towards the anterior extremity, where it divides into two slender filaments, and is capable of being withdrawn into a kind of sheath, which opens in front of the glottis. The position of these parts varies in the different species, being placed, for example, very near the muzzle in the genus Hydrophis, but much further backwards among both the terrestrial and the tree serpents. The tongue of the Ophidians in general, though extremely similar to that of certain Saurians, such as Monitor, Tejus, and other genera, yet differs in the far greater simplicity of the harder parts by which it is supported; for we find, in place of a hyoid bone, composed of several pieces, merely a simple cartilaginous thread attached to the internal face of the general integument of the gular region, with its two extremities prolonged greatly backwards. This cartilage is sometimes, as in Boa, intimately united to the muscles of the throat, of which it intersects the fibres, its posterior extremity being then attached to the skin on the sides of the neck; but in the majority of cases, the horns of the hyoid are free, closely approached, and prolonged into the cavity of the chest, even as far as the heart. The tongue of these reptiles seems in truth, by its construction, to be a genuine organ of touch, and serving neither for taste nor deglutition, being during the latter act enclosed within its sheath. A little notch-like aperture at the end of the muzzle, which exists in most serpents, except the aquatic kinds, admits the protrusion of the tongue without the necessity of opening the mouth. This movement is usually made very leisurely, although with extreme rapidity when the individual is excited either by fear or passion.^[34. See Helmann, Uber den Tastsinn der Schlangen. ]

The use of the tongue in serpents is not exactly known. Its narrow and cylindrical form would render it unapt to aid the process of mastication, even were the teeth of a nature to perform that process. They are continually lancing it into the air, and may possibly in this way also gather moisture from grass or other herbage. It is, however, believed that they never drink. “On ignore,” says M. Schlegel, “si les serpens boivent, et s’il est juste d’opiner pour la[7:20:130] negative; toutefois on n’a jamais apercu des fluides dans ceux dont on a examiné l’estomac.”^[35. Physiognomie des Serpens, i. 97. ] Other authors, however, are of a somewhat different opinion. “Tout au plus,” say MM. Dumeril and Bibron, “cette langue fort longue sert-elle, comme on l’a observé quelquefois, à faire pénétrer un peu de liquide dans la bouche, car nous avons vu nous-même des couleuvres laper ainsi l’eau que nous avions placée auprès d’elles dans la cage oil nous les tenions renfermées pour les observer à loisir.”^[36. ’ Erp. Gen. i. 135. ]

The alimentary canal of the Ophidians is remarkable for its great simplicity.^[37. ’ The digestive organs are described by Duvernoy in Ann. des Sciences Nat., and by Meckel in his Vergh. Anat. ] ’ The oesophagus and stomach form a continuous canal, to the special parts of which it is difficult to assign precise limits. The pancreas, according to M. Schlegel, is always placed “dans la première courbure qui fait l’intestin à partir du pylore,” and varies in different species both as to size and form. The spleen is of an oval or somewhat globular shape, of a rather firm consistence, and frequently concealed among the lobes of the pancreas, with which it is sometimes intimately united. The liver in Ophidian reptiles assumes a long ribbon-shaped form, more slender at either end, sometimes imperfectly divided into a couple of lobes, and extending along the oesophagus and stomach, from the heart as far as the pylorus. The hepatic canal descends from its interior face towards the pancreas, to conduct the bile into the small intestine. The gall-bladder, which is abundantly supplied, discharges its fluid by a short conduit, which joins the hepatic canal at an angle more or less acute. The kidneys, remarkable for their lengthened form and symmetrical position, are divided into a great number of small lobes, adhering to each other by means of the cellular tissue.

Digestion, notwithstanding the activity of the gastric juice, is sufficiently slow in serpents. It would appear, in fact, that the juice in question exercises its influence chiefly in the regions near the pylorus; for it has been found that an animal withdrawn from the abdomen of a snake is always decomposed towards its lower extremity, while the portion lying nearer the oesophagus continues unconsumed. Indigestible portions, such as hair, feathers, &c. are said to be sometimes ejected by the mouth; and, according to M. Die-perink, when a serpent in a wild state is pursued soon after it has swallowed a considerable prey, it will disgorge it to facilitate the means of escape. In regard to the digestive faculty of serpents, one of the most remarkable characters consists in the strong absorbing power of the intestines. When we examine their fecal remains, we find that these exhibit as it were a dry extract of the entire prey, of which the parts incapable of liquefaction remain not only unaltered, but occupying precisely the same relative positions which they held in the living animal. If, for example, a rat has been swallowed, we find, in what at first appears a dry and unformed heap, the muzzle, the long hairs upon the cheeks, the down which covers the thin cartilage of the ears, the hair, of various length and colour, which has clothed the back, abdomen, and especially the tail, and finally the nails, in a perfectly entire state. All fleshy or softer substances have been completely absorbed; and the earthy salts, which by their union with the gelatine give consistence to the bones, still indicate by their colour the position formerly occupied by these osseous portions. The most complete natural analysis has been effected by means of dissolution, compression, and absorption,—and of this the desiccated mass already mentioned is the sole residuum.^[38. * Erp. Générale, i. 145. ] The infrequent meals of serpents are thus in a measure compensated by the great profit which they derive from each.

The mode in which these reptiles swallow their food is sufficiently simple. They commence by getting the head within their throat, and while the teeth of one jaw adhere to the prey, the other jaw makes a forward movement, and, fastening its teeth, draws the object inwards, till by this alternate action of the jaws, and chiefly of the under one, deglutition is effected. The jaws, as we have already hinted, are capable of a certain separation from each other even at their basis, and an abundant supply of saliva being at the same time poured out upon the victim, a body larger in bulk than the snake itself is sometimes swallowed; and as in this case the process is slow, and but a small portion can enter the throat at a time, the reptile reposes for a considerable period, even till, with distended mouth, it seems gorged with putrefaction, presenting a hideous and disgusting picture of gluttony and sloth. When the venomous kinds swallow their prey, they do not use their poison-fangs, but lower these beautiful and highly-finished instruments of destruction into the hollow of the gums,—“sheathing them as a sword.”

The heart of Ophidian reptiles is usually of an elongated form, and is remarkable for its distant position from the head. It is composed of two spacious auricles, separated from each other by a membranous division; the ventricle, on the contrary, is imperfectly divided into two rather narrow cavities, by a partition which takes its origin from the base of the heart, and loses itself amid the fleshy fibres of that region. The walls of the auricle, although fleshy, are slender,—those of the ventricle are of considerable thickness, especially on the left side of that portion which extends in the form of a conical appendage beneath the left auricle. Each auricle communicates with the ventricle by means of a broadish opening, susceptible of being closed by a valve. The right auricle receives all the veins, which form, with the exception of the left jugular, prior to passing through the wall of the auricle, a kind of sac of greater or less extent, which, in addition to the ordinary tunics, exhibits a distinct muscular coat. Two large valves serve to close the common entrance of the veins into this auricle. When the blood has attained the right chamber of the ventricle, it is driven into the pulmonary artery, of which the embouchure offers two valves; comprised at its base in the common trunk of the aortas, this artery curves itself beneath the left aorta, and approaches the lung, of which it margins the posterior face before entering the interior of that organ. A single pulmonary vein, piercing the lung behind the artery of the same denomination, carries the oxydised blood into the left auricle, which is of a conoid form, and less spacious than the right one. This oxydised blood, after having passed into the left cavity, is pushed towards the right side, where we find the embouchures of the two aortas, of which each exhibits a pair of semicircular valves, even when these openings are united into one.

We shall now devote a few lines to the respiratory organs. When we observe a serpent in a state of repose,—
as on the grassy herb
Fearless, unfeared, he sleeps,—

we may see that its body alternately dilates and contracts by the play of the ribs, and that this movement is repeated slowly, yet at regular intervals. But we may also perceive, that the nostrils are closed for a longer, and consequently on unconforming period, during one of which the body is contracted and dilated perhaps thirty times. It results from this observation, that the lungs of Ophidians, besides their ordinary function, fulfil that of serving as reservoirs of at·, mospheric air, which, though replenished only by a single inspiration, contain a quantity sufficient to admit a continuous oxydation of the blood by the contraction of the lungs. When the oxygen is totally absorbed, expiration takes place, and a supply of fresh air is drawn in. The configuration of[7:20:131] the lungs undergoes many modifications in the different races of Ophidian reptiles. The form is usually that of a simple conical sac, extending from the heart toward the lower regions of the stomach, where it ends in a membranous pouch. The trachea, composed of numerous demi-rings united anteriorly by a membrane, terminates in the origin of the lungs by an oblique opening. The latter organ is divided more or less completely into two bronchia; in Boa, the majority of Tortrix, the genus Dipsas, and others; and in these we may perceive the vestige of a second lobule of the lung, sometimes half as large as that on the other side. A singular peculiarity is observable among the sea-serpents. In Hydrophis colubrinus, for instance, the tracheal pipe is prolonged into the hypochondriac region, where it terminates in a membranous sac, extending to within a couple of inches of the anus; but in place of a membrane uniting the rings of the trachea, it is the lung itself that envelopes that tube throughout its whole length.

The small size of the brain in serpents is obvious in all, and becomes very conspicuous in relation to the size of the head, when we select for observation any of those species in which the organs of manducation are strongly developed. The two hemispheres are prolonged by restriction into the olfactive lobule, so that the latter part is borne, as it were, upon a pedicle. We observe the optic lobules on their posterior face, and passing beneath the hemispheres towards the eye, to form the optic nerve. The cerebellum is a very small organ, situate behind the optic lobules, almost uniform with the spinal cord, or offering but an inconsiderable enlargement. The grand sympathetic nerve is interlaced at so many points with the par vagum, that it is next to impossible to trace its origin with any certainty.

As to the intellectual faculties of these reptiles, we know that Satan found
The serpent subtlest beast of all the field;

and we doubt not that, even in our own days, they may be placed at least upon an equality with the Saurian and Chelonian orders. The reproductive power with which their separate parts are said to be endowed has probably been the subject of some exaggeration; and it seems certain that when the tail or other important portion has been destroyed by mutilation, it is altogether incapable of being reproduced. The sense of smell is believed to be by no means acute in these reptiles. The nostrils vary in the different genera in respect to form, size, and position. It may, however, be stated as a constant rule, that the purely aquatic species have the nostrils small, directed upwards, and for the most part susceptible of being closed by means of a valve, while those of the terrestrial and arboreal kinds are usually lateral and open. Among the burrowing serpents these openings are almost always of an orbicular form, and of very small dimensions. In the genera Trigonoeephalus and Croralus there is a cavity on each side of the muzzle, behind the nostrils, of which the use is still unknown. The eye is probably defective in the power of distant vision, though sufficiently acute for all the ordinary purposes of a serpent’s life. It is covered over by the external skin, of which, however, the tunics are in that quarter extremely thin and diaphanous, and present themselves under the form of a hemispherical lamella adhering to the sealyplates which surround the orbit. There is thus no apparent eye-lid to the visual organs of serpents, a slight edging of the skin forming their only protection.^[39. “Nous avons dèja dit qu’il n’y avait pas de paupières apparentes dans les serpens, et que ces animaux semblent, par cela même, avoir l’oeil file, et être toujours éveillés." (Erp. Gin. i. 102.) ] The supposed absence of this part was presumed by the ancients, and has been recorded in the writings even of modern anatomists of the greatest skill. But more recent researches, undertaken by

M. Cloquet, and verified by Baron Cuvier and M. Dumeril, have demonstrated that the eye of Ophidians is covered by a single lid, large though immoveable, and incased in a projecting frame, which forms around the orbit a series of scales, variable in number, though usually amounting to seven or eight. When the general covering is renewed, we find that a delicate coating of the eye is likewise thrown off as a portion of the exuviae. The structure of the ear in serpents seems to demonstrate that these creatures are dull in their sense of hearing.

The general envelope of Ophidian reptiles forms a kind of cuirass, which enables them to withstand the influence of the elements and the effects of external accidents. To conform to the movements of the body, and the occasional enlargement of its parts, this covering, we need scarcely say, is composed of a multiplicity of separate compartments, of which the smaller are called scales, the larger plates. These parts are composed of much thicker layers of the integument than the intervening portion, which consists of a delicate skin, seldom visible except when the body is more than usually distended, and for this reason almost always colourless, being unsubjected to the influence of light. In certain species of the genus Tropidonotus, however, the mucous membrane of the neck is so tinted as to exhibit a beautiful vermilion-red between the scales; and the scales themselves in many species exhibit colours, both fixed and iridescent, of great brilliancy :—
With burnished neck of verdant gold, erect
Amidst their circling spires.

The general tinting depends in a great measure upon the condition of the epidermis, and is always freshest and purest immediately after the casting of the slough or superficial skin. The total amount of longitudinal rows of scales is almost always an unequal number, there being a single range rather larger than the rest along the centre of the dorsal region, with an equal number on either side; but to this rule Herpetodryas carinatus forms an exception (the only one perhaps throughout the order), there being a double central row of scales along the back. The form of the scales is greatly varied, some being rounded on the margins, others truncated at the extremity, or prolonged into a sharpish point. The greater number are what naturalists call imbricated, that is, lying slightly over each other like the tiles of a house; but almost all sea-serpents have the scales of a hexagonal form, with the epidermis very thin.

The median line of the lower parts is usually covered by a range of broad sealy plates, of much larger dimensions than the ordinary lateral and dorsal scales; and the caudal plates are generally different from those of the abdomen. The latter form a single uniform range from the anus to the throat, where they disappear. They are sometimes narrow, as in the genera Boa, Tortrix, &C., and in such cases resemble the scales of the back; but in the far greater number they are so broad as to encroach even on the flanks, and thus occupy a large proportion of the circumference of the body. The plates beneath the tail do not form a single central range, except in Boa, Eryx, and a few other Ophidians, the majority of the order having the part in question provided with a double row of plates. We may add, that the terminal plates of the abdomen also not unfrequently partake of this divided character.

The head of Ophidian reptiles is rarely clothed with scales of a character similar to those of the body. They are larger, and of a more determinate and symmetrical form; and as they offer distinctive characters of easy application, they have received from M. Schlegel various names, in accord·[7:20:132] ance with the position they occupy, such as vertical, occipital, superciliary, frontal, rostral, labial, ocular, frenal, temporal, mental, and gular.^[40. See Physiognomie des Serpens, i. 60. ] ’

The system of coloration which prevails among these insidious creatures is very varied, and admits of numerous exceptions to any general laws which we might attempt to establish in its illustration. In numerous species there is a beautiful accordance between the tinting of the body and the colour of the places they inhabit; thus many tree-serpents are of a uniform greenish hue, exactly similar to that of the foliage by which they are overshadowed, while several kinds of Dendrophis and Dryophis seem rather to imitate the small and leafless branches. In the genus Dipsas the colours recall to mind those of the mossy trunks of ancient trees; fresh-water snakes are usually of a sombre uniform hue; while the marine species partake of those clearer tints of green and blue which beautify the pellucid billows of the up-heaving sea. Such as dwell in dry and desert lands are often to be scarcely distinguished from the parched sand by which they are surrounded; while others, which affect a more varied soil and richer vegetation, are adorned with the gay and gorgeous colouring of flowers, or the metallic splendour of the mineral kingdom. Several have their bodies encircled by alternate bands of crimson and black upon a pearly-white or delicate yellow ground, and present an aspect as richly adorned as any we can discover throughout the entire range of the animal world.
Lovelier not those that in Illyria changed
Mermione and Cadmus, or the God
In Epidaurus, nor to which transformed
Ammonian Jove, or Capitoline was seen:
He with Olympias, this with her who bore
Scipio, the height of Rome.

Among the more beautiful may be mentioned Coronella venustissima and coccinea, Lycodon formosus, several species of Tortrix and Helerodοn, the majority of the genus Blaps, Naja lubrica, Dendrophis ornata, and Dipsas ma-crorhina. Numerous other species are equally remarkable, both for the splendour and diversity of colour by which they are adorned; but as these bright hues are subject to numerous causes of variation, from age, sex, and season, it results, that among no order of created beings is the always uncertain character of colour to be less depended on than among the subjects of our present dissertation. It seems, however, established as a general law, that the younger individuals have the liveliest and most distinct tints, and that these in more aged examples are not unfrequently effaced, or fade away, as we find in coluber canus and melanurus, Homalopsis buceata, Xenodon severus, and others. The power of speedy and spontaneous change of colour does not, however, seem to be a possession of the Ophidian order, as it is of so many of the Saurian tribes. Yet a few of the arboreal serpents have been occasionally observed to modify their living tints from time to time.

The natural colours of these creatures can scarcely be judged of from specimens imported to our cabinets from foreign climes. The spirit in which they are preserved is not the spirit of beauty. Black, brown, ochry-yellow, and several other tints, do not altogether lose their lustre; and calamaria arcliventris and brachyorrhos, Tortrix maculata and xenopeltis, Coronella rufula, Lycodon hebe and subanctus, Coluber constrictor, Aesculapii, and melanurus, and several kinds of Naja, Homalapsis, and Vipera, may be named among those which are most easily preserved. But green speedily tarnishes after death, loses its vivacity, and becomes bluish; it even communicates its tint to spirit of wine. White almost always loses its purity, and becomes of a soiled or yellowish aspect, while pale yellow passes into dingy white. The brilliant hues of red and or.ιnge with which so many species are adorned, almost entirely disappear, and are converted into dingy or brownish yellow. Blue, which is rather a rare colour among Ophidian reptiles, also quickly fades away, and the more exposed the specimens are to the influence of light, the more rapidly are these and other changes effected.

In discussing the various branches of natural history, it is the practice of authors to state the uses of each particular tribe of animals to the human race. We fear, that in relation to our present subjects, a single paragraph may suffice. Serpents certainly confer benefit by destroying other injurious creatures, such as small mammiferous vermin, worms, insects, and mollusea of various kinds. They were formerly used in medicine, though that practice, we believe, is now confined to the ignorant and superstitious; yet it has been recently stated, that Dr Marikrosky, of Rosenau, in Hungary, has employed the gall of serpents with success in epileptic cases.^[41. Hufeland, doum. Ann. 1831, call. 10. ] It is well known that the flesh of the viper has been highly esteemed, both by ancient and modern physicians, as a restorative and strengthening diet. This idea, as Dr Shaw has well observed, seems to have originated from the reptile casting its skin, a natural process, viewed by the vulgar as a renovation of youth; and a snake being made the emblem of health, and consecrated to Aesculapius, may have depended on the same idea. The flesh of the viper was used by the ancients in leprous and other cases. “The Greek physician Craterus, mentioned so often by Cicero in his Epistles to Atticus, cured, as Porphyrius relates, a miserable slave, whose skin in a strange manner fell off from his bones, by advising him to feed on vipers’ flesh in the manner of fish. Antonius Musa, physician to Octavius Caesar (Augustus), is said by Pliny to have ordered the eating of vipers, in the case of otherwise incurable ulcers, which by this method were quickly healed; and Galen says, that those who are afflicted with elephantiasis are wonderfully relieved by eating vipers’ flesh dressed like eels.”^[42. General Zoology, iii. 372. ] According to Lopez, the negroes of the coast of Congo eat roasted adders, and regard them as delicious food. It is well known that the credulous Sir Kenelm Digby, with a view to recover his wife, the Lady Venetia, from consumption, caused her to feed on capons fattened with vipers. But we need not detain our readers with more of these, at best, ambiguous views. To proceed with our natural history.

In European countries, the copulation of serpents usually takes place, in fine weather, during the months of April and May, and three or four months elapse before the eggs are laid. Incubation is effected within the body of the female; for, on opening an egg immediately after exclusion, we almost always find a foetus more or less developed, sometimes entirely formed. In the latter case, the so-called shell is merely a delicate membrane, through which the young can force their way, even at the moment of parturition. In the greater number of species, however, the eggs are composed externally of a resistant covering resembling parchment, the young being very imperfectly formed at the period of deposition, and requiring sometimes a month or more before they are hatched. It is merely this difference in the times of final exclusion that constitutes the distinction between the viviparous and oviparous kinds, these being otherwise essentially the same. All Ophidians are in truth oviparous; and those naturalists are in error who compare this seemingly viviparous generation to that of mammiferous animals, in which the young are nourished by the placenta of the mother. According to M. Herholdt,^[43. Oversigt. 1830, p. 4. ] the con-[7:20:133] ditions most favourable to the development of these embryons are humidity, produced by a feeble vegetable fermentation, with a proportional temperature (between + 20° and + 6° R.), and under circumstances likely to favour absorption and evaporation through the external tunic of the egg. Hence their love of dunghills, or heaps of leaves piled up in places open to the sun.

The supposition entertained by many is incorrect, that poisonous serpents always produce living young, and that the innocuous kinds as constantly deposit eggs. This diversity in the generative process does not seem to bear any relation to the organization of the species; at least we find the two modes exemplified in nearly-related species of the same genus. Thus the harmless Coronella laevis produces young as lively as those of the common viper; Boa murina is also viviparous, while the deadly Najas and several others lay eggs. The number of young ones varies in different species. M. Schlegel did not find above ten in several kinds of calamaria, from twenty to twenty-five in the genus coluber, and above thirty in Trigonoeephalus atrox. The offspring usually differ from their parents in being of more lively colours, with the head blunter and rounder, the eyes larger, and the scales and other appendages of the epidermis less raised. They are, however, furnished with teeth exactly like those of their respective parents, and of which they do not fail, when occasion offers, to make speedy use. The venomous kinds instinctively elevate and depress their poison-fangs, as if ready from the first to defend themselves against that persecution to which their race is subjected. The European kinds are known to change their skins about five times every summer, that is, once a month from the end of April to the beginning of September. They are capable of long-continued abstinence, independent of the lethargic state into which the northern species fall in winter. A Boa constrictor sent from Surinam to Holland fasted continuously for six months. The age to which serpents attain is to us unknown.

We shall now devote a few pages to a branch of our subject of peculiar interest, which we have seldom altogether neglected in relation to other departments of zoology in the course of the present work, and which, so far as concerns the singular beings now under more particular consideration, has never been at all discussed in any work accessible to the English reader,—we mean the distribution of serpents over the earth’s surface.

A knowledge of the geographical distribution of reptiles may be regarded, not only as highly interesting in itself, but as extremely important in relation to the general subject of the location of organized life. Numerous diversifying agents tend to alter the original position of plants. Their seeds are carried hither and thither both by winds and waves, the human race have transported them to and from many distant regions, and artificial culture has so changed their natural characters, that the very earth which bore them can no longer recognise her offspring. A vast majority of living beings are created with the means of transporting themselves, with more or less facility, from one country to another. Many quadrupeds are continually extending the sphere of their original habitation; birds of powerful flight wing their buoyant way from clime to clime; while the liquid depths of ocean offer a vast continuous space, within which the finny tribes may exercise their migratory movements. But it is far otherwise with the race of reptiles, especially the footless tribe of serpents. Destitute of the power of long-continued locomotion, they never attempt to travel far from the places of their birth, and thus, even in our own days, they still represent more accurately than do the other classes of the animal kingdom the positions in which they may be supposed to have been originally placed. Such as inhabit northern countries, and are at the same time incapable of enduring cold, having no power to flee from the rigours of winter, escape its effects by falling into a state of lethargic repose.

It is obvious, then, that the geographical distribution of serpents presents a peculiar interest, inasmuch as it tends to make us acquainted with the true and natural relations which exist between these creatures and the places they inhabit, and thus in a measure presents us with a picture of the primitive state of matters, before man’s intermeddling, and other supervening agents, had altered the local relations of animal life.

One of the most curious general facts in the distribution of serpents, is their apparent absence (at least so far as the land species are concerned) from the numerous islands of the vast Pacific Ocean,—a circumstance not altogether to be accounted for by the isolation of these various groups, seeing that those of the Indian Archipelago particularly abound with serpents. Another fact seems still more firmly established, that the reptiles of the New World are all specifically different from those of the Old,—a peculiar feature in the history of their class, in so far as many quadrupeds and birds are common to both countries. At the same time it may be borne in mind, that it is only the species of very northern portions of the two continents which are in any case identical, and that as these northern portions are almost, if not entirely, destitute of reptile life, the field is greatly narrowed, so far as that form of existence is concerned. The snakes of South America are in general very distinct from those of the northern portions of the New World, although a few are identical. Several of the southern species inhabit the West lndies and the warmer parts of the United States, where they form what may be termed climatic varieties. Other species more characteristic of a large extent of North America, reach as far south as Mexicoand the Antilles. America in general, especially its equatorial districts, is almost as rich in snakes as the Indian islands. It is otherwise with New Holland, where these reptiles are by no means numerous, but where the species, excepting perhaps a few of its more northern kinds, are peculiar to the country. The serpents of Japan seem, without exception, to belong to particular species not hitherto observed in other quarters of the world. The numerous islands of the great Archipelago of the Indian Ocean produce in several instances identical species, and these, moreover, are not unfrequently the same as those of Malacca, Bengal, Hindustan, and Ceylon. If we may judge from the few known species, the serpents of Madagascar may be regarded as peculiar to that vast island. Africa, compared with other great equatorial continents, cannot be said to be very rich in these reptiles. Its southern portions produce species entirely different from those of Europe and of other countries; but these species have a wide range in Africa itself, being in many cases spread over all its intertropical regions, and even its northern parts. These comparatively northern countries, in addition to some peculiar species, produce several others which likewise inhabit the shores of both sides of the Mediterranean. Many of our European serpents are found over a large portion of temperate Asia,—a region which appears to produce but a small proportion of peculiar species.

The geographical distribution of families and genera,— these being viewed as representing various leading forms,— affords an equally curious subject of observation. We may notice, in the first place, that the venomous sorts are distributed, with the exception of a few islands, over whatever countries produce serpents of any kind. These venomous species bear no determinate co-relation, as is often supposed, to intense heat; for they occur in cold and temperate countries equally with the innocuous kinds. But their aggregate number is much more limited than that of the latter; for while we reckon the total number of known Ophidians[7:20:134] at 263,^[44. We here follow the computation of M. Schlegel, who probably proceeds upon the idea that the actual species have been nominally multiplied by the misapplication (and duplication) of various names. The amount must have been considerably greater in M. Humboldt’s opinion, as that illustrious writer incidentally states that equatorial America produces 115 serpents out of the 320 which form the Ophidian order. Daudin, even in his time, described about 313 supposed species, of which eighty were regarded as venomous and 233 as innocuous, which gives a greater proportion to the former than they are at present entitled to. Nearly 400 different kinds of serpents are believed to exist in the Paris Museum, although we know not with what degree of critical accuracy that enumeration has been made. We do not ourselves possess the means of ascertaining the total number of reptiles now known to naturalists; but the following table exhibits the amount (as in 1834) in the National Museum of Paris, compared with the number described in the works of three principal writers on the class in question :— [table] We may conclude this note by observing, that the unfortunate Wagler, in his Naturliches System der Amphibien, four vols. Munich, 1830, with folio Atlas of plates, has described no fewer than 248 genera of the reptile race. ] l we do not find above fifty-seven of these endowed with injurious attributes,—that is, the proportion is not much more than one to five. This proportion, however, is not maintained throughout the various countries of the globe,— the venomous kinds seeming to be comparatively more numerous in open sterile countries. Of this, Africa and New Holland furnish examples,—the venomous species of the former continent being to the innocuous kinds as one to two or three, while of the ten species (or thereabouts) of ascertained New Holland species, not fewer than seven are venomous. In general, the number of individuals of each species is much more limited among the venomous kinds, as these live in an isolated manner, and rarely multiply so as to become abundant. Local circumstances sometimes favour an exception to this rule, as in the case of the Trigo-noeephalus lanceolarus of Martinique and St Lucia, and that of the Dalmatian Viperus ammodytes. The sea-snakes, all of which are poisonous, are likewise of a gregarious nature.

Excepting the anomalous group called Tortrix, there does not seem to exist any genus of serpents which is spread over all countries capable of maintaining reptile life; and this restriction seems to illustrate the intimate relation which subsists between the organization of these beings, and the countries they inhabit. For example, the Colubers properly so called, which are destined to dwell in countries which are either well wooded, or marshy with abundant vegetation, have not yet been observed in New Holland, and are so rare in South Africa that only a single species has been found there, and that of a somewhat anomalous nature, in so far as its characters exhibit an approach to those of species which dwell by preference in sandy deserts.

A similar observation applies nearly to the genus Coronella, composed of species which inhabit marshy plains, or such as are covered by brushwood. None of these occur in New Holland (which is noted for its frequent want of water), while the South African kinds differ from the typical species of the genus. The tree-serpents are characteristic of equatorial countries, inhabiting of course only those portions which fulfil the conditions of their existence, that is, are well wooded. The three genera which compose the family are found both in the Old and New World; but it is noticeable that the species of the genus Dipsas of America do not attain to so great a size as the majority of those of India; while the genus Dryophis in America forms a true geographical division of the group, in so far as the dental system and muzzle are less developed, and the pupil of the eye is orbicular. The fresh-water snakes, comprised in the genera Tropidonotus and Homalopsis, occur abundantly in countries rich in permanent lakes, and watered by continuous rivers. They are thus well known in Asia, America, and even Europe, but are extremely rare in Africa, and unknown in New Holland. The genus Homalopsis, indeed, which contains the essentially aquatic species, does not occur in Africa, but predominates in the New World, so rich and unrivalled in its mighty reservoirs of water.

The geographical distribution of the Boas exhibits some facts worthy of record. The whole are peculiar to warm countries. The genuine species are confined to South America; their analogues in the ancient world being the Pythons of India, although in the latter country we also find several serpents very similar to Boas, but of very small size, and of which none exists in the western world, except a single representative in the island of Cuba. The genus Acrochordus forms a limited group, entirely confined to the East Indies. Of the venomous serpents, it is chiefly the vipers, and perhaps a few rattle-snakes, which make their way into temperate or colder countries, the majority of the genera occurring in intertropical regions. Of the colubriform venomous serpents, the genus Elaps is the only one which occurs in both worlds; and it is not improbable that the American species will be found to constitute a geographical group, distinguished by their peculiar coloration, and certain small distinctions even in form. The Indian species of the genus last named are longitudinally striped, instead of being ringed with red and black, while those of New Holland present some anomalous features. The genus Bungarus is proper to the East Indies, where also are found certain Najas, although the majority of these prefer a drier and more sandy soil,—a circumstance which explains their greater predominance in Africa and New Holland. The fact does not seem to admit of easy explanation, that salt-water serpents should be found almost exclusively in the Indian seas, from Malabar to the great Pacific Ocean. In regard to the venomous kinds properly so called, of the three genera of which that division is composed, it may be observed, that one, Viperus, is proper to the ancient world; that another, Crotalus, is confined to the new; while a third, Trigonocephalus, occurs in both. These last-named reptiles dwell in great forests, or in well-w∞ded countries, and for that reason are not observed either in Africa or New Holland, where they are replaced by vipers; but it may be mentioned, that the viper of New Holland is an anomalous species, while such as inhabit Europe equally depart from the typical form, and tend towards that of Trigonocephalus. In the genus just named two divisions may be established, one composed of species with the head clothed with scales, and which inhabit more particularly tropical countries; another formed of species with the head covered by sealyplates, and which extend into temperate regions.

The preceding are a few of the most general facts in the distribution of Ophidian reptiles. We shall now notice some of those peculiarities which distinguish particular continents,—and, first, of Europe. We here find no species of the genera calamaria, Heterodon, or Lycodon, no genuine tree-serpents, no species of Homalopsis or Boa. We never meet in Europe with any salt-water serpents, nor with any of the colubriform venomous kinds; and the poisonous tribes in general are represented merely by a few vipers. That the entire order of Ophidian reptiles has its great centre of dominion in sultry regions, is made manifest by the fact,[7:20:135] that the temperate and northern parts of Europe produce no peculiar species, that is, no species which do not occur equally, if not more abundantly, in the southern districts of the continent, where we likewise find several kinds native to the neighbouring countries of Asia and Africa. Limits, however, may be assigned to several species, and this circumstance naturally gives rise to some curious observations. The common viper, for example, inhabits all the central parts of Europe, and is even spread over temperate Asia as far as Lake Baikal. It is well known in Sweden, spreads westwards into Britain, is frequent in Jura, Islay, and some others of our western islands, but is unknown in Ireland. The western boundary, however, of the great mass of individuals of this species may be stated to he the river Seine, while the Alps appear to form its southern limit.^[45. It is indeed alleged to have been met with, though sparingly, in the valley of the Po, and as far as the Florentine territory. ] ’ In the southern portion of western Europe our viper is replaced by another species called the aspic (Vipera aspis), which spreads from Trieste over Italy into Sicily, through Switzerland and over France, passing beyond the Seine towards the Pyrenees, and probably into Spain. The southern parts of the east of Europe produce a third species of this genus, Vipera ammodytes, which we find to spread from Styria as far as the south of Hungary, and into Greece, Dalmatia, Sicily, and probably likewise Calabria. This distribution of so nearly-allied species seems modified by, if not dependent on, the nature of the territories which each inhabits. The first prefers, in general, heathy lands and places of a rather moist and wooded character, the second affects a dry and arid country, while the third rejoices in a rocky region. No local or climatic varieties of these vipers have been yet observed; but it is otherwise with several other snakes, which have a widely extended distribution over Europe; for example, Coronella laevis, and Tropidonotus natrix and viperinus. These species, of which the former two inhabit almost the whole of northern and central Europe, the last not extending further than the fiftieth degree of north latitude, occur equally in the south of Europe, where they form well-marked local varieties. Thus, in Spain, Trop. viperinus has the back longitudinally rayed; and a corresponding character occurs in Sardinia in relation to a species common in that island, while the Sicilian individuals present some slight additional disparities, Coronella laevis forms in Italy a peculiar climatic variety, of a paler hue than usual, which extends as far north as Marseilles, coluber Aesculapii, which inhabits the south of Germany, is also found in Dalmatia, Italy, and Provence, col. viridi-flavus has been observed over all the south of Europe, Greece, Hungary, Dalmatia, Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, and as far north as France and Switzerland, col. hippocrepis occurs in Spain and Sardinia, while col. leopardinus is a native of Sicily, Dalmatia, and Greece; but, so far as known, neither of these kinds is met with in Italy. Neither has Psammophis lacerrina, so common in Dalmatia, in Spain, and a large portion of France, been ever found either in Italy or the adjacent islands. The southern countries of Europe produce several serpents which are not characterized by a great extent of distribution. Such are Xenodon Michahellis of Spain, and Psammophis Dahlii of Dalmatia (the latter, however, which approaches the tree-serpents in its slenderly elongated form, being found also in Greece), and Torrrix eryx, confined to Greece as a European species, but elsewhere well known amid African and Asiatic deserts.

A careful and more extended study of the distribution of animal life in Africa would be found to illustrate many curious relations both in descriptive zoology and physical geography. No other continent furnishes more striking proofs of the connection between the natural characters of a country and its animal inhabitants. Thus, after acquiring some knowledge of the physical constitution of Africa, we might almost predicate the prevailing features of its natural history. The leading character of this continent is the presence of vast sandy plains or deserts, and elevated plateaus, of which the vegetation is either entirely extinguished, or held by a precarious tenure. Acted upon continually by a burning sun, the flat unvaried surface is altogether unfit for the production of those vapours which, in a state of atmospheric condensation, produce our refreshing showers of frequent moisture, and the more stormy accessories of hail and snow. The great mountain ranges being few and far between, the intermediate regions possess no perennial fountains of refreshing water, no “clouds of morning dew,” to clothe their arid wastes with verdure. Hence the absence of that mighty power which in America slumbers amid the most unpeopled wilderness, and makes, when aided by the hand of man, the “desert blossom as the rose.” It results from the fact of so large a portion of Africa being destitute of rivers, and consequently of forests and other lowlier vegetation, that we there find but a small number of those animals which inhabit woods and fresh waters, while such as are fitted to scour over vast plains occur in great abundance. Hence the absence of stags and the existence of vast troops of antelopes; hence also the scarcity of squirrels and other wood-haunting Rodentia, and the increase of certain swift-footed terrestrial kinds. The characters of reptile life exhibit an equal conformity with the spirit of these observations. Africa produces perhaps a greater number of land-tortoises than all other portions of the world combined; but the fresh-water kinds, with the exception of a single Emys, and one or two species of the genus Trionyx, are nearly unknown, while frogs and toads are also few in number. The same observation applies in reference both to the aquatic serpents and the wood-loving kinds. The genera Dryophis and Homalopsis are entirely wanting, and not more than one or two species are known of each of the genera Bipsas, Dendrophis, and Tropidonotus. In so vast a continent, however, in spite of its prevailing character of aridity, there must be numerous exceptions; and we know how far-flowing are the waters of the Nile and the Niger, how lofty and continuous the mighty mountains of Abyssinia. Many an umbrageous river, we doubt not, still rolls its crystal waters directly towards the all-absorbing sea, or fills up the glassy depth of unimagined lakes, whose beautiful shores are haunted by many unknown forms of existence,—
Fair creatures, to whom Heaven
A calm and sinless life, with love, hath given.

Our knowledge of African snakes, however, is still insufficient to admit of any accurate geographical sketch of their distribution being laid before our readers, for we have no data on which to assign limits to the majority even of the best-known species. Egypt and Abyssinia, Algiers, a part of Senegambia, the coast of Guinea, and the Cape,— these are the chief points from which any precise knowledge has been derived. Yet we may hazard the assertion, that Africa in general is much poorer in reptiles, particularly serpents, than either Asia or America. The number of genera is equally circumscribed; and the same observation applies to our present class as has been made in relation both to the higher animals and plants of Africa, to wit, that the species of certain genera are very numerous, and that several different kinds often inhabit the same places. Towards the southern extremity of the continent we meet with four species of the genus Coronella, as many of the genus Hoja, and three Vipers. The other genera which[7:20:136] occur there have each only a single representative. These reptiles belong almost without exception to species peculiar to the African continent. Lycodon Horstokii and Naja rhombeata occur on the coast of Guinea, which produces likewise Psammophis moniliger,— but a local variety, resembling that which is found in Egypt. In Senegambia we find three species of tree-serpents, of the genus Dendro-phis, which differ from those of the Cape, but of which one (Den. picta) is spread over a vast extent of the Asiatic world, as far south-eastwards as New Guinea. The intertropical countries of Africa produce Python bivittatus, characterized by an equally great extension, as it is found both in Java and the Chinese empire. Viperus arietans of the Cape is found as far north as Abyssinia, where it forms a variety of a paler hue. Northern Africa produces several serpents of species different from those of other parts of that continent. Such are Tortrix eryx and Vipera echis, which elsewhere inhabitas far south as Hindustan,—the cerastes, a species of Dipsas, and several kinds of coluber. Other species, such as Naja haje and Psammophis monili-ger, differ more or less from their southern representatives. The Mediterranean countries of Africa nourish several kinds which occur in the south of Europe; and this analogy between the two continents is very striking when we compare, not the serpents alone, but the zoological productions in general, of Barbary, with those of Portugal and Spain. No serpents have been yet observed in the islands situate within the radius of Africa, and it appears certain that they do not exist in the Canary Islands.

The great island of Madagascar, of which the natural productions are as yet but slightly known, appears to be zoologically allied to Africa chiefly by the species of its western side; and although the eastern slopes of its great mountain chain exhibit features of an Asiatic character, its totality presents a very distinct and peculiar complexion. With the exception of Tropidonotus schistosus, all the known serpents belong to particular and elsewhere undiscovered species. For example, the Lanhaga, an anomalous and very remarkable species of Dryophis, Herpetodryas Goudotii and Rhodogaster, and Dipsas Gaimardii, are all peculiar to Madagascar. The Mauritius produces a very beautiful species, coluber miniatus, and a small Boa (B. Dussumicri) of an extremely attenuated form. From the Seychelles Islands we know of no serpent but a species of the genus Psammophis.

With the exception of its two magnificent Indian peninsulas, Asia is not so productive as might be expected of the reptile race. The temperature of a vast portion of the loftier and central, and a fortiori of the northern districts, is subjected to a low temperature during many months of the year. We know that Northern Asia, Siberia more especially, produces several animals of the higher orders, identical with some which inhabit the more rigorous parts of Europe; but the alleged identity of the Siberian species of Tropidonotus and Viperus may possibly require confirmation. A curious Ophidian, peculiar to the southern countries of Siberia, is Trigonocephalus halys, intermediate organically between the vipers of Europe and those species of its own genus which have the head furnished with sealyplates. The deserts to the south of the Caspian Sea, which are prolonged on the one side into Hindustan, on the other by means of the Iran, into Arabia and Syria, thus connecting with the desert tracts of Africa, produce a few species common alike to corresponding portions of both continents. We are still in almost total ignorance of the snakes of the great plateaus and other portions of Central India.

The reptiles of Japan present this peculiarity, that while the Batrachian and Chelonian orders exhibit several species identical with those of Europe (Rana esculenta and temporaria, Hyla arborea, Emys vulgaris, &c.), the Saurian and Ophidian groups seem to consist of species alto gether unknown in Europe. However, we know as yet but in part, for the Japanese species hitherto collected comprise, in addition to the genus Hydrophis, merely three species of coluber, two of Tropidonotus, and a single Trigonocephalus.

The island of Ceylon, though not extremely remote from the coast of Coromandel, produces several serpents not known in continental India, such as Tortrix maculata, Calamaria scytale, Lycodon caripatus, and two species of Trigonocephalus,— Trig, hypnale and nigromarginatus. It is along the Ceylonese shores that we first perceive certain species of the genus Hydrophis, those singular snakes which dwell exclusively in the sea, and occur from the island in question over all the intertropical marine waters east of Malabar, and as far as Polynesia The number of Ophidian species which inhabit the Gangetic Peninsula, without spreading into the great islands of the Indian Archipelago, is limited. Such, however, are Tortrix eryx, Coronella Russelii and οctolineara, several species of Coluber and Lycodorι, Dipsas rrigonara, several kinds of Tropidonotus, Elaps trimaculatus, and some vipers. The great islands themselves, with their smaller dependencies, are regarded by M. Schlegel as presenting a most interesting field for the study of zoological geography, and the observation of those local races, constituted by the diversities observable in apparently identical species placed in different localities. These islands are of the first rank as to size, situate within the tropics, covered by an abundant vegetation, and inhabited by innumerable tribes of living creatures of every class and kind. They are separated from each other by seas of no great breadth, yet sufficient to present, as matters are now constituted, an insurmountable barrier to the migration of the majority of species. Now when we find the same creatures inhabiting many different and distant islands having no communication with each other, we may reasonably infer that each insulated tract of land has borne its own inhabitants since the relations of our earth’s surface became as they now exist, and that the individuals of each species form in every island a family group, which will exhibit, when compared with the corresponding species in other islands, certain modifications produced by the disparities of their position. Experience has proved the accuracy of this assumption. It has not unfrequently happened, that the same species has been discovered to inhabit Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Timor, the Celebes, the Philippine Islands, and continental Asia, and in each locality has been observed to present some constant though extremely slight distinction. Now it would never do to regard these as so many distinct species. They are only local or climatic varieties, the origin of which may be obscure or incomprehensible (as are many things besides), but which we doubt not would show their identity, by each recognising the individuals of their kind, and by breeding together, could they be transported from one to another of their sea-girt isles. Innumerable examples of these climatic differences might be adduced, were we to extend our observations throughout the vast range of the animal kingdom; but here a few examples from the reptile races must suffice. The Najas from the isles of Sunda constantly differ in several characters from those of Bengal and the Philippine Islands. Tortrix rufa from the Celebes is distinguishable from individuals of the same species from Bengal and Java, by the uniform tint of the back, and by two small spots upon the occiput. Calamar oligodon of Java exhibits in Sumatra a difference in the dorsal tinting, and forms in Ceylon and the Philippine Islands a third local variety of great beauty. Analogous differences exist between the individuals of Coronella baliodeira of Java and Sumatra. Lycodon hebe of Java is smaller in size, and not so pale in colour, as that same species in Bengal, while those from Timor are still more diminutive, and of darker hue. The[7:20:137] beautiful coluber melanurus inhabits Java, Sumatra, and the Celebes; but the individuals from the last-named locality have the nape of the neck constantly adorned by an angular black mark. Herpetodrgas oxyeephalus is of a beautiful grass-green colour in Java; but this pure tint becomes embrowned in Borneo, and in Celebes appears almost black upon the dorsal region. Dendrophis picta inhabits almost all the intertropical countries of the Old World, from Senegal to New Guinea, but varies considerably at distant points of such a vast and surprising distribution. Dryophis nasuta of Bengal and the Mariannas has in Java the abdomen rayed with yellow. Dryophis prasina, common in the isles of Sunda, exhibits a local variety in the Celebes; and Tropidonotus quincunciatus, a species widely spread through India, has in Java the spots confluent, so that the dorsal portion seems rayed with black. Trop. chrysargos of Sumatra bears a different aspect from that species in the Celebes, while both vary from the individuals found in Java. Homalopsis Schneiden, which is spread from India to New Guinea, exhibits several varieties in different regions. The great Python bivittatus occurs in China, the isles of Sunda, both the Indian peninsulas, and Ceylon, and is, moreover, distributed across Africa as far as Senegambia. In this vast extent of territory it exhibits some considerable variations, which, when the extreme differences merely are regarded, and the intermediate links kept out of view, have caused it to be described, in its different aspects, as distinct species, all however referable, in Mr Schlegel’s opinion, to one and the same. Elaps fureatus and bivirgatus exhibit a different distribution of colours in Sumatra from what they do in Java; but it may be stated as a general fact, that almost all the known serpents of the former island have been found also in the latter. Indeed a considerable number of these insular Ophidians occur likewise both in Hindustan and Bengal.

It is a singular circumstance, that the two most remarkable species of the genus Trigonocephalus (Trig, puniceus and rhodostoma) have hitherto been observed only in Java; while Trig, viridis, so common in India, Bengal, Sumatra, and Timor, does not occur in the first-named island. The genus Bungarus, on the other hand, which inhabits Ceylon, Hindustan, and Bengal, does not occur in any other of the great eastern islands, except Java. In the Celebes we find many peculiar forms of animal life, combined with others well known elsewhere. Among the serpents we find there a beautiful species of Herpetodryas (Herp. dipsas), and Dipsas irregularis, which also occurs in Amboyna. Several species are absolutely the same as those of Java and Sumatra, although a few form permanent local varieties, which exhibit some slight disparities of colour. Such are Tortrix rufa, coluber melanurus, Herpetodryas oxycephalus, Dryophis prasina, Dipsas dendrophilus, and Tropidonotus chry-sargus. Of the Moluccas our knowledge is extremely slight, being confined chiefly to the island of Amboyna. We there find three or four serpents, likewise known as Javanese species; but it does not appear that the isles of Sunda produce Lycodon modestus, Boa carinata, Dendrophis rhodopleuron, or Python amethystinus. Timor is in some measure intermediate in its productions between Java and the Moluccas. Its Python is perhaps different from that of Amboyna, and it produces a singular Homalopsis (H. leu-cobalia). Lycodon hebe is there of a deeper tint than in Java; and coluber radiatus is represented in Timor by col. subradiatus, —a species analogous, but not the same. New Guinea and the adjacent islands produce several new species. We know little of the reptiles of the Philippines, though a few have been collected in the environs of Manilla, in the island of Luçon; and these clearly establish the curious fact, that the species of that island bear a strong analogy to those of Ceylon,—not a few being identical. The Noja of the Philippines belongs to the ordinary variety of N. tripudians, as it occurs in India, and which always differs in some measure from the same species from the isles of Sunda.

The vast insular continent of New Holland is as yet but slightly known, most of its ascertained productions having been sent only from a few limited localities; but the anomalous and extraordinary character of its productions may even now be fairly inferred. The snakes seem peculiar, and almost all belong to the venomous division. No water species have as yet been seen there. It has already been observed, that the innumerable islands of the great Pacific Ocean are believed to be unproductive of serpents. The Mariannas, however, form an exception to this general rule, and Dampier mentions green serpents as inhabitants of the Gallipagos.

A few brief notices of the serpents of the New World may terminate the geographical department of our subject. On comparing the species of the two great continents of America with each other, we observe some interesting parallels. The rattle-snake, Crolalus horridus, so common over a large extent of South America, is represented in the northern territories by Crot. durissus, as is Coronella venustissima by cor. coccinea. This kind of comparison, however, applies but to a few species, for the majority of kinds produced by one of the continents differ from those of the other. Thus, the genera Tortrix, Dipsas, Dendrophis, Boa, have as yet been found only in South America, or as far north as the Antilles, while Tropidonotus, on the contrary, is not found in the southern continent, though frequent in the northern, from which it likewise extends to parts of the West Indies. A small number, however, of southern species are found also in North America, such as Calamaria melanocephala, Lycodon clelia, Coronella cobella, Herpetodryas cursor, IIry-ophis Catesbyi, Elaps corallinus, Homalopsis carinicauda; while in like manner Heterodon platyrhinus, and Herpetodryas oestivus, which may be regarded rather as northern species, have been ascertained to inhabit Brazil. The following species of North American reptiles also inhabit the Antilles; calamaria striatula, Coronella coccinea, Hetero-dan platyrhinus, coluber constrictor, Herpetodryas oestivus and cursor, Tropidonotus bipunciatus, fasciatus, and saurita. Those next named also occur in the Antilles, although their proper country is South America; calamaria me-lanocephala, Coronella reginae, Lycodon clelia, Dendrophys liocercus, Dryophis Catesbyi and aurata, Dipsas annulata, Homalopsis angulata, Boa constrictor and cenchria, and Elaps corallinus. The species peculiar to these West Indian islands are very few in number, the most characteristic being Psammophis Antillensis, Trigonocephalus lanceo-latus, Dendrophis catesbyi, and Boa melanura. On comparing the snakes of Guiana with those of Brazil, we find many species common to both countries, several, however, forming local varieties more or less distinct, as in the cases of Herpetodryas linearus and Olfersii, coluber poëcilostoma, &c. Certain species are peculiar to one or other of the countries above named,—for example, Calamaria badia, Xenodon typhlus, coluber corais, Herpetodryas Boddaertii, Dendrophis aurata, Dryophis catesbyi and argentea, Homalopsis plicatilis, Elaps lemniscatus and Surinamensis, &c. have never been seen except in Guiana; while calamaria Blumii, Coronella Merremii, Xenodon Scholrii and rhinos-torna, Lycodon formosus, Herpetodryas serra, Homalopsis carinicauda and Mardi, are found only in Brazil. Other species, again, appear as it were to represent each other in these parts of South America, so that we may place in parallel, Coronella venustissima, Dipsas Mikani, Wegeli, leucocephala, and Nattereri, and Trigonocephalus Jararaca, of Brazil, with Coronella venusta, Dipsas nebulata, catesbyi, macrorhina, ρunctatissima, and Trigonocephalus atrox of Guiana. The other parts of South America are too little known to admit of any detailed comparison; but it[7:20:138] may be observed, that of the species discovered in Chili, several are entirely new, and distinct from such as exist on this side the Cordilleras.^[46. See Physiognomie des Serpents (distribution géographique), i. p. 195, et seq. ]

Notwithstanding the interest of the subject, we must now bring our general observations to a close, and proceed with a brief systematic sketch of the principal genera and species, referring the reader to M. Schlegel’s work (and to those of the other Erpetologists here quoted) for more minute details. In conformity with the views of the author just named, we preserve the ancient subdivision of venomous and non-venomous kinds. The constant character of the former consists in being provided with a gland of a cellular structure, which secretes a very deleterious poison. Maxillary teeth, called fangs, of much greater length than the others, hollow interiorly, and furnished with openings at either extremity, for the entrance and exit of the poison, are the potent weapons with which these insidious reptiles inflict their fatal wounds. It is difficult, if not impossible, to assign to these serpents any certain character of external distinction, although there is something in their general aspect which points them out, even to the uninitiated, as dangerous neighbours. Their natural habits also offer this distinction, that the venomous kinds are almost always either terrestrial or marine, although Trig, viridis is slightly arboreal, and certain species of Naja occasionally occur in fresh water. But the colubriform venomous kinds so greatly resemble the innocent species, that professed naturalists have sometimes combined them with each other. Their most common characters consist in a thickish rounded muzzle, and a short, thick, conical tail. The marine serpents may be recognised by their flattened tails.

The constitution of the following families bears relation rather to the habits of life than the organic structure of the species they respectively contain.

FIRST PRIMARY DIVISION. NON-VENOMOUS SERPENTS.

Family I.—Burrowing Serpents.

Genus Tortrix. Body cylindrical, of nearly equal dimensions throughout; head small, obtuse, and covered by imperfectly developed plates; eyes small; nostrils narrow; gape not widely cleft; teeth short and conical; tail short. Plate CCCCXLIV. fig. 6.

The species of this genus (which in M. Schlegel’s work includes also Eryx and Xenopeltis of other authors) inhabit the warmer countries of both the Old and New World, preferring dry and sandy districts, in which they form narrow excavations. T. eryx occurs over a vast extent of territory, from Egypt to Hindustan, and is met with in the southern parts of Europe. The ground colour of the dorsal region is a beautiful red with numerous confluent spots, and bands of blackish brown; the under parts are yellow, the whole covered by small scales. The muzzle is obliquely truncated at the end. Length about two and a half feet. Abdominal plates 195, caudal twenty. Six other species are known, of which T. scytale is American, and, of all undoubtedly Ophidian reptiles, makes the nearest approach to those ambiguous genera Typhlops and Amphisbaena. ^[47. ’ Museum Adolph. Fred. pl. 6, fig. 2. ] Family II.— Worm-like Serpents.

Genus Calamaria. Body small and cylindrical, terminated by a short conical tail. Head uniform with the body. Plates in the muzzle few in number.

The majority of the genus have the lower surface of a fine vermilion hue, a colour frequent among reptiles which inhabit low and moist abodes. They seldom exceed a foot in length, and are found in both the Americas, in Africa, Southern Asia, New Holland, and the Indian Archipelago. There are eighteen described species, of which one of the most curious is cal. lumbricodea of Boié.^[48. Erpitolngie de darn, pl. 22. ] Its body, though sometimes several feet long, does not exceed the thickness of a swan’s quill. The colour is blackish-blue above, bluish below, with blackish spots, and a yellow ray along the sides. The scales are smooth, square, and disposed in thirteen rows. Abdominal plates from 190 to 217, caudal from sixteen to twenty-three.

Family III.—Terrestrial Serpents.

Genus Coronella. Body somewhat pentagonal, thickening towards the centre. Head distinguishable from the neck, sometimes very broad at the base, depressed, the muzzle short, obtuse, and slightly truncated. Scales smooth, and disposed in from seventeen to nineteen longitudinal rows. Abdominal and caudal plates about 180 + 40.

The species of this genus are very alert in their movements, and defend themselves, when attacked, with great energy and perseverance. They are dispersed over almost all parts of the world (preferring plains and humid places), but have not as yet been observed in Japan or New Holland, and are rather rare in Asia. Specimens from South America are very frequent in collections, cor. laevis is a well-known European species, which occurs in France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and, from Sparmann’s description, appears to be among the number of the few Ophidians which inhabit Sweden.^[49. Neue Schwed. Abhandl. xvi. 180, pl. 7, f∙ A, B. ] It is of a shining bay colour, ornamented by irregular black marks, which form a peculiar design upon the head. The under surface is yellowish, marked with square black spots. There are twenty-one rows of scales, and the plates arc 175 + 55. This species is viviparous, that is, the young are hatched within the body of the mother. When attacked, it attempts to escape with great celerity, and when foiled in that intention, it fights with energy, bites furiously, and will scarcely allow itself to be taken alive. It cannot be lifted by the end of the tail (at least with impunity), as many serpents may, as it possesses the power of bending its body upwards, and wounding the hand of its captor. However, its bite, though disagreeable, is in no way dangerous. It is an excellent swimmer, butdoesnot enter the water willingly. It is very fond of mice. About thirteen other species are known to naturalists.

Genus Χενοοον. General form heavy, head broad, muzzle short and truncated, body thick, abdomen flattened. Upper jaws provided posteriorly with a solid, elongated, compressed tooth. Scales smooth, and dispersed in rather oblique ranges, especially on the neck, which is capable of expansion. Plates of the head short and broad.

Of this genus the species are few in number, and of these the individuals are by no means abundant. They are of large size, sometimes measuring from three to four feet in length, and, being thick in proportion, present a somewhat formidable aspect. They are usually characterized by a grayish-blue tint, and occur chiefly in Java and intertropical America. None have been as yet found in Africa or New Holland, but Xen. Michahelles inhabits the south of France and Spain.^[50. • Figured by Wagler under the title of Rhinechis Ayassizii. Icones, pl. 25. ] This species is distinguished by its short conical head, terminated by a prominent rostral plate. It has twenty-seven rows of scales, and 216 + 60 plates.

Genus Heterodon. Head not very distinguishable from the general form, which is slightly pentagonal, and almost of equal thickness throughout. Abdomen somewhat angular, and narrower than in Xenodon. Tail very short, and furnished beneath with divided plates. Rostral plate al-[7:20:139] ways prominent, sometimes prolonged into a small upturned trunk.

All the species are natives of the New World. The prevailing colour is red, ringed or spotted by a deeper hue. Their manners are unknown, but it is presumed that they inhabit a dry and sandy soil. We shall here name only the harlequin snake of America (Het. coccineus), which inhabits Louisiana and the southern states.^[51. Catesby’s Carolina, pl. 60. ] The ground colour is a bright yellow, tending more or less to brown upon the back, which is adorned with above twenty broad round or oval spots, of a purplish-red colour, bordered with black. Its brilliant tints are effaced soon after death. “This beautiful snake,” says M. Audubon, alluding, we believe, to our present species, “is rather rare in the United States, where I have observed it only in the south. It glides through the grass with ease, and ascends to the tops of bushes, and among the branches of fallen trees, to bask in the sun. Children are fond of catching it on account of its beauty. It feeds principally on insects, such as flies, and small Coleoptera."^[52. ∙ Ornithological Biography, vol. i. p. 278; and Birds of America, pl. 52. ] ’ This seems the species described by Herrera in his History of the West Indies, as inhabiting Mexicoand the Floridas, where it is known by the name of Madres de Hormigas, on account of its frequenting the society of ants.

Genus LYCODON. Form usually thin, sometimes extremely slender. Anterior maxillary teeth longer than the others. Vertical and anterior frontal plates small and shortened, the occipitals rather long.

The species inhabit both the Old and New World. The prevailing tint is of an earthy hue, passing more or less into brownish or ochry-yellow, the majority of species being ornamented by a collar of a clearer colour. Several kinds are ringed with black, white, and red. The abdominal plates usually amount to 200, the caudal vary from fifty to a hundred. We know little of the habits of these reptiles, of which above a dozen species have been collected in different parts of the intertropical world.

Genus Coluber. This genus, ns originally established by Linnaeus, contained all the Ophidian reptiles with subdivided caudal plates. The venomous kinds were afterwards removed, and the genus itself partitioned into several groups; but even then the genus Coluber properly so called continued to contain a vast amount of species. MM. Boie and Schlegel restricted it still farther; and although it is difficult to apply the distinctive notes of these writers, the genus is natural in itself, when we seek to recognise it rather by the general bearing and physiognomy of the species, than by means of isolated characters.

It contains all those innocuous serpents of considerable size, which hold, as it were, by the form an<l proportion of their particular parts, a central position among the other Ophidians. Their bodies, less contracted than those of the fresh-water kinds, are yet by no means so slender as those of the arboreal species. Their head is not so lengthened as that of the latter, but is less broad than that of the aquatic sorts. The tail, modified in accordance with the nature of the species, varies in its form, as these resemble or recede from the conterminous groups in their mode of life. It is thus that certain species of the genus Coluber arc closely connected with Tropidonotus, or even Homalopsis, while others are linked with Herpetodryas, Psammophis, Corοnelia, or Xenodon. The muzzle is usually broad, thick, rounded, rather short, the nostrils lateral, open, and oblong. The head is always laterally angular, from whence results the lateral position of the eyes, of which the pupil is orbicular in form. The body varies in proportional thickness in the different species, but is usually compressed, and slightly pentagonal. The abdomen is generally broad, convex, rarely angular, and is covered by numerous plates, more closely set together than in other serpents, and sometimes amounting to nearly 300. The tail is almost always cylindrical and pointed, generally of medium length, rarely slender and elongated, occasionally short and conic, its inferior portion furnished with divided plates.

Almost all the countries of the earth, of which the nature of the soil and climate is not altogether opposed to the existence of the Ophidian order, are inhabited by the genus Coluber. Only a single species, however, has been found in Southern Africa, and not one has yet occurred in New Holland. Their habits are what may be termed terrestrial, that is, they rarely enter water of their own accord, although several climb among shrubs and bushes with some celerity in search of prey. Several kinds occur in Europe, and those from intertropical countries measure in some instances from seven to eight feet. They are rarely adorned with brilliant colours, brown being the prevailing hue. Of some the markings are uniform, while others are spotted or longitudinally rayed. Of the European species, one of the best known and most extensively distributed is Col. Aesculapii, which sometimes attains to the length of from four to five feet. The colour of the upper parts is olive-brown, beneath yellowish, or marbled with gray, with a paler collar. Abdominal plates 228, caudal seventy-nine.^[53. ’ Jacquin, Collectan. iv. 356, pi. 26 (Fem.), 27 (Mas). ] ’ We have notes on the history of this species from MM. Host and Lenz. It is described ns being extremely active in its movements, climbing trees with facility, but avoiding contact with water. It is oviparous, and feeds on lizards, frogs, and small birds, but takes no nourishment in captivity. When attacked, it defends itself with great determination; but when captured, becomes tame in a few days. In the museum of Vienna, several specimens of this Aesculapian snake are preserved alive; and their manners are so gentle that children make playthings of them, and handle them for hours at pleasure.

The ancient Greeks adored the god of medicine in various places under diverse forms, but frequently in the guise of a ser∣>ent, as an emblem of sagacity, and an animal endowed with so many sanatory qualities, that several Hellenic peoples regarded the creature itself as the very Deity. It was especially so with the inhabitants of Epidaurus (a flourishing city of Peloponnesus), who in a sacred grove, the favourite abode of serpents, erected a magnificent temple in honour of these by us abhorred reptiles. The Roman people, when terrified by a great pestilence, which ravaged the capital (in their year 461), sent an embassy to Epidaurus in search of this imaginary god, whom they might have found in sufficient abundance near at hand. They entertained these slimy deities in the island formed by the Tiber, and where we may still see their figure sculptured in marble in the gardens of St Bartholomew.^[54. Metaxa, p. 37 ;—and Aldrovandus, Serp. pl. 240. The above is not the species called Col. Aeiculapii by Limueus, who misapplied the title to one of the coral snakes of America,— Coronclli venustissima of modern authors. ]? Chandler tells us, in his Travels, that the environs of Epidaurus still abound in harmless serpents.

The only other species we shall here notice is coluber quator-radiatus, remarkable as being the largest of the Ophidian reptiles of Europe. According to Metaxa (in his Monograph of the Serpents of the Environs of Rome), it sometimes attains the length of seven feet. It occurs in Italy, the south of France and Spain, Dalmatia, Hungary, &c. Its prevailing colour is an ochry-yellow passing into brown, and somewhat deeper on the under surface. Two lines of darker brown run along the flanks, and a blackish line passes from the eye to the corner of the mouth. This species, in spite of its great size and formidable aspect, is[7:20:140] extremely gentle in its manners, and does not attempt to bite even when seized in its native haunts. It is very common in the fields near Tivoli, but is usually found on hillsides. There is a passage in Pliny^[55. Lib. viii. c. 14. ] * which relates that the Boas of Italy sometimes attain to so great a size that the entire body of an infant was found in the interior of one slain during the reign of the Emperor Claudius. The species just noticed is certainly the largest of all the Roman serpents, but its natural attributes in no way favour the reception of this preposterous story.^[56. Quadrupèdes Oripares, ii. 163, pl. 7, fig. 1. ] * The largest species of the genus is coluber corais of Surinam. There are twenty-seven different kinds described by M. Schlegel.

Genus Hebpktodryas. This genus was established by the late M. Boié for the reception of certain species of Coluber (Col. carinatus, &c.), which combine the aspect and physiognomy of the preceding genus (to which they are closely allied) with the lengthened form and much of the habits of the arboreal serpents. Their colours are usually of a uniform greenish hue, sometimes passing into brown, or occasionally longitudinally rayed. The tail is generally long and slender, a character which, combined with the narrow and very angular abdomen, announces their arboreal disposition. Their manners are wild and distrustful, and they inhabit the warmer regions of both the Old and New World, with the exceptions, so far as yet known, of Africa and New Holland. We shall here name only Herp. carinatus, a Brazilian species, also common in Surinam. It is remarkable for having two central rows of dorsal scales, so that the total number of rows forms an equal number, a character unique in the Ophidian order. It varios greatly in its external markings.^[57. Wagler, Seep. Bros. pl. 7 and 12. ]

Genus PsammopHIS. This little group may also be regarded as a dismemberment from Coluber, and brings us into still closer contact with the genuine tree-serpents. They offer an anomaly in their dentition, in as far as their posterior teeth, and those of the centre, are usually longer than the others, and furrowed. The head is elongated, the vertical plate very narrow. Some have the body thin and long drawn out, while others are more compact like Coluber. The species occur in India, Africa, and America; and Psam. lacertina is an European example well known in Dalmatia.^[58. Fleischman, Aor. Gen. ph 2. ] They all prefer sandy soils, and prey chiefly upon Saurian reptiles. Green and brown are the prevailing colours, although several arc longitudinally rayed, or have the head adorned by linear figures.

Family IV.—Arboreal or Tree-Serpents.

The members of this family are characteristic of the great forests of the tropical countries of Asia and America. They are rare in Africa, still more so in New Holland, and Europe produces only a few anomalous species. Their form is in general extremely elongated, they pass the greater portion of their time in trees and bushes, and prey both on birds and lizards.

Genus Dendrophis. Body compressed; abdomen (and sometimes the taiD angular, and furnished with very broad plates; scales narrow and elongated. Tail very slender. Head lengthened. Eye large, the pupil orbicular. See Plate CCCCXLIII. fig. 5.

These reptiles inhabit both the western and eastern world, but are rare in New Holland, and unknown in Europe. They climb trees with great facility, and are extremely quick in their general movements. They are frequently adorned by lively colours. Nearly a dozen species are known to naturalists.

Genus Dryophis. Muzzle slender and projecting. General form greatly elongated, the body compressed, the abdomen convex. Eye of moderate size.

The species of this genus are among the most remarkable of the innocuous serpents, their shape being so extraordinarily lengthened out, that many measure nearly five feet in length, and are yet no thicker than the little finger. Hence their Anglo-American name of coach-whip snakes, of one of which, first described by Catesby, it was absurdly believed by the Indians, “that it will by a jerk of its tail separate a man in two parts.”^[59. Carolina, ii. plate 54. ] The tail, of extreme slenderness, always measures half the length of the whole body; and the muzzle is often drawn out in the form of a pointed proboscis. These reptiles inhabit the torrid zone, or the countries near the tropics, in Asia and the two Americas. Although unknown in the continent of Africa, a species (D . langaha) occurs in Madagascar. The genus admits of a geographical division,—those of the ancient continent being characterized by grooved maxillary teeth, and the pupil of the eye elongated horizontally, while such as inhabit America have the teeth less developed, and the pupil orbicular. We may briefly notice Dryophis nasuta (the Passeriki of RusseD,^[60. Indian Serpents, plate 12 and 13. ] a remarkable species, of a beautiful grass-green colour above, the lower surface paler, and marbled with red. A white or yellow ray extends from behind the eye to the commissure of the lips, and another very distinct one passes along each side of the abdomen and tail. The muzzle is very sharp, and is terminated by a moveable fleshy appendage (See Plate CCCCXLIII. figs. 7 and 9.) This kind occurs over a great extent of India and the great eastern islands, and is frequent in the environs of Vizagapatam. It lives in trees, and its manners are described as being even ferocious. Its bite, however, is attended by no other bad consequences than the pain of the wound; but the common people deem it dangerous, as directing its attacks chiefly at the eyes of the passers by. There is an Indian whip-snake (probably not of this genus) common in the Concan, where it is described as concealing itself among the foliage of trees, from which it darts at cattle grazing below, generally also aiming at the eye. A bull which was thus wounded at Dazagon tore up the ground with extreme fury, and died in half an hour, foaming at the mouth. This habit of the reptile is truly singular,—for it seems to proceed neither from resentment nor from fear, nor yet from the impulse of appetite, but seems, “more than any other known fact in natural history, to partake of that frightful and mysterious principle of evil, which tempts our own species so often to tyrannize for mere wantonness of power.”^[61. Quarterly Beriete, xii. 183. ]?

The species already named as a native of Madagascar, Dryophis langaha, Schlegel, partakes of those anomalous attributes which characterize so many animal products of that extraordinary island. It measures between two and three feet in length, and is of a beautiful reddish-brown colour above, the under surface being of a deep though lively yellow, spotted with brown, especially beneath the tail; but its most peculiar character is seen in the muzzle, which is prolonged into a fleshy appendage of half an inch in length, covered with small scales, and of variable form, being in some cases sharp-pointed, in others compressed and enlarged, or leaf-shaped. This curious reptile seems to have been first (we believe inaccurately) described by M. Bruguières,^[62. Journal de Physique, xxiv. 132, plate 2. ] and has since been banded about through various genera.^[63. ’ Langaha Madagascariensis, Lacép. Quad. Ovip. ii. 499:— Langaya nasuta, Shaw, Gen. Zool. iii. 571, plate 127 :— Amphisbaena langaha. Schneid. Hist. Amphib. ii. 151. ] ® It is classed by M. Schlegel (we presume after due examination),^[64. Physiognomie des Serpents, ii. 148. ] among the innocuous, that is, the non-venomous kinds,—although the natives of Madagascar[7:20:141] are said to hold it in great dread, from the belief of its being a highly poisonous species.^[65. Gen. Zool. iii. 572. ]

Genus Dipsas. Head thick, broad, obtuse; the body vigorous, but much compressed. Pupil of the eye usually vertical. Plate CCCCXLIV. fig. 7.

This genus comprises all those tree-serpents which, resembling the Colubers (and so far differing from the two preceding genera) in the bulkier proportion of their parts, are distinguished by their compressed bodies and more slender tails. Both the size and colours differ greatly according to the species, some of which do not measure more than fourteen inches, while others extend to five or six feet. South America and the East Indies are their characteristic countries, although a somewhat anomalous species is found in Egypt and Dalmatia. The genuine Dipsas dwell habitually in trees, concealing themselves amid dense foliage, from whence they dart upon their unsuspecting prey. The largest species known to naturalists is Dip. dendrophila, a Javanese reptile, which sometimes measures seven feet in length. The ground-colour is a beautiful lustrous black, with steel-blue reflections, paler on the under surface; and the body is encircled by from forty-five to fifty transverse narrow bands of a fine golden yellow.^[66. • Wagler, Icones, i. pl. 8. ] Dip. fallax is, we presume, the sole European species,—if the reptile so named really pertains to our present genus.^[67. It is the Tartolou fallax of Fleischman’s ltiucrtutic, pl. 1. ] ’ Its habits offer great disparity, at least M. Cantraine found it in Dalmatia in the month of December, creeping slowly among the ruins of an ancient castle. It had previously been found in the Levant by Olivier, and was more recently observed in the Morea by M. Bory St Vincent. Fleischman informs us that it lives under stones, stirs abroad only in the early morning and towards evening, avoids water, and feeds on insects, lizards, and mice. About twenty-five species of this genus are described by M. Schlegel.

Family V.—Fresh-water Serpents.

The members of this group are more or less allied to Coluber in their organization. They inhabit the water, or at least frequently enter into that element, and prefer the banks of rivers and the shores of lakes to situations more remote from moisture. It does not follow that all snakes endowed with analogous instincts and manners belong to this group, because the majority of the Boas, and almost all the Colubers, nearly correspond in their habits of life, and are yet very dissimilar in their structure. In this family there are combined those serpents which, having many mutual relatione in their form and physiognomy, constitute a very natural assemblage, though by no means distantly separated from all other subdivisions. It is composed of two genera, of which the first exhibits, with few exceptions, nothing remarkable in its organization,—while the second is characterized by several singular features.

Genus TropIdonotus. Head broad, body rather bulky, abdomen broad and convex, tail short.

The majority of this genus inhabit Asia, especially the Indian Archipelago. Southern Africa produces only a single species; Europe two, which occur on both sides of the Mediterranean basin. The same restricted number is found in Japan, and several are native to North America. None is known to inhabit either South America or New Holland. Certain species are widely distributed, while others are confined within narrow limits. They usually occur along the shady, wooded banks of lakes and rivers, where they prey on frogs and fishes. They swim with great dexterity, and are capable of continuing for a length of time beneath the surface. Although they can both creep and climb with considerable swiftness, they usually prefer to escape from threatened danger by plunging into water. Many species never remove from the close vicinity of that element; others inhabit plains subject to inundation; and a few are found to dwell in moist umbrageous forests, even on the sides and towards the summits of high mountains. Certain species are gregarious; while some are solitary, dwelling in the deserted holes of small quadrupeds. Such as inhabit temperate climates fall into a lethargic state in winter. The whole are oviparous; but the eggs of many, even when newly laid, contain young in a state of considerable advancement.

The first species we shall notice is Tropidonotus natrix (Coluber natrix, Linn., Nairix torquata, Ray), the best-known and most generally-diffused of European serpents, and one of the few which inhabit the cold and cloudy clime of Britain. We have exhibited its osteology on Plate CCCCXLIV. fig. 2. It is subject to great variation of colour, but the prevailing tint is a pale ashy-blue tinged with green, and relieved by a series of black spots or bands. The under surface is dusky blue, with mottlings of yellowish white. The collar is white or yellow, bordered posteriorly by deep black; and the plates of the head are extremely regular in their form. The length ranges from two and a half to four, or occasionally five feet. The female is always the larger. This reptile has been studied and described by a host of European writers. It is not characterized by any wildness or ferocity, is easily tamed, and rarely bites even when seized. “Il m’est cependant arrivé,” says M. Schlegel, “qu’étant encore très-jeune, et m’étant approché du bord d’un bois, où one société nombreuse de ces serpens s’était établie pour faire leur ponte, un Tropidonote d’une taille énorme m’attaqua avec fureur, tandis que plusieurs autres s’échappaient dans les trous dont la terre était percée.”^[68. Physiog. ii. 304. ] * The ringed snake, as our present species is generally named, prefers to take possession of the subterranean dwelling of a mouse or mole to commencing an excavation for itself. Being fond of warmth and shelter, it often approaches human habitations, and readily lays its eggs in dunghills. Yet it is often met with in the remotest wilds, or in thick umbrageous forests, and sometimes at a height of several thousand feet above the level of the sea. But on the whole it prefers the vicinity of tranquil waters, where it dives frequently in search of fishes, as well as of frogs and other batrachian reptiles. Although it possesses the power of remaining under water for nearly half an hour, it is not organized for a continued abode in that element; and when frequently forced from shore, its swimming powers become exhausted, and it is “found drowned.” It is extremely voracious, and will swallow a great number of frogs at a meal. It hybemates, in cold and temperate countries, from the month of October or November, seeking profounder excavations, where frost can scarcely enter. It leaves its retreat in March or April, according to the region it inhabits, and casts its skin once a month till the end of August. In that month also it lays its eggs, to the number of two dozen or more. As the species pairs in April, it follows that these eggs take five months to be developed in the oviducts, though they are hatched in about three weeks after deposition. Their form is oval, and they measure about an inch and three lines in length. The young, when first visible, measure from six to eight inches. This species abounds over all France and Germany. It does not inhabit the maritime parte of Holland, but is common in Gucl-derland and the province of Drenthe. It is well known in Italy, Sicily, and Sardinia, as well as in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, and extends over a great portion of temperate[7:20:142] Asia, as far as Lake Baikal. It is a common species in England, where it occurs in woods and hedges, as well as in marshes. Mr Jenyns informs us, that it is particularly abundant in the fens of Cambridgeshire, where it sometimes attains a great size.^[69. British Vertebrate Animais, p. 296. Figured in Bell’s British Reptiles. ] We shall merely add, that it is eaten in several continental countries. col. viperinus, another European species, pertains to this genus; as do also a considerable amount of exotic kinds, which we cannot here so much as name.

Genus Homalopsis. Body bulky, head very thick, muzzle short and rounded; eyes and nostrils small, and opening upwards; form usually cylindrical, sometimes slightly compressed; abdomen broad and convex; tail short, conical, robust.

This genus inhabits the great fresh waters of the inter tropical countries both of Asia and America, although it seems less extended than the preceding, being seldom seen beyond the tropics. A Bengal species occurs also in Java, and a few are found identically the same in both the Americas. The majority attain a considerable size; but though as thick as a man’s arm, they rarely exceed the length of four feet. Their heavy inelegant forms, small insidious eyes, and large gaping mouths, confer upon them a peculiar and repelling physiognomy; yet they are quite innocuous, in spite of the malignity of their aspect, a proof that we should never judge from appearance. These are the most truly aquatic of all the fresh-water serpents, passing almost their entire lives submerged, and feeding chiefly on fish. They are endowed with great muscular strength and strong powers of locomotion in their favourite element. Their colours are usually dark and lugubrious,—a schistose gray, brown, olive, or a blackish hue prevailing over the upper surface; while a yellower tint, with large square spots, is frequent on the abdominal region. We are acquainted with few details regarding their habits of life; and the species are rare in collections, probably in consequence of their fish-like activity in the water rendering their capture difficult. They are distributed over a variety of genera by different naturalists; and M. Schlegel describes fourteen species, among which are included Hom. herpeton (Erpeton tentaculatus, Lac.^[70. Annates des Mus., ii. 280, pl. 50; Guérin, Iconog. Reptiles, pl. 20, fig. 3. ]), a serpent remarkable for two fleshy appendages covered with scales, which extend from the termination of the muzzle. (See Plate CCCCXLIII. fig. 4.) The abdominal plates are scarcely broader than the other scales, and each is surmounted by a couple of ridges. Its native country is unknown.

family VI.—Boas.

This family, according to M. Schlegel’s views, comprehends the greater number of those species which modern naturalists have comprised under the genera Boa, Python, and Acrochordus. It is one of the most natural of the entire order, and has been too often erroneously separated, merely on the consideration of a few unimportant characters. We here find species, some of them the largest of the Ophidian race, distinguished by a prehensile tail, and a body possessing the power of twisting itself around other bodies with great force and facility. The surface is encompassed by numerous small scales, which advance upon the head and encroach on the abdomen, so that the former part never exhibits the regularly-formed plates of the Colubers, while those of the latter are unusually narrow. The vertical position of the nostrils and small-sized eyes announce a combination of aquatic with terrestrial habits of life. The first genus, that of Boa properly so called, is characterized by simple plates beneath the tail; the second, Python, peculiar to the ancient world, exhibits the sub-caudal plates divided, a supernumerary bone on the upper margin of the orbits, and intermaxillary teeth; the third, Aerochordus, is destitute of anal hooks, and has the surface entirely covered over by small granular unimbricated scales. All these generic groups have many characters in common, both in habits and organization, and we shall here point out a few of their generalities.

The term Boa, according to Pliny,^[71. · Bist. Nat. 8—14. ] is derived from Bos, because the young of these reptiles are wont to nourish themselves on cow’s milk.^[72. “Quant aux véritable serpens, il n’en est pas qui mâchent réellement, de même qu’il est evident qu'aucun ne peut sucer ou opérer le vide dans la bouche, et que, par consequent, c'est un préjugé de croire que plusieurs de ces animaux, comme les Boas et les Couleuvres, puissent téter les vaches; outre l’absence des lèvres charnues, le defaut de voile du palais et de l’épiglotte, qui rendraient la succion impossible, il est evident que les crochets acérés et recourbés en arrière, qui garnissent leurs mâchoires et leur palais, s'accrocheraient connue des hameçons aux tétines des mammifères et qu’ils ne pourraient s’en detacher.” (Erp. Gén, i. 135.) ] We are farther informed by that credulous author, of the great Boa slain in the Vatican, within the abdomen of which was found an entire infant. Linnaeus applied the name to all serpents provided with simple sub-caudal plates. It is obvious that his genus, founded on a character of such slight importance, while it excludes the Pythons, necessarily brings together several heterogeneous groups. The defect in the modern arrangement of these reptiles arises chiefly from the practice of viewing a single and often subordinate character, and ruling, as it were, the forms of nature in simple accordance with its absence or existence. We thus find the Pythons almost always separated from the Boas, and placed in the genus Coluber, while the Acrochordi, estranged from both, comprise two distinct genera, sometimes placed among venomous serpents, sometimes classed with the innocuous kinds. “Nos temps,” says M. Schlegel, “fertiles en invasions de toute sorte, ont vu démembrer la famille des Boas en autant de divisions génériques que l’on en compte d’espèces, qui elles-mêmes sont multipliées sans le moindre fondement de verité. Π n’est pas rare de voir la même espèce distribuée en deux ou trois genres differens, et ces genres placés au hazard parmi d’autres Couleuvres ou parmi les vipères.” The opportunities enjoyed by the author just named, of studying the various species, has led him to the belief that these are much less numerous than generally supposed. He thinks that the majority of such as exist in nature are now in some measure known, and that they do not amount to more than fifteen, including Acrochordus. Various anomalies exist among the species when compared among each other. Some are spread over a vast tract of territory, while others are confined within narrow limits. They are all, however, inhabitants of countries either situate beneath the equator or near the tropics. They occur in both the Old and New World, but none is found in Europe, North America, or Japan. The South American species are frequent in collections; those of the (so-called) more ancient countries of the earth are rather rare. Some are oviparous, others produce their young alive. The Boas usually attain, in truth, to an enormous size, although their actual dimensions have been greatly exaggerated. Thus at the very name of Boa constrictor the imagination is filled “with folds voluminous and vast,” although the species really so called scarcely ever exceeds ten or twelve feet in length. The largest Ophidian reptiles in the world are Boa murina and Python Schneideri and bivirrarus; but it may be greatly doubted whether the first named, which is the most gigantic of all, ever exceeds twenty-five feet in these degenerate days, and we have no sufficient[7:20:143] reason for supposing that it was ever any larger in former times.^[73. Unable as we are either to confirm or contradict, from personal experience, the reported observations of travellers regarding the supposed dimensions of these huge reptiles, we are under the necessity of stating the different opinions which prevail upon the subject, however irreconcileable these may sometimes seem with each other. The following quotation rather favours the idea of their great size and unexampled voracity. “In the Dutch colonies of the East Indies, André Clever purchased of the hunters of the country an enormous serpent, in the body of which he found a deer of middle age, altogether entire, with its skin and limbs. In another individual of the same species, also examined by the traveller, a wild he∙goat was found, with its hums; and a third had evidently swallowed a porcupine with its quills. He adds, that a pregnant woman also became the prey of a reptile of the same genus in the island of Amboyna; and that this kind is sometimes kept for the purpose of attacking the buffaloes in the kingdom of Aracan, on the frontiers of Bengal. We need hardly be astonished at this, when Prince Maurice of Nassau-Siegen, one of the governors of Brazil, in the seventeenth century, assures us that he himself was an eye-witness of stags, and other equally voluminous mammifera, and even of a Dutch woman” (usually a considerable mammifer), “being devoured in this manner, in that region of South America where he commanded." Griffith’s Animal Kingdom, ix. 295. ] The recitals of our travellers have been too often drawn, not from their own observation (by no means accurate at the best), but merely from the popular belief of ignorant and superstitious natives. The Pythons of the Old World seldom exceed from eighteen to twenty feet in length; and we can easily believe that one even of that extent being met by a benighted traveller in some lonesome forest glade, or murky meadow, might be afterwards described as something super-serpentine. Who in early life (how few at any period) ever caught a trout of two pounds or a pike of ten, without at least supposing that the one weighed four, the other fifteen? Yet who fears the innocuous finny race, and how greatly must doubt and dismay increase the seeming dimensions of a huge lugubrious reptile, weaving its way through some “wild wood, dingle or bushy dell,” and dimly seen in sombre twilight hours, by snatches of only four or five yards nt a time? The same exaggeration prevails regarding both the size of their natural prey, and its mode of capture. The lamented Boié, who made numerous observations on the Pythons of Asiatic countries, states that they particularly attack only the smaller kinds of quadrupeds, although individuals of unusual size sometimes swallow a young pig, or that species of deer called muntjac. But the larger maramiferous animals, and the human race more especially, need entertain no reasonable expectation of attack; and Prince Neuwied confirms this statement of the lamented naturalist of Kiel, so far as concerns the great species of the New World, which prey chiefly on birds and reptiles.

Boas are said to be by no means difficult to tame. M. Dieperink of Paramaribo informed M. Schlegel that he was in the practice of keeping by him several different kinds of live Boas, all of which lived in perfect harmony, both among themselves and with other domestic animals. Professor Reindwardt, however, was witness at Java to a spectacle which proved that these great serpents are not always as merciful as they are strong. A native of the island having brought to the Baron Van Der Capelle a huge Python, and being desirous to make it leave a pannier in which it was contained, the monster rose upon him suddenly, and inflicted a severe wound, at once laying open the fore-arm throughout its entire extent. It may be as well, then, upon the whole, not to allow the serpents of this family to sleep at large in the bed-chambers of any other family where there are small children.

The members of our present group seize their prey suddenly by ambuscade, usually lying in wait for it in the vicinity of water. They fix upon it with their teeth, and then, if of tolerable size or strength, entwine their folds around it, pressing out the breath of life, or even bruising the body, and breaking the bones in pieces. To aid this act of butchery, some of the species are said to keep their tails twisted around a tree, to which they drag their reluctant victim,—making use at the same time of the hard and gnarled trunk to give a still stronger stringency to their dreadful coils, while the faint-hearted prey

Clamores simul horrendos ad sidera tollit.

When the animal attacked is of smaller size, it is merely mouthed, always head foremost, covered with saliva to hasten putrefaction and aid deglutition, and afterwards swallowed at leisure. These gigantic reptiles are endowed with great muscular force, which, however, they rarely exercise in a state of captivity. They seem extremely lethargic when imported into Europe; many of them, if not gentle in their manners, at least cannot be induced to bite by any provocation; their movements are very slow, they rarely eat, and the majority indeed die after a few months’ confinement, without having tasted food.

The following curious, and we doubt not accurate, account of the swallowing powers of one of the great Asiatic serpents, has been recorded by Mr Macleod. He calls the species Boa constrictor, which, as it was captured in Bor-nea, it could scarcely be. It belonged, we presume, to the genus Python, and measured sixteen feet in length by about eighteen inches in circumference. We shall make no apology for the size of the ensuing extract, as it so clearly illustrates the peculiar manners and the mode of deglutition of these Boa-like serpents.

“The live stock for his use during the passage, consisting of six goats of the ordinary size, were sent with him on board, five being considered as a fair allowance for as many months. At an early period of the voyage we had an exhibition of his talent in the way of eating, which was publicly performed on the quarter-deck, upon which he was brought. The sliding door (of his cage) being opened, one of the goats was thrust in, and the door of the cage shut. The poor goat, as if instantly aware of all the horrors of its perilous situation, immediately began to utter the most piercing and distressing cries, butting instinctively at the same time with its head towards the serpent, in self-defence. The snake, which at first appeared scarcely to notice the poor animal, soon began to stir a little, and turning his head in the direction of the goat, he at length fixed a deadly and malignant eye on the trembling victim, whose agony and terror seemed to increase; for, previous to the snake seizing his prey, it shook in every limb, but still continuing its unavailing show of attack, by butting at the serpent, which now became sufficiently animated to prepare for the banquet. The first operation was that of darting out his forked tongue, and at the same time rearing a little his head; then suddenly seizing the goat by the fore leg with his mouth, and throwing it down, it was encircled in an instant in his horrid folds. So quick, indeed, and so instantaneous was the act, that it was impossible for the eye to follow the rapid convolution of his elongated body. It was not a regular screw-like turn that was formed, but resembling rather a knot, one part of the body overlaying the other, as if to add weight to the muscular pressure, the more effectually to crush his object. During this time he continued to grasp with his fangs, though it appeared an unnecessary precaution, that part of the animal which he had first seized. The poor goat, in the mean time, continued its feeble and half-stifled cries for some minutes, but they soon became more and more faint, and at last it expired. The snake, however, retained it for a considerable time in his grasp after it was apparently motionless. He[7:20:144] then slowly and cautiously unfolded himself, till the goat fell dead from his monstrous embrace, when he began to prepare himself for swallowing it. Placing his mouth in front of the dead animal, he commenced by lubricating with his saliva that part of the goat; and then taking its muzzle into his mouth, which had, and indeed always has, the appearance of a raw, lacerated wound, he sucked it in as far as the horns would allow. These protuberances opposed some little difficulty, not so much from their extent, as from their points; however, they also in a very short time disappeared, that is to say, externally; but their progress was still to be traced very distinctly on the outside, threatening every moment to protrude through the skin. The victim had now descended as far as the shoulders; and it was an astonishing sight to observe the extraordinary action of the snake’s muscles when stretched to such an unnatural extent,—an extent which must have utterly destroyed all muscular power in any animal that was not, like himself, endowed with very peculiar faculties of expansion and action at the same time. When his head and neck had no other appearance than that of a serpent’s skin, stuffed almost to bursting, still the workings of the muscles were evident, and his power of suction, as it is erroneously called, unabated; it was, in fact, the effect of a contractile muscular power, assisted by two rows of strong, hooked teeth. With all this, he must be so formed as to be able to suspend, for a time, his respiration; for it is impossible to conceive that the process of breathing could be carried on while the mouth and throat were so completely stuffed and expanded by the body of the goat, and the lungs themselves (admitting the trachea to be ever so hard) compressed, as they must have been, by its passage downwards.

“The whole operation of completely gorging the goat occupied about two hours and twenty minutes; at the end of which time the tumefaction was confined to the middle part of the body, or stomach, the superior parts, which had been so much distended, having resumed their natural dimensions. He then coiled himself up again, and lay quietly in his usual torpid state for about three weeks or a month, when, his last meal appearing to be completely digested and dissolved, he was presented with another goat, which he killed and devoured with equal facility.”^[74. Macleod’s Voyage of the Alceste, p. 290. ]

As the vessel, which was sailing from Batavia to England, approached the Cape of Good Hope, this gigantic reptile began to droop, as was at first supposed, from the increasing cold. It refused to kill some fowls which were presented, and died before reaching St Helena. On dissection, the coats of the stomach were found to be “excoriated and pierced by worms!” Nothing of either goat remained except a single horn. During a prior captivity of some months at Whidah, in the kingdom of Dahomey, Mr Macleod had enjoyed opportunities of observing snakes “double the size of the one just described.” These killed their prey in the same manner; but from their superior bulk were capable of swallowing much larger animals than either goats or sheep. Governor Abson, who had resided for nearly forty years at Fort William, a settlement of the African Company, used to describe some desperate struggles which had taken place between these great serpents and various wild beasts, as well as smaller cattle. A negro herdsman was once seized by the thigh, but the monster, in attempting to entwine itself around him, got en tangled by a tree, and the man being armed with a knife, had presence of mind to inflict several severe gashes on the neck and throat, which enabled him to disengage himself from the dreadful coils which were closing fast around him. But he remained lame for life, in consequence of the wound and heavy pressure inflicted by the jaws.

The natural colours, which are various in this family, disappear speedily after death. Some are brown upon a yellowish ground, others exhibit a uniformly greenish hue, red prevails among certain species, while a few are nearly black. Almost all are more or less spotted; and it has been observed that, unlike the smaller tribes of serpents, these markings continue equally, or rather more distinct, as the individual increases in years. The body of the Boas is thickest at the middle, tapers towards either end, and is always considerably compressed. The abdomen is broad, and slightly convex or keeled. The tail is shaped like the body, but is more slender, not very conical, and usually terminates in a blunted point. It is always prehensile, that is, possesses the power of rolling inwards upon itself, or forming convolutions around other bodies. The scales in general are rather small, and as they encroach considerably on the under surface, it follows that the abdominal plates arc narrower than usual. There are sometimes from sixty to seventy ranges of scales, and about two hundred and fifty abdominal plates. The number of these, however, is greater in the Boas of the ancient world than among the American species, which moreover differ in several other respects; while the genus Aerochordus is distinguished from all its congeners by the small granular scales which clothe the entire surface, and of which a double series prevails along the median line of the abdomen, forming a kind of projecting ridge or keel.

The head of the Boas is always distinguishable from the trunk, being thick, rather lengthened, conical, depressed, and terminated by a muzzle for the most part elongated, and truncated at the point. The eyes are placed at some distance from the nostrils, and are lateral in the terrestrial species, of which the head is flattened above, and more or less angular on the sides; but the more aquatic kinds have the eyes rather vertical. These organs are always small in our present family, and, excepting Aerochordus, have the pupil horizontally elongated. The nostrils are broad, close-y approached to the end of the muzzle, and in some are placed upon its summit. They open upwards in the genus just named, and assume a tubular form. All the species are provided with palatine teeth, nearly as much developed as the maxillary ones; but there are no intermaxillary teeth except among the Pythons. The glands of the head are less developed in this family than among the majority of Ophidian reptiles.

Genus Boa. No intermaxillary teeth. Space between the orbits formed solely by the frontale properly so called. Sub-caudal plates simple.^[75. This is the prevailing character of these parts, although we find in this, as in many other cases, a difficulty in seizing upon single determinate features of constant application. Thus we sometimes meet with several divided plates in the sub-caudal region of these so-called Boas. ] See Plate CCCCXLIII. figs. 8-11.

This restricted genus includes the largest of Ophidian reptiles, and although composed chiefly of South American snakes, it also contains three Asiatic species, which, though of much smaller size, cannot be regarded otherwise than as a geographical division.

Boa constrictor, Linn., is a middle-sized species, which rarely exceeds the length of ten or twelve feet.^[76. The true Β. constrictor is often confounded with the more gigantic B. murina, and its dimensions have in consequence been greatly exaggerated. We doubt if any existing species ever attains to the alleged size of the so-called B. constrictor. Mr Swainson, however, who has travelled in South America, and is himself a zealous student of the facts of zoology, both as recorded in books and as existing in nature, states that the young individuals frequent in our menageries are mere pigmies in comparison to the adults, “which have been often found to exceed forty feet in length” (Cabinet Cyelopaedia, vol. cxvi. p. 143). Yet he does not state thia as a result of observation, or as connected with his own knowledge as well as belief A single specimen of such gigantic reptile would be the wonder of Europe, and would make a fortune for its owner. A Dutch friend of Mr Waterton’s killed a Boa (he does not say of what species) twenty-two feet long, with a pair of stag’s horns in its mouth. It had swallowed the stag, but could not swallow the horns (at which we are not much surprised), and so had to wait in patience with that uncomfortable mouthful till its stomach had digested the body, “and then the horns would drop out.” It was in this expectant plight that the Dutchman found it, as he was going in his canoe up the river, and sent a ball through its head (Wanderings in South America, third edit. p. 209). The large serpent bagged by Mr Waterton, after “a sharp fray in the den, the rotten sticks flying on all sides, and each party struggling for superiority,” measured rather more than fourteen feet in length. It was of the kind called Coulacanara, a rare species, and so much thicker in proportion to its length than any other snake of the forest, that an individual of the extent just elated “is as thick as a common Boa of twenty-four.” Its jaws are so extensile, that Mr Waterton, after skinning his specimen, could easily get his head into its mouth. ] It is of a reddish tint, elegantly marked by irregular reticulations of[7:20:145] brownish black, and other hucs, and is subject to a great variety of aspect, so fur as colour is concerned. It is, however, well characterized by the small smooth scales which cover both head and body, and of which there are sixty-seven rows. The head is heart-shaped, and the tail short. Abdominal plates 243, caudal fifty-eight. This species is native to the intertropical countries of South America, and not only have its size and voracity been greatly exaggerated, but many traits have been applied to it which truly belong only to the Pythons of the ancient continent. Thus the very name of Devin, bestowed upon it by Lacépède, is borrowed from what Bosman relates of the worship accorded by the negroes to certain African reptiles. It is met with in Surinam and Brazil, in woody districts, being sometimes seen suspended from the branch of a tree, sometimes concealed in the hollows of rocks, or beneath an ancient trunk. It is feared by no one, is often killed with a short walkingstick, and is commonly known by the name of Jiboya. It feeds on small and middle-sized mammalia, such as mice, rats, agoutis, pacas, and capybaras, as well as on various reptiles. A hunter, however, assured the Prince of Neuwied, that his dog on one occasion would have fallen a victim to a Boa of this species, had he not contrived to shoot it during the combat. The true constrictor does not enter the water. The Brazilians take it by means of gins, and employ its skin for making boots and saddle-cloths. They also use its fat. All engraved representations of this species, having been made from ill-prepared museum specimcns, are worse than indifferent.^[77. See Scheuchzer, Βiblia Sacra, pl. 746, fig. 1 :—Lace'p. Quad. Ouip, ii. pl. 16, fig. 1 :—Daudin, Reptiles, v. pl. 92, fig. 1. There are various figures of our B. oonstrictor in Seba’s Thesaurus, and from these Laurenti seems to have composed such species as Constrictor formosissimus, Res serpentum, diviniloquus, and several others. ]

The rat-eating Boa, B. murina, Linn. (B. Anaconda, Daud.^[78. ’ Reptiles, v. 161, pl. 63. ] B. aguatica, Neuw.^[79. Abbild. livrais ii. pl. 6, and Beitr. p. 226. ]), is the largest Ophidian reptile of America, and probably the most gigantic of known species. It is distinguished in Brazil by the title of Cucuriuba, and passes a great portion of its time in the water, either swimming about in various directions, or floating lazily with the current. It dives with great dexterity, can remain for a length of time beneath the surface, and is said to prey on fish as well as quadrupeds. It is tenacious of life, and is killed by the natives either with bow or musket in the water, or with sticks when met with on shore, where its movements are somewhat sluggish. Both its skin and fat are used for various purposes, and its flesh is eaten by the Botocudes. M. Fermin measured one which had attained the length of twenty-three and a half feet; and the Prince of Neuwied was assured by the natives that it is often much longer, although he himself never saw one above twenty feet. This species exhibits less varied markings than the preceding. The general hue of the upper parts is sooty brown, with two rows of orbicular blackish spots along the back. The under surface and sides are of an ochry yellow, the latter marked with a double row of irregular eye-shaped spots, which confound themselves with numerous squarer spots upon the belly. The nostrils are vertical, the eyes also directed upwards. The head is of an elongated form, with a rounded muzzle. Abdominal plates 250, caudal sixty-six.

The other species of this genus are B. cenchria, canina (Plate CCCCXLIII. figs. 8-11), hortulana, from South America; B. Dussumicri, from a small island near the Mauritius; B. carinata, from the Moluccas and New Guinea; B. conica, from Bengal; and B. melanura, from the island of Cuba.

Genus Ρυτηον. Several intermaxillary teeth. Upper portion of the orbit formed by a particular bone incased among the three frontals, and named super-orbital by Cuvier. Sub-caudal plates usually divided. Lips hollowed out in front. Plates of the head larger and more regular than in Boa. See Plate CCCCXLIII. figs. 1 b , le, and 3, and Plate CCCCXLIV. fig. 5.

This genus was established by M. Daudin for the reception of the great serpents of the ancient world. Brown, black, and yellow, are their prevailing colours. Certain of the species equal (some say exceed) the Boas of America in size, for example the Ular-sawa (Python bivitratus, Khul,— col. Javanicus, Shaw). This species is of a yellowish tint, relieved by a pattern of broad alternate brown spots. The top of the head is margined by two rays of the ground colour. The flanks are variously adorned by black and white, and the under surface is marked by deep square spots. There are sixty-three ranges of smooth small scales, 270 abdominal and seventy caudal plates. This great reptile is spread, according to M. Schlegel, over a vast extent of territory, being known to occur from the western coast of Africa, over the whole of intertropical Asia, as far cast as China and the island of Java. It is said to attain the length of twenty-five feet, and individuals of twenty feet in length have been seen and described by trustworthy naturalists. A fine specimen lived for some time in Holland, and was observed to be slow in its movements, mild in its temper, and never inclined to bite even when provoked. It was kept in a large box enveloped in woollen cloths, where it lay in continued tranquillity, and suffered itself to be drawn out for frequent exhibition without manifesting any signs of anger or impatience. We suspect that the senses of this, and of other large tropical snakes, are so far benumbed by the change of climate in Europe as to produce stupefaction rather than tameness. The specimen in question was presented with food every eight days, which, however, it often refused for several successive times. It was most easily excited to eat by the sight of a live rabbit, into the head of which it would fix its teeth, and then, placing it within a fold of its body, deprived it almost instantly of life. After the commission of this murder, it was in no hurry to swallow its victim, but sometimes licked it for a while, occasionally taking two or three hours to effect the final deglutition. This is supposed to be the Pedda-poda of Dr Russel, called rock-snake by the Anglo-Indians.^[80. Numerous nominal species have arisen from the superficial observance of different varieties of this Python. See Russel’s Serpents , pl. 20, 23, 24, and 29; and Daudin’s Reptiles, v. pl. 64, fig. 1, and pl. 59, fig. 4. ]

We do not happen to know to what extent this or any[7:20:146] other species of Python may have attained in ancient times, but it is probably from some misconceived view of our present species that the marvellous traditions regarding almost immeasurable serpents have been derived. Who has not read of that enormous reptile which spread dismay even through a Roman army? It is thus related by Valerius Maximus, from one of the lost books of Livy, by whom it is said to have been recorded at greater length. “And since we are on the subject of uncommon phenomena, we may here mention the serpent so eloquently and accurately (!) recorded by Livy, who says, that near the river Bagrada in Africa, a snake was seen of so enormous a magnitude as to prevent the army of Attilius Regulus from the use of the river; and after snatching up several soldiers with its enormous mouth, and devouring them, and killing several more by striking and squeezing them by the spine of its tail, was at length destroyed by assailing it with all the force of military engines and showers of stones, after it had withstood the attack of their spears and darts; that it was regarded by the whole army as a more formidable enemy than even Carthage itself; and that the whole adjacent region, being tainted with the pestilential effluvia proceeding from its remains, and the waters with its blood, the Roman army was obliged to move its station: he also adds, that the skin of the monster, measuring 120 feet in length, was sent to Rome as a trophy.” The learned Frienshemius, having had the advantage of living a thousand years or two after the historian of the Punic war, has given a still more circumstantial account of this bloody broil in his Supplementa Liviana. He there informs us, that "it caused so much trouble to Regulus, that he found it necessary to contest the possession of the river with it, by employing the whole force of his army; during which a considerable number of soldiers were lost, while the serpent could neither be vanquished nor wounded, the strong armour of its scales easily repelling the force of all the weapons that were directed against it; upon which recourse was had to battering engines, with which the animal was attacked in the manner of a fortified tower, and was thus at length overpowered. Several discharges were made against it without success, till its back being broken by an immense stone" (we admire detailed accounts of ancient actions), “the formidable monster began to lose its powers, and was yet with difficulty destroyed, after having diffused such a horror among the army, that they confessed they would rather attack Carthage itself than such another monster.” Probably such another was not then at hand, and we believe has never been seen since; but the anecdote itself holds out great encouragement to modern travellers. It is, we doubt not, to Python bi vittatus that Bosman and other writers refer, when they mention the religious veneration with which some great African serpents are regarded by the natives. But we must conclude our imperfect notice of this genus by stating, that of the remaining species, P. Schneideri (Plate CCCCXLIII. fig. 3, and Plate CCCCXLIV. fig. 5) is found in Malacca, Java, Sumatra, and Amboyna; P. amethystinus, in Saparua, a small island opposite Amboyna (a nearly identical kind being found in Timor, Samao, and New Ireland); and P. Pe-ronii in New Holland.

Genus Acrochordus. Head rounded, eyes extremely small, rather vertical, pupil orbicular, nostrils tubular, nearly terminal, opening forwards or upwards. Tail strongly prehensile, and, in common with the trunk, compressed. Anal hooks wanting. Whole body covered by small scales, and the abdomen furnished with a kind of keel beset with scales. Teeth as in the Boas proper.

The anomalous reptiles of our present genus may be said to combine the characters of the Boas and sea-serpents. Their dentition resembles that of the former, while the position of the eyes and nostrils, the compact closure of the mouth, compressed form of the body, the existence of the abdominal crest and absence of anal hooks, assimilate them to the latter. They are, however, easily distinguished by being destitute of poison-fangs. Want of attention to the latter character, and some confused and contradictory data furnished by foreign naturalists, have caused several errors in the arrangement of the species, which are very few in number. They inhabit the intertropical countries of Asia, are extremely aquatic in their propensities, and are externally distinguished by a somewhat sombre colouring,—brown and a yellowish hue being the prevailing tints. The Javanese species, Aerochordus Javanicus, is of a deep earthen-brown colour, irregularly marbled. Its form is thick, the head short and obtuse, the tail slender in proportion to the other parts. It attains a total length of eight feet with the thickness of a man’s arm, and was first described by Homstedt, from a specimen taken in a large pepper -ground near Sangasan in Java.^[81. Ad. Stochk, 1787; and Journ. de Physique, 1788. ] Ac. fasciatus is also of a brown colour, but with paler bands upon the sides, the general form much more slender, and the dimensions considerably less.^[82. Shaw, Gen. Zool. iii. pl. 130. ] It is more extended in its distribution than the preceding, being found in Pondicherry, New Guinea, Sumatra, Java, and Timor. It forms (it is said erroneously) the genus chersydrus of Baron Cuvier,—the great French naturalist having been informed by M. Leschenhault that the snake in question was extremely poisonous, and dwelt in the beds of the rivers of Java. The accuracy of the former assertion has been since disproved. No other species are distinctly known.

SECOND PRIMARY DIVISION-VENOMOUS SERPENTS.

Family I.—Colubriform Venomous Serpents.

The poisonous species here assembled, although provided with envenomed fangs, so nearly resemble the Colubers in their general external forms as to be easily mistaken for them by an inexperienced eye. They also partake in some points of the features of the sea-serpents, but are distinguished by wanting the flattened tail; while from the concluding family of venomous serpents properly so called, they are kept apart by the bulkier proportions, thick triangular heads, vertical pupils, and carinated scales, which characterize the species lost alluded to. At the same time it must be admitted, that those rigorous and distinct demarcations which so many lovers of nature desire to establish, but which so few can find, occur as seldom here as in other departments of zoology,—several species in each family showing a strong tendency of transition towards another.

The reptiles of our present family have a more slenderly elongated form than those of other poisonous groups. Their trunk is in general a good deal drawn out, sometimes cylindrical, or slightly compressed. Their tail, like that of all poisonous species, is rather short, conical, and rounded at the extremity. Their head, almost always of nearly equal dimensions with the neck, is small, short, and obtuse at the extremity. The eyes are rather small, sometimes vertical, the pupil always orbicular. The nostrils, always lateral and rather open, are pierced in a large plate on each side of the muzzle. The scales are not numerous, of medium size, and always smooth,—except in Naja haemachates, in which they seem surmounted by a keel. The abdomen is constantly convex, and furnished with plates of greater or less extent, according to the species. But what particularly characterizes this family is, that all the genera of which it is composed have the crown of the head covered by nine plates,[7:20:147] modelled after the type of those of Coluber. The poison apparatus is much less developed than among other venomous kinds; but the fangs, though short, are strong. The species inhabit the warmer countries of both the New and Old World, but do not occur in Europe. They form three generic groups, as after mentioned.

Genus Elaps. Body slender and cylindrical, of nearly equal size throughout, and usually encompassed by fifteen rows of broad, smooth scales. Head elongated, and not strongly distinguishable from the trunk.

This genus was established by Schneider,^[83. I Hist. Aιιιphib. ii. p. 289. ] * and now contains all those slender-bodied venomous kinds, which by their elongated forms remind us of Tortrix and Calamaria. They attain to no great size, seldom reaching three or four feet in length, and scarcely exceeding a finger’s thickness in diameter. Their colours are often bright and beautiful, a combination of red and black being frequent among them. They prefer countries covered by an abundant vegetation, concealing themselves amid the herbs of the meadows, or the loftier luxuriance of the forest; and with this circumstance we may connect the fact, that only a single species is found in Africa, all the others occurring in tropical America, New Holland, the Indian Archipelago, and Bengal,— the latter country however producing likewise only a solitary instance in Elaps trimaculatus. Their agility is by no means great, and they prey chiefly on other reptiles,—birds being probably too active, quadrupeds too large, and fish too aquatic, for creatures of slowish movement, small size, and terrestrial habits. We cannot here detail the species, of which eleven are described by M. Schlegel, but must rest satisfied by referring, as examples, to a few figures, such as,— E. corallinus (Nova Acta, x. pl. 4), E. Surinamensis (Seba, ii. pl. 86, fig. 2), E. collaris ( Erpétol. de Java, pl. 45), E. trimaculatus ( Russel, Ind. Serf. i. pl. 8).

Genus Bungarus. Form more robust than that of Elaps. Head broad, depressed, rounded terminally, and towards the sides. Abdomen convex. Tail robust. Dorsal line furnished with a row of hexagonal scales, larger than the rest. Sub-caudal plates simple.

To this genus belong the Bungarum pamma of Russel ( Ind. Serp. i. pl. 3), B. annularis, Daudin, and the Geei Paragoodoo of the former author, Β. sernifasciatus of Khul and Schlegel. Both species inhabit India, as well as Java and Ceylon. The natives of India, who are said generally to exaggerate the noxious character of their serpents, assert that the bite of the latter produces immediate death, although Dr Russel’s experiments go to prove that it is seldom fatal to chickens in less than half an hour, or to dogs in a shorter period than an hour and a half. A Geedi Paragoodoo was made to bite a large dog on the thigh, near the groin, where it held fast for more than twenty seconds, but the fangs scarcely penetrated farther than the skin. The dog howled much when first wounded, but on being set at liberty walked about for a time without manifesting any peculiar symptoms. In ten minutes, however, he drew up the wounded leg, continuing to stand on the other three; in a quarter of an hour he crouched, and howled again, and the thigh became paralytic, though the poor creature was still able to raise himself; in twenty-five minutes both thighs were paralytic; and in the course of the second hour he became greatly disordered, grew apparently torpid, lay panting on one side, and died in about two hours, without convulsions. Another dog of smaller size expired in one hour and ten minutes, after being strongly convulsed for some minutes prior to its death.

Genus Naja. General form robust. Body not cylindrical, but thickening in the middle, and tapering towards either end. Tail lengthened and conical. Abdomen broad and convex. Head well distinguished from the trunk. Eyes large and lateral. Neck more or less capable of inflation.

This genus contains the famous 'hooded or spectacle-snakes, called cobras de capello by the Portuguese, the majority having the power of raising the anterior ribs, so as to produce a peculiar disk-like inflation of the neck or upper portion of the body. The species are peculiar to the ancient world,—if New Holland, which produces two, and was unknown to the ancients, may be classed therein. M. Schlegel describes eleven different kinds, many of which, however, are arranged in separate genera by other writers, but which that author regards as forming an uninterrupted series, closely connected with each other, and of which the foremost exhibit the announced generic characteristics in great strength and precision, while the others gradually depart from the type, and form a passage to the vipers.

The hooded snake, commonly so called (coluber naja of the older writers,— Naja tripudians of the recent systematists), is one of the most noted as well as noxious of the Indian reptiles. Its general length is from three to four feet, and the diameter of its body about an inch and a quarter. The inflated portion is marked above by a large conspicuous patch, closely resembling the figure of an old-fashioned pair of spectacles. The usual colour of the upper parts is pale ferruginous brown, the under being of a bluish white occasionally tinged with yellow. The terminal portion tapers gradually, and ends in a rather slender sharp-pointed extremity. In India this dreaded species is more universally known than any other. It is frequently exhibited as a public show, and being carried about in a covered basket, is made to assume a kind of dancing motion (a modification, we presume, of some natural and instinctive movement) for the amusement of the public. Raising itself up on its lower extremity, and moving its head and body alternately from side to side, the insidious creature seems pleased by keeping time with the measured melody of “flutes and soft recorders.” We presume that a love of music is natural to certain serpents; and that this fact was observed of old in Palestine, is probable from the expression of the inspired Psaloust, who compares the ungodly to the deaf adder, which “stoppeth her ears, and refuseth to hear the voice of the charmer.” Chateaubriand relates that he was an eyewitness, on the banks of the Genesee, to the fact of a native appeasing the wrath of a rattle-snake (which he even caused to follow him), merely by the music of his flute. The dancing snakes of India are usually, though not universally, deprived of their poison-fangs. “When the music ceases,” says Mr Forbes, “the snakes appear motionless; but if not immediately covered up in the basket, the spectators are liable to fatal accidents. Among my drawings is that of a cobra de capella, which danced for an hour on the table while I painted it; during which I frequently handled it to observe the beauty of the spots, and especially the spectacles on the hood, not doubting but that its venomous fangs had been previously extracted. But the next morning my upper servant, who was a zealous Mussulman, came to me in great haste, and desired I would instantly retire and praise the Almighty for my good fortune. Not understanding his meaning, I told him that I had already performed my devotions, and had not so many stated prayers as the followers of his prophet. Mohammed then informed me, that while purchasing some fruit in the bazaar, he observed the man who had been with me the preceding evening, entertaining the country people with his dancing snakes; they, according to their usual custom, sat on the ground around him; when, either from the music stopping too suddenly, or from some other cause irritating the vicious reptile which I had often handled, it darted at the throat of a young woman, and inflicted a wound of which she died in half an hour.”^[84. Oriental Memoirs. i. p. 44. ] ’ A similar fate had[7:20:149] Great Western. M. Schlegel characterizes the statement as an “assertion que je puis contredire avec certitude.” Believing that there are more things in heaven and earth than are “dream’t of in our philosophy,” and desiring to bear in mind the sentiment of the inspired apostle, that “if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know,” we shall content ourselves by stating that sea-serpents have not yet been observed in the Atlantic Ocean. M. Schlegel’s researches have led him to believe that they are confined “aux mers intertropicales, ou voisines des tropiques, comprises entre le 90me et les 230me degrés de longit. or. du méridien de Ferro.”^[85. Physiog. des Serpents, ii. p. 491. ] We shall here state the chief of the actual localities. Several species were received by Dr Russel from among the numerous islands called Sunderabunds, which form the delta of the Ganges. The same author likewise obtained many from different points along the coast of Coromandel. Sir Stamford Raffles mentions three species which frequent the coasts of Sumatra.^[86. ’ Phil. Trans, xiii. part ii. p. 334. ] The Dutch voyagers have observed only a single species on the coast of Java, but they have met with several among the Moluccas, near Timor, Banda, and the shores of New Guinea Dr Strauss transmitted two species from the Celebes. M. Von Siebold observed them to abound in the China Sea, and met with many in the course of his passage from Java to Japan, from the region of the equator as far north as the 27th degree. Eschholtz has incidentally observed,^[87. Kotzebue’s Neue Reise, Anh. p. 32. ] that the fishermen of the Philippine Islands capture Acrochordus fasciatus in the Bay of Manilla, and that this reptile cannot move upon the land. Now it so happens that the Acrochordi correctly so called never inhabit the sea; and it may therefore be inferred that the observer last named had in view, not an Acrochordus, but a sea-snake or Hydrophis. It is long since Dampier told us of those which he saw along the western shores of New Holland;^[88. Vayayes, iv. p. 107 and 113. ] as did afterwards Sir Joseph Banks along the eastern coast, from the 20th to the 10th degree of north latitude. Forster, as Schneider has recorded, found Hyd. pelamys abundant near Otaheite.

The habits of these reptiles are indicated here and there by different writers. Dr Russel describes their aquatic movements as active and elegant, but they have scarcely any locomotive power on land, and speedily die when either brought ashore or placed in fresh water. He found in the abdomen of a female Hydrophis nine perfectly formed young, each of which was enclosed in an egg or envelope, from which (the matured condition) it may be inferred that they are viviparous. It would also seem that their manners are milder than those of the generality of poisonous species. Dr Russel, at least, assures us in regard to Hyd. gracilis, that no provocation would induce it to bite any object presented to it. Neither could M. Lesson succeed in his disinterested attempts to make Hyd. pelamys wound any poultry, though he kindly put them together alive into a copper bathing tub.^[89. Coquille, ii. p. 58. ] The observations received from M. Von Siebold by M. Schlegel confirm the belief of other naturalists, that these reptiles, though assuredly dangerous from their poisonous qualities, are not of a highly ferocious nature. The former traveller fell in with vast numbers while sailing from Batavia to Japan, all of the small species, elsewhere so frequent and widely spread, known to naturalists by the specific name of pelamys. Their movements were by no means rapid, although they glided through the water with grace and activity, raising their heads from time to time above the waves, for the purpose probably of respiration. Their motion is produced and directed by an action of the tail, accompanied by a lateral and undulating movement of the other parts of the body. They were easily enough entrapped in wooden buckets, and glided through the sailors’ hands without attempting to bite them,—the said sailors having probably been previously informed that they were eels. “Le Professeur Reinwardt,” says Schlegel, “confirme ce que M. von Siebold rapporte relativement au caractère doux et tranquille de ces animaux.”^[90. Physiog. ii. g. 493. ] We cannot, however, help thinking that this alleged sweetness of temper and tranquillity are in some measure inconsistent with the cases of the native woman and Lascar already reported in our introductory observations. The comparatively slow movements also do not accord with what we are elsewhere informed by M. Lesson. “Le 27 Juillet,” says that naturalist, “par one journée brûlante, nous fûmes pris de calme sur les côtes de la Nouvelle Guinée. De nombreux serpens marins passèrent le long de la corvette, et un embarcation que le capitaine fit mettre à la mer nous permit de les chasser. Nous atteignimes après de longues pursuites une Pelamide, dont l’agilité était extrème, et les mouvemens de natation des plus rapides.”^[91. Loc. eit, ]

We owe some interesting observations on the manners of these marine serpents to M. Peron,^[92. • Voyaye, p. 105 and 129. Loc. cit. ] although it may be doubted whether that voyager did not occasionally take his notes from too great a distance, especially in reference to size and colour. No other credible author has ever described any of these species as attaining to so great a length as twelve feet; the usual dimensions, we may here observe, varying from two and a half to five feet. However, M. Peron describes those he saw as gliding lightly in great numbers on the surface of the sea, and waging destructive war against a shoal of small herrings, which fled precipitately towards deeper water. The haunts of these snakes are by no means confined to the shallow shores, or even the vicinity of continents or islands, for they are often met with many hundred miles from land. On opening their stomach, our navigator found it filled with small fish, and various marine crustacea; but the reptiles themselves became the frequent prey of sharks, in the interior of which their half-digested remains were often found. It naturally became a subject of surprise, that creatures so light and active should so often fall victims to an enemy of such weight and sluggishness; but after more lengthened observation, a peculiarity in the habits of the former was thought sufficient to account for their capture. These serpents were often seen as if asleep, and floating on the waves, and so profound was their repose, that a large vessel, “with all its bravery on,” might pass close by without their being disturbed by its surging prow, its huge furrow, or the loud voices of the garrulous sailors ( Frenchmen, of course). M. Peron supposes that it is in this state of lethargy that the lazy sharks swallow them at their leisure. As to the cause of the torpor itself, he naturally enough suggests that it may arise, as among the terrestrial races, from repletion, and the indolence indulged in by all serpents during the digestive process. “Ces reptiles,” he adds, “nagent et plongent avec une égale facilité: souvent à l’instant même où nous croyons pouvoir les saisir avec nos filets, ils disparaissaient à nos yeux; et, s’enfonçant à de grandes profondeurs sous les flots, ils restaient une demiheure et plus sans remonter à leur surface, ou ne paraissaient qu’à de trés-grandes distances du point où nous les avions vus plonger.”^[93. Loc. cit. ]

The general ground-colour of the majority of these reptiles is yellowish, varying towards green, blue, or white, and often relieved by blackish rings, or broad lozengeshaped spots, disposed transversely along the dorsal re-[7:20:150] gion. The colours seem less subject to variation than among the other Ophidians, and there is no external difference between the sexes. All the species are included by M. Schlegel in the following genus.

Genus Hydrophis. Head small, uniform with the trunk. Nostrils vertical, of an orbicular form, and capable of being closed by a valve. Eye small, pupil orbicular. Fangs but slightly developed, and always followed by several other teeth, solid though slender. Body tapering towards both extremities. Scales lozenge-shaped or hexagonal, not imbricated, covered by a thin epidermis, and surmounted by a tubercle, of which there are two on the median range of the abdomen. The abdominal scales scarcely larger than the others. Tail broad, flattened laterally, and performing the functions of an oar or rudder. Lungs often prolonged into a reservoir of air as far as the commencement of the caudal region.

Of this genus there are seven species, the particular characters of which we cannot here detail, although their general attributes may be made out from the preceding observations. See Plate CCCCXLIV. fig. 4.

The most common kind is Hyd. pelamys of Oken^[94. Naturgesch. vol. iii. part ii. p. 279. ] (Anguis piatura, Linn.), of a comparatively thickish form, the head much elongated, the median line of the abdomen indicated by a suture formed by two rows of scales. It is of a blackish brown above, beneath yellow; the tail, and sometimes the entire body, varied by these colours. It is the most extensively distributed of the genus, being found wherever any sea-snakes occur. It seems to be the black backed hydrus of Shaw (Hydrus bicoor, Schneid.); and in India rejoices in the euphonious name of Nalla Wahlagdlee Pam. ^[95. » Indian Serpents, i. 47, pl. 41. ] ’ Of general occurrence in the Asiatic seas, it is also common round the coasts of Otaheite, where it is relished as an article of food, and known under the title of Etoonatorce. Family III.—Poisonous Serpents properly so called.

The species of this family are the most venomous of all, and may, for the most part, be recognised by something especially repulsive and forbidding in their aspect. Their form is rather thick and heavy, their tail short, their head extremely broad, depressed, and somewhat heart-shaped; rarely protected by plates, but usually covered by scales resembling those of the dorsal region; the eyes are small, deeply seated in the sides of the head, and shaded by projecting superciliary plates, the pupil vertical; the upper lip is inflated, and falls over the lengthened fangs; the body is usually beset by scales of a lanceolated form, surmounted by a ridge, except in one or two species of Trigonocephalus, in which they arc smooth.

Their habits and modes of life likewise present some disparities when compared with those of the preceding groups. Being of a lethargic nature and slow of movement, they seldom wander about in search of prey, but keep themselves coiled up till it approaches closely, and then springing upon it by a sudden straightening of the body, they inflict a fatal wound, which needs no repetition. There seems reason to believe that this mode of attack is peculiar to the present family, the other poisonous kinds pursuing their prey, and holding on when they have seized it, while the poisonous serpents properly so called are satisfied by sinking their envenomed fangs into the flesh of their victim. Their gape is very wide, their hooks long and sharp, their poison abundant and in a state of high concentration, and the wound is inflicted suddenly, with great force. The result is left to nature, and is in consequence both sure and speedy.

We have said that the poison-fangs are more developed than among the other Ophidians. They alone occupy the maxillaries, being never followed by any small solid teeth, though these occur along the palate and at the extremity of the lower jaw. The nostrils are in some spacious, in others narrow, and vary also in their position. They are followed in certain species by a deep pit or hollow, scooped in the sides of the muzzle, and connected with a broad cavity in the upper maxillaries. This character (of which, however, we know not the function) seems analogous in some measure to the larmiers of ruminating quadrupeds, and has been employed for the distribution of these serpents into several groups. Such as are distinguished by this nasal pit inhabit the forests of tropical countries, and consist of two genera, Trigonocephalus and Crotalus, of which the former (native both to Asia and America) is chiefly found in moist and sombre woods, or places covered by an abundant vegetation; while the latter (peculiar to the western world) prefers a somewhat drier and more barren soil. Such as possess no nasal excavation are comprized in the genus Viperus. They affect a more open, sandy soil, and occur exclusively in the ancient continents and New Holland. We shall briefly survey these different groups, in the order now named.

Genus Trigonocephalus. Head, as in other members of the family, heart-shaped or triangular, extremely broad behind, and consequently very distinguishable from the neck. Tail terminated by a conical corneous plate.

The poison apparatus of these reptiles is developed in the highest degree; and as the species sometimes attain a length of five or six feet, they may be regarded as among the most redoubtable of venomous serpents. They all frequent wooded or shady situations, or moist meadows in the immediate vicinity of forest-land. The abdomen is always broad, rather convex, and furnished with plates, which vary, according to the species, from 140 to about 270. The tail is always short, conical, and usually somewhat slender. The sub-caudal plates vary from forty to seventy; and of these some are simple, others divided into two. The body is often marked by large irregular or lozenge-shaped spots upon a brownish or yellowish ground. Some, however, are reddish, others of a greenish hue, and there is frequently a line of deeper hue behind the eye. The species are rare in collections. None occur in Europe or Africa. America and the intertropical countries of Asia produce a large majority. the genus is divisible into two sections, according as the head is covered with scales or with plates.

One of the most noted species of the first section is Trig, lanceolarus, a native of the West Indies.^[96. Quad. Ouip. ii. p. 121, pi. 5, fig. 1. Also described by Dr Shaw, under the title of Coluber megaera. Gen. Zοοl. iii. 406. ] The general colour is greenish yellow, paler beneath, and variously marked with specks, spots, and bands of brown. A broad brown line, bordered with white, proceeds from the eye towards the mouth. We have a good account of the habits and history of this reptile from Colonel Moreau de Jonnès.^[97. du Trigonοcéphale des Antilles. ] He tells us of one killed by an officer which measured above seven feet and a half in length; and still greater (but perhaps less accurate) measurements are given by Dutertre^[98. Hist. Gén. des Antilles habitées par les François. ] ’ and Labat.^[99. Nouveau Voyage aux Antilles, contenant l’Hist. Nat. ] s In the bodies of such females as were examined, he found some fifty or sixty young ones, which, when the period of their birth arrives, issue forth completely formed, and much inclined to bite. In the adult state they prey chiefly on rats, which, though not indigenous to these islands, are now in all probability as 10,000 to one compared with the native quadrupeds. The snakes in question[7:20:151] have also multiplied prodigiously in St Lucia and Martinique, where from sixty to eighty may be killed during the cutting of a single field of sugar-cane. According to M. Moreau de Jonnès, they people the marshes, the cultivated grounds, the forests, the banks of rivers, and even the summits of the mountains. The observer just named encountered one on the very edge of the crater of that naked mountain which overhangs the town of St Pierre, in Martinique, at an elevation of more than 5000 feet; and he feared it the more from the excessive lassitude under which he himself at that time laboured. His alarm was not without cause, for only a few days before, a fisherman at the foot of the mountain had been attacked by a similar reptile, which issued from its concealment among the basalts of the shore, and no efforts could save his life. These dreaded serpents arc sometimes found in holes made by rats or land-crabs. They also enter hen-r∞sts and poultry-yards, and sometimes creep into dwelling-houses, chiefly, however, the huts of the negroes. But the sugar-plantations are their favourite places of resort. “Je n’ai jamais trouvé,” says our author, “de serpent stationnaire, qu’il ne fût dans une position offensive. L’action par laquelle le reptile prend cette position, s’exprimer aux Antilles par le verbe lover. Elle consiste à contourner en spirale toute la longueur de son corps, qui forme quatre cercles egaux en diamètre, superposés les uns au dessus des autres, et sous le dernier duquels la queue est placée comme point central d’appui, de resort et de pivot. La tête, qui termine le cercle superior, est retirée en arrière. Quand l’animal s’élance sur one proic, il fait effort sur la queue, et déroule subitement les quatre cercles qui semblent se débander.” This species preys on birds as well as quadrupeds, and the former manifest their hatred by vain and clamorous cries whenever they behold their “arch destroyer.” It avoids the brilliant equatorial light, and usually dwells in shaded places, seeking what it may devour chiefly towards sunset, or during cloudy weather.^[100. Μonographie, p. 37. ] The distribution of this species is rather remarkable. It does not extend throughout the whole of the Antilles, nor is it found even in the majority of those islands. “By a chance equally singular, fortunate, and inexplicable, it is confined to the islands of Martinique, St Lucia, and Be-conia alone; and there is no proof, as has been pretended, that it is common in the American continent. Nevertheless, a tradition exists among the Indigenes, that it was introduced into Martinique by the Arronages, a horde which inhabited near the mouth of the Orinoco, and which, impelled by sentiments of hatred and vengeance against the Carribs of that island, made them this fatal present, and let loose in their forests this serpent, which was brought over in calabashes. But according to another popular opinion in the same country, the Trigonocephalus is aboriginal of Martinique, and cannot live elsewhere, not even in Guadaloupe.

Some, however, think differently, and explain the phenomenon by the existence of the dog-headed serpent, which is believed to be a Boa, and which, common in Dominica and St Vincent, has delivered these islands from the Trigonocephalus.”^[101. Griffith’s Animal Kingdom, is. 350. ]

Of the second section of this genus, comprising such ns have the head covered by plates instead of scales, we may here name Trig, rhodostoma, which is of a thicker and more vigorous form than the other species. The body tapers towards either end, the tail is short and acuminated, the abdomen broad, and the back prolonged into a well-marked keel. The colour is reddish brown, paler on the back, the sides adorned by broad, deep, triangular spots, the abdomen white. The summit of the head is black, surrounded by a broad streak of pale red, which descends the sides of the neck to combine with the beautiful rose-colour which tinges the lateral parts of the head, and from which it is separated by a black band proceeding from behind the eye. The iris is of a golden yellow. “L’expression sauvage de sa physiognomie,” says M. Schlegel, “est, pour ainsi dire, adoucie par la nature et la conformation des plaques écailleuses qui semblables à celles de la plupart des couleuvres, ont la surface unie et luisante.”^[102. Phys, des Serpens, ii. 547. ] This species inhabits the western parts of Java, where it conceals itself in tangled vegetation, and makes its way at times into fields and gardens. It preys chiefly on frogs, and is itself attacked by a species of civet cat which occurs in Java. It is greatly dreaded by the natives on account of its deadly poison; and during M. Khul’s residence at Buitenzorg, two labourers bitten by it died in five minutes. Although a viviparous reptile, the foetus is enclosed in a coriaceous envelope, as large as a pigeon’s egg. The species is figured by Russel.^[103. * Indian Serpents, ii. pl. 21. ]

The only other example of the genus we need here notice is Trig, cenchris, which inhabits the southern provinces of the United States. Its occipital plates are of small dimensions, and are sometimes even wanting. The ground colour is grayish brown, marked by broad transverse bands of a more coppery hue. The abdomen is yellowish, marked by dark irregular spots. The point of the tail is usually black, and all the parts are minutely speckled by that colour. It is a sluggish, slow-moving reptile, very poisonous, but not given to bite, except in self-defence, when it maintains its position courageously. It has been described by different authors under a great variety of names, and by some under more than one at a time.^[104. It is both the brown and the black viper of Catesby’s Carolina, pl. 44 and 45; it is once figured, and at least twice described, by Dr Shaw, as Col. Cacodoemon and Tisiphone, Gen. Zoo/. iii. pp. 377 and 406; it is the Pelias Niger of Merrem, Tentamen, p. 149; and had been previously described by Linnaeus as a Boa (B. Contortrix, xii. ed. p. 373). M. Schlegel, indeed, supposes that it is also the Coluber Constrictor of the great Swedish naturalist. The Boa just named is believed to be identical with the hog-nosed snake of Catesby (Car. ii. pl. 66), and may be identical with the preceding nominal species, none of which seem to exceed the size of our common viper; but Col. Constrictor of America is usually described as of different habits and much larger dimensions. It is the black snake of Catesby (Car. ii. pl. 48). “This,” observes that author, “is a large and very long snake, some being six feet in length. They are all over of a shining black, never changing their colour, and are very nimble amd beneficial in killing rats, which they pursue with wonderful agility to the roofs and all parts of houses and barns, where rats are able to run, for which service they are preserved by most of the inhabitants. They are bold and furious, leaping at and biting those that attack them, though no harm ensues, their bile not being venomous. It is said in Carolina that they will attack and swallow rattle-snakes. It is certain most or all snakes will devour one another, not only of their own, but of other kinds, which I have often seen; one, after a long struggle, swallowing another but little leas than itself. They are the most numerous of all snakes." “Many ridiculous frights,” says Mr Pennant, “have happened from this innocent reptile. As every one in America is full of the dread of the rattle-snake, they are apt to fly at the sight of any of the serpent kind. This pursues, soon overtakes, and twisting round the legs of the fugitive, soon brings him to the ground; but he happily receives no hurt, but what may result from the fright. All the mischief this species does is to the housewives, for it will skim their milk-pans of the cream, and rob their hen-roosts of all the eggs.” ( Arctic Zoology, Appendix, p. 92.) ] It is the Mokassin snake of the Anglo-Americans, thus called on account of the resemblance of its colour to the piece of dress so named by the native tribes. It is figured by M. Daudin.^[105. * Reptiles, V. 338, pl. 70, figs. 3 and 4, and 60, fig. 25. ]

Genus Crotalus. This dreaded genus contains the rattle-snakes, and is distinguished from the preceding by a more robust form, a thicker head, and a tail either armed[7:20:152] by a peculiar organ called the rattle, or prolonged into a sharpened point. There are four species, all peculiar to America. These are often confounded, even by systematic writers; and it is by no means easy to apply the general attributes assigned by travellers to the proper species, which no doubt differ from each other.

It seems ascertained, however, that the bite of all these reptiles is extremely dangerous, the slightest prick of their envenomed fangs, in any part of the body well supplied with blood-vessels, being sufficient to kill almost any animal. Laurenti says, that a person bitten by a Crotalus experiences a swelling of the entire body, the tongue becomes prodigiously inflamed, an unextinguishable thirst takes place, the edges of the wound become gangrened, and the unfortunate victim dies in frightful agony in five or six minutes. Different experiments made in Carolina by Captain Hall, are related in the Philosophical Transactions. A rattlesnake, four feet long, was fastened to a stake, and being made to bite three dogs, the first died in less than a quarter of a minute; the second, in convulsions, in about two hours; the third in about three hours. Four days after this, another dog was bitten by the same snake, and died in half a minute; and then a second received the murderous fangs, and died in four minutes. A common black snake, about three feet long, and very vigorous, was next procured. The reptiles bit each other,—the black snake dying in eight minutes, the rattle-snake not seeming in any way affected by its wound. Proceeding upon the supposition that “none but itself could be its parallel,” it was then made to inflict a bite on its own body, and this suicidal deceit was followed by the hoped-for consequence,—it died in less than twelve minutes. The story is probably well known to all, though not credited by so many, of a disagreeable kind of an heirloom which once existed in an American family. A man had been bitten through his boots by a rattle-snake, and died. The boots afterwards descended into the successive possession of two other persons, and killed them both,—an envenomed fang having remained sticking in the leather. As usual, we have contradictory accounts of the effects of corresponding causes. We know that an Englishman who was unfortunately bitten by a rattle-snake at Rouen, in 1827, expired in eight hours; yet in the April of that same year, at a meeting of the Academy of Sciences in Paris, Professor Bosc declared that he had seen more than thirty persons who had been bitten by rattle-snakes, not one of whom had died. According to Kalm, even the largest animals, such as horses and oxen, die almost instantly. Dogs longer resist this fatal action. Most animals exhibit an instinctive horror on nearing one of these deathdealing creatures. “I have often,” says M. Bosc, “amused myself by trying to force my horse and dog to approach one of these animals. But they would sooner have allowed themselves to be knocked down upon the spot than have come near them.” Yet Mr Audubon informs us that the mocking-bird of America, so strong and overpowering is the instinct of parental love, does not hesitate to attack the rattle-snake when it approaches too near its nest,—that it will strike it on the head, pick out its eyes, and eventually put it to death.

The so-called rattle of these reptiles consists of a series of hollow, vertically flattened, sealypieces, of which the posterior portion of one fits into the anterior portion of that which follows. They are thus mechanically and somewhat loosely connected together, without being actually joined, so that when shaken they make a rattling or rustling noise, resembling that produced by rumpled parchment. When young there is at first but a single horny portion at the end of the tail, and attached to the last caudal verte bra. Another is formed on the renewal of the skin, pushing its predecessor onwards, so that the first joint, which is closed at the end, continues to be the terminal one. M. Bosc is of opinion that an additional joint is formed every year, and that if the parts in question were not so often broken off accidentally, we might thus determine the age of each individual. They are, however, extremely fragile; and M. Palisot de Beauvois informs us, that he frequently found these rattles lying detached, in the course of his travels in the United States.^[106. Latreille, Reptiles, vi. 73. ] Their amount sometimes exceeds thirty, but usually ranges from one to thirteen. Some say that the noise may be heard at the distance of a hundred feet, while Bosc and others allege that it is scarcely audible beyond some twelve or fifteen paces. We shall now briefly notice the different species, the names of which, as already hinted, have been frequently transposed by naturalists.

Crotalus horridus inhabits South America, and is known to the Portuguese by the name of Carcavela. Its muzzle is covered by three or four pairs of plates. The scales, which are lozenge-shaped, and surmounted by a cutting keel, are disposed in twenty-nine ranges. Abdominal plates 145, sub-caudal twenty-five. The colour of the upper parts is yellowish brown, relieved upon the back by a range of broad, lozenge-shaped spots. This species measures from four to six feet in length, and, dwelling in a sultry clime, continues in a state of activity throughout the year. Some singular peculiarities in its manners are narrated by naturalists. For example, M. Palisot de Beauvois states, that during one of his journeys he observed a rattle-snake lying on the path, and approached it as quietly as possible. When he was about to strike it, it sprung its rattle, opened its mouth very widely, and received into its throat five young ones, each as thick as a goose’s quill. After ten minutes’ time, believing itself to be out of danger, it opened its mouth, and allowed the exit of the young, which, however, re-entered on a fresh alarm. This curious fact has been testified (if not confirmed) by another French gentleman, M. Guillemart.

Crotalus durissus (Plate CCCCXLIII. figs. 6 and 10) is a more northern species than the preceding, and to it we may refer the numerous observations which have been made by travellers and tourists on the rattle-snakes of North America. It seems to inhabit from the southern side of the Great Lakes as far as Mexicoand California, extending westwards to the foot of the Rocky Mountains, but not occurring to the north of the river St Lawrence. It has only one or two pair of plates upon the muzzle, and the keel upon the scales is less developed; the eyes are smaller, the tints deeper, the spots frequently assume the form of bands, and the tail is black. Abdominal plates 170, sub-caudal twenty-two. As this species dwells in districts subjected during winter to the influence of rigorous cold, it creeps in autumn into covered places, or, hiding itself beneath masses of sphagnum, falls into a state of lethargic repose. An individual killed by M. Bosc, and which did not measure more than four feet in length, was found to have a hare in its interior. Its usual food consists of rats, squirrels, and other small Rodentia. This serpent, commonly called the striped rattle-snake, is said to traverse rivers, and even lakes, by inflating its body like a bladder. “The largest rattle-snake,” says Catesby, alluding to one or other of these species, “which I ever saw, was about eight feet in length, and weighing between eight and nine pounds. This monster was sliding into the house of Colonel Blake of Carolina, and had certainly taken up his abode there undisturbed, had not the domestic animals alarmed the family with their repeated outcries; the hogs, dogs, and poultry united in their hatred to him, showing the greatest consternation, by erecting their[7:20:153] bristles and feathers, and expressing their wrath and indignation, surrounded him, but carefully kept their distance, while he, regardless of their threats, glided slowly along.” “It is not uncommon,” he adds, “to have them come into houses; a very extraordinary instance of which occurred to myself in the same gentleman’s house, in the month of February 1723. The servant, in making the bed in a ground room (but few minutes after I left it), on turning down the sheets, discovered a rattle-snake coiled between the sheets in the middle of the bed.” According to M. Audubon, the skin of this species is used in making shoes.^[107. Edinburgh New Phil. Journ. iii. 21. ] Mr Say informs us that it inhabits bare and sterile regions, and is often found in the subterranean dwelling of a marmot, Arc-tomgs Ludoviciana. ^[108. Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, p. 234 and 236. ] M. Becker of Darmstadt placed two rabbits in a cage with this species,, one of them being white, the other reddish brown. The fierce reptile, which was lying in a spiral form in the centre, sounded its rattle, and raised and extended its head from time to time, but made no aι tempt to seize its prey, although repeatedly provoked by Its keeper so to do. A black rabbit was then introduced, which it bit instantaneously, and the victim was dead in eight minutes.^[109. ’ Isis, 1828, p. 1132. ] Crotalus miliaris is a small species of North America, recognisable by its head clothed with nine well-developed plates. The eyes are large, the general colour a reddish brown, with three ranges of deeper spots. There are twenty-three rows of scales, and the lower plates are, abdominal 131, sub-caudal twenty-six. This snake was observed by Catesby in Carolina, and is described by Mr Say (under the title of cror. tergeminus) as an inhabitant of those lonely sterile plains which stretch between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains. It is regarded as more dangerous than the preceding; its small size and peculiar colour prevent its attracting notice, and its rattle is too feeble to be heard at any distance. People are thus apt to tread or even to sit down upon it unawares, and the consequences are as easily imagined as described. It lives on frogs and insects, is by no means timid, but is easily killed by the slightest blow. It was figured long ago both by Seba^[110. Thesaurus, ii. pl. 95. ] and Catesby.^[111. Carolina, pl. 42. ] a

Lastly, Crotalus mutus differs from the other species in having the tail terminated by a hardened point instead of rattle. Its head is clothed with scales. The back is keeled, and the scales are surmounted by a tubercular ridge. Abdominal plates 227, sub-caudal forty-nine. This great serpent inhabits Cayenne, Essequibo, Surinam, and other parts of South America. It sometimes measures above ten feet in length, and may be regarded as the most gigantic of all poisonous reptiles. In its mode of life it somewhat resembles Trigonocephalus (and is in fact described as a species of that genus by Baron Cuvier^[112. ∙ Trig, rhombifer, Règne Animal, ii. 90. ] β ). But it is essentially a rattle-snake, though destitute of the particular part from which these species derive their general name. It seems the same as that described under the title of Curucucu by Marcgrav.^[113. Hist. Rerum Nat. Brasilia, lib. vi. ] Its poison has been experimented on by Dr Hering.^[114. Neuw . Beitrag, p. 465. ] ®

Genus Vipera. Nasal pit wanting. Head usually covered by ridged lanceolated scales. General form thickish, tapering towards each extremity. Tail short and conical.

The species of this genus, greatly restricted since the time of Linnaeus, still exhibit a considerable diversity of character when compared among each other. They inhabit either open sandy plains, or desert heaths, where the vegetation is not umbrageous. Hence their abundance in

Africa, and their comparative scarcity in other countries. None occurs in America, a few are found in the drier districts of Asia, three inhabit Europe, and one (of a somewhat anomalous nature) is native to New Holland.

The common viper of Great Britain, and of most parts of the Continent (Vipera bents, Daudin— coluber berus, Linn.),^[115. Vip. kerns of Cuvier, and of some other French naturalists, seems to be identical with the aspic, vipera aspis,— a species common in * rance and Switzerland. ] * is the most poisonous of European reptiles. It rarely exceeds two feet in length. The upper portion of the head is protected by a few plate-like scales, somewhat larger than the others. The usual colour is pale ashy brown above, with a space between the eyes, and a patch on each side of the occiput, deep brown or black. A zigzag band of black (composed in some of confluent spots) extends along the back from the nape to the tail; and there is also a parallel row of small black spots on each side. The abdomen and sub-caudal region are steel-blue, sometimes marbled by a yellowish tint, sometimes uniform, or nearly black. The abdominal plates are about a hundred and forty-five,—the sub-caudal about thirty-five. This species is widely spread over the central and northern parts of Europe, but some uncertainty prevails regarding the so-called common viper of Italy and other southern regions. M. Gistl describes the viper of the environs of Munich as having an upturned snout,^[116. ” Isis for 1829, p. 1971. ] which is a character of the aspic; and although Metaxa enumerates Vipera bents and its varieties as occurring in the Roman territories,^[117. Monograph of the Serpents of the Environs of Rome, p. 42. ] " others are of opinion that all its alleged localities are doubtful beyond the Alps.^[118. Physiog. des Serpens, ii. 597. ] It seems, however, to be found in the temperate parts of Siberia, in Russia, Hungary, all Germany, parts of France, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, and, we believe, Norway. Though common in Great Britain, and many of the western isles of Scotland, it is not indigenous in Ireland. ' Its vertical as well as horizontal range is considerable, for although it affects the low wide heaths of Groninguen, Overyssel, and Friesland, it also occurs on the summit of the Inselberg in Thuringia, at an elevation of nearly three thousand feet above the level of the sea. The viper preys chiefly on mice and insects. A specimen, on the tail of which we inadvertently tramped while crossing a moor in Glenmuick, and which our friend Dr Greville struck down with his umbrella, was found on dissection to have a large field-mouse in its abdomen.

The bite of this reptile is seldom fatal to animals of moderate size. We have several times seen sporting dogs bitten by vipers on the Scotch moors; and although the cheek might swell, and a heaviness of spirits, and disinclination to distant ranging, usually ensued for a few hours, no perceptible effect could be traced on the following day. A sparrow, however, or even a pigeon, dies in a few minutes after being bitten. Sheep usually escape without any seri-ous consequences. Fontana ascertained, that the hundredth part of a grain of poison was sufficient to kill a sparrow, and that a pigeon required six times that amount. From these data he made a calculation, that it would take nearly three grains to kill a man, and as a viper does not carry above two grains of poison in its vesicles, and does not entirely exhaust that quantity, even after many bites, it was concluded that a human being might receive the bite of five or six vipers without dying in consequence. Now this may be all accurately reasoned in its way, but as physiology is by no means a science of calculation, we would not advise any one to try the experiment-Several facts have been recently adduced to prove, that the bite of this reptile is frequently dangerous, and occasionally fatal. Dr Paulet, in his obser-[7:20:154] vations on the viper of Fontainebleau, states, that an infant of seven years and a half, which was bitten beneath the internal malleolus of the right foot, died at the end of seventeen hours,—while another infant, of only two years, which was bitten in the cheek, took two days to die. Dr Hervez de Chegoni mentions the case of a woman, aged sixty-five years, in good health, and of a sound constitution, who having been bitten in the thigh only once by a single viper, expired under the most deplorable symptoms in thirty-seven hours.

The aspic, Vipera aspis, is a species nearly allied to the preceding, of which it is by some regarded as a variety, and of which it seems to assume the place in the south-western countries of Europe, extending as far as the island of Sicily.^[119. Although the title of Aspic has been applied to this species, it is not the reptile so named in ancient days, which was not a European specie», but more probably the Naja haje of Africa. ] Its form is more slender, its head larger, its top covered by irregularly formed scales, and the muzzle is slightly turned up. The aspic is the species which served the experiments of Redi, Charas, and Fontana. It inhabits the dry and rocky countries of Italy, has been observed in Switzerland, and is common in France from the 49th degree of north latitude, spreading into Savoy, the Pyrenees, and the Mediterranean shores. It is the viper of Fontainebleau, and is also found in the forest of Montmorency; but in Burgundy, and the more northern parts of France, it is replaced by our common viper.

New Holland produces a rare and remarkable species, which some class as generically distinct, under the title of Acanthophis. It is of a thickened form, with a slender hard-pointed tail, the upper part of the head protected by nine plates. The eye is surrounded by plates, of which the superciliary are elevated, and inclined towards the top of the head. It is the Vipera acanthophis of M. Schlegel,— Acanthophis cerastinus, Lacépède.^[120. ’ Ann. du Mus. iv. 100. ] See Plate CCCCXLIV. fig. 8.

A still more remarkable and anomalous species is the famous Vipera cerastes of Africa, figured and described by Bruce the traveller,^[121. Travels, V. pl. 41. ] and also in the great French work on Egypt.^[122. Atlas, pl. 41. fig. 3, vol. xxv. 83. ] Its head is very broad, and heart-shaped; its muzzle broad, obtuse, and rounded; its nostrils rather narrow, vertical and terminal; and its scales surmounted by a tubercular ridge. One of the superciliary scales on each side is converted into a projecting horn-like process, curved forwards; and the ancient name cerastes is no doubt derived from this peculiar character,—the Greek word χέϐας signifying horn.

Cornua praetendens immania fronte cerastes,

Dum torquet spinam sibilat ecce vagus.

It seldom much exceeds a foot in length, and inhabits the sandy deserts of the north of Africa. Its description by Bruce has been so often quoted, that we shall rest satisfied by the reference already given to the writings of that impugned author.

We here close our sketch of this insidious order. But there still remains the singular genus Caecilia, with which Baron Cuvier concludes his classification of Ophidian reptiles, although other naturalists, both prior to and since the publication of his latest system,^[123. Règne Animal, 2d ed. 1629. ] have arranged it in the Batrachian order, or have even raised it, with the other constituents of that order, to the rank of a distinct and separate class, called Αμρηιβιa. ^[124. The separation above alluded to, although first precisely expressed by the word class, in the writings of M. de Blainville, and subsequently followed in our own country by Messrs Gray, Bell, &c. had been practically effected by several other authors at an earlier period. M. Duméril seems to have been the first to indicate the propriety of placing the genus Caecilia with the Batrachians, and apart from the Ophidian order (Mémoires de Zoologie et d’Anatomie comparée, 1807,—·“Sur la division des Reptiles Batraciens en familles naturelles”). In like manner, the Reptilia nuda of Oppel (as distinguished from his Reptilia Testudinata,— Turtles and Tortoises,—and his Reptilia Squammata,— Crocodiles, Lizards, and Serpents) is composed of three primary divisions: lst, Apoda (genus Caecilia); 2d, Caudata (gen. Siren, Proteus, Triton, Salamandra); 3d, Ecaudata (Frogs, Toads, &c.). His work. Die Ordnungen, Familien, und Gattungen, der Reptilien, als Prodrom einer Naturgeschichte dorselben, was published at Munich in 1811. Merrem, whose unfinished publication (Βeitraege zur Naturgeschichte der Amphibien) appeared at different periods from 1790 to 1821, published the first edition of his Tentamen Systematis Amphibiorum in 1800, and a revisal of the same work in 1820. He first partitions his reptiles into two great classes,— Philodota, containing all such ns have the body protected by a corneous or coriaceous covering, and Batrachia, including the species of which the covering is soft, smooth, and mucous. He then proceeds to subdivide the latter into three great groups,— Apoda, Salientia, and Ghadentia, —which he makes constituently the same as Oppel’s Apoda, Ecaudata, and Caudata. Then follows M. de Blainville, with his class Amphibiens, ou Nudipelliferes (as distinct from other reptiles), consisting of the Batrachians commonly so called, and the genus Coecilia,— the latter forming the Order Pseudophydiens. See Nour. Bulletin des Sciences de la Soc. Phil, for July 1816, and the first volume of Principes d’Anatomie Comparée, 1822. Mr Gray also views the Batrachian reptiles as a distinct class or great primary division of the Animal Kingdom, adding thereto the genus Ceecilia. Synopsis Reptilium, and Griffith’s Animal Kingdom, vol. ix. Appendix, p. 99, 1831. Finally, Mr Bell has likewise arranged our Batrachian reptiles, and the genus in question, in a separate class Amphibia, which he divides into the five following orders, 1st, Ampiiip-neuhta,— Sirens and Protei; 2d, Anouda,— Frogs and Toads; 3d, Ueodela,— Salamanders; 4th, Abranehia, —gen. Menopoma and Amphiuma; 5th, Apoda, —genus Caecilia. Encyclopaedia of Anatomy and Physiology, part i. p. 91. It will be perceived that this system differs chiefly from those now enounced, in the placing of two very peculiar American genera,— Menopoma and Amphiuma, characterized by the absence of gills,—in a separate order, termed Abhanchia, from the presumed peculiarity just alluded to. The last-named arrangement is adopted by Mr Swainson, in Cabinet Cyclopwdia, vol. cxvi. pp. 83 and 339. ] * As we have already discussed that so-called class in the article Reptilia of the present work (see Encyc. Brit. vol. xix. p. 150), we shall here subjoin the characters of the anomalous reptiles just referred to, as given by the great French anatomist. They form, under the name of Naked Serpents (Serpens nues), the third and concluding family of his Ophidian order.

Genus Caecilia. Eyes extremely small, almost concealed beneath the skin, sometimes wanting. Skin smooth, viscous, furrowed by annular folds, apparently naked, but exhibiting in its thickness certain slender scales, regularly disposed on many transverse ridges between the wrinkles of the skin. Head depressed, anus nearly terminal, tail consequently short or almost wanting. Ribs too short to surround the trunk. Vertebrae articulated by facets like hollowed cones filled with gelatinous cartilage, as in fishes and some Batrachia; the cranium united to the first vertebra by two tubercles, also as in Batrachian reptiles. The orbits, covered by the maxillary bones, are only pierced by a very small hole; and the bones of the temples cover the temporal fossae, in such a way that the head exhibits superiorly nothing but a continuous bony buckler. (See Plate CCCCXLIII. fig. 1 d.) The hyoid bone, composed of three pair of arches, is so constructed as almost to lead to the belief that in early age there were gills. The maxillary and palatine teeth are ranged on two concentric lines, as in the genus Proteus, but are frequently sharp and curved backwards, as in true serpents. The nostrils open at the back part of the palate, and the lower jaw has no moveable pedicle, the tympanic bone being encased with the other[7:20:155] bones in the buckler of the cranium. The auricle of the heart is not sufficiently divided to be described as double; but the second lung is rudimentary, as among the genuine Ophidians. The liver is divided into many transverse foliations.

We know nothing of the natural history or habits of the animals of this genus. They are said to dwell in marshy ground, several feet below the surface. They probably prey on worms and insects, although vegetable matters, mould, and sand, have been found in their intestines.

In certain species the muzzle is obtuse, the skin loose, the folds conspicuous, and there are two small hairs near the nostrils. To this section belongs Caec . annulata of Spix, a Brazilian species, of subterranean habits. It is of a blackish hue, with upwards of eighty annular folds, and circularly marked with white. The teeth are conical. Others have the folds more numerous, or rather in the form of serrated transverse striae. Such is Caec. glutinosa, Linn., from Ceylon, a blackish-coloured reptile, marked by a longitudinal band of white on either side, and characterized by 350 folds, which unite beneath in an acute angle. We have figured a nearly allied species from America, Caec . bivittata of the French naturalists (see Plate CCCCXLIV. fig. 3). Finally, a few have the folds almost effaced, the body long and slender, and the muzzle projecting. Caec . lumbricodes, Daudin,^[125. Reptiles, viii. D2, 2. ] is entirely blind, of a blackish colour, two feet long, and not thicker than a quill. Baron Cuvier possessed the skeleton of a Caecilia more than six feet long.^[126. * Règnt Animal, ii. 10l, note. ] * There were 225 vertebrae, but the external characters were unknown. (t. )