OPHIDIA. 281 



among the Saurians ; a range of pores before the anus ; the teeth few, conical, and growing only from 

 the jaw, none from the palate ; and they have only one lung. 



There are three or four species, which live on insects, and are found principally about ant-hills, a circum- 

 stance which has induced the opinion that they subsist chiefly upon Ants. They are oviparous. 



The Typhlops {Typhlops, Schneider) — 

 Have the body covered with small imbricated scales, like the Orvets, with which they were long 

 arranged ; the muzzle prolonged and plated ; the tongue rather long and forked ; the eye reduced to a 

 point, scarcely visible through the skin ; the anus nearly at the extremity of the body ; and one lung 

 four times as large as the other. They are small species, resembling Earth-worms at the first glance, 

 and are found in the hot regions of both continents. 



Some have the head obtuse and even with the body, resembling; packthread at both ends. Others have the 

 muzzle depressed and obtuse, with scaly plates anteriorly. Some, again, have the fore-part of the muzzle covered 

 with a single broad plate rather sharp in front. And there are others in which the muzzle terminates in a little 

 conical point, being also totally blind : the posterior extremity of these is enveloped in a bony oval buckler, and 

 they were formerly ranged with the Orvets, on account of their small scales. 



The other tribe, or that of the Serpents properly so called, have a tympanic bone or pedicle to 

 the lower jaw, which is moveable, and nearly always suspended by another bone analogous to the 

 mastoid, which latter is attached to the skull by muscles and ligaments, that allow it also to be 

 moveable. The branches of this jaw are not united together, and those of the upper are connected by 

 ligaments only to the intermaxil'aries ; so that they can open more or less, which imparts to these 

 animals the capability of dilating the mouth, so as to swallow objects of greater bulk than themselves. 



Their palatal arches partake of this mobility, and are armed with recurved and pointed teeth, 

 which is the most marked and constant character of this tribe; their windpipe is very long; the 

 heart placed far backward ; and the greater number have only one great lung, with the vestige of 

 a second. 



They divide into venomous and non-venomous, and the former of these into venomous having 

 several maxillary teeth, aud into venomous with isolated fangs. 



In the non-venomous, the branches of the upper jaw are furnished throughout their length, like 

 those of the lower jaw and the palate, with fixed and solid teeth. There are three or four subequal 

 ranges of these teeth in the upper part of the mouth, and two in the lower.* Those among them 

 which have the mastoid bones inclosed within the cranium, the orbit incomplete behind, the tongue 

 short and thick, and which resemble the Double- Marcheurs in the cylindrical form of their head and 

 body, were formerly classed with the Orvets, on account of their diminutive scales. 



The Roles (Tortrix, Oppel ; Torquatrix, Gray; Ilysia, Hemp.), — 



Are externally distinguished from the Orvets by the range of scales along the belly and beneath the 

 tail being rather larger than the others, as also by the extreme shortness of the tail. They have but 

 one lung. All are from America. 



The Uropeltis, Cuv. (Anilius, Oken), is an allied new genus, the tail of which, still shorter and obliquely trim 

 cated above, is flat ami beset with little scales at the truncation. Their head is very small ; the muzzle pointed ; 

 tiny have a range of scales under the tail, a little larger than the rest, and a double range beneath its truncate 

 portion. 



The non-venomous Serpents which, on the contrary, have detached mastoid bones, aud the jaws 01 

 which are dilatable, have the occiput more or less bulged, and the tongue forked and very extensible. 

 Two principal genera have long been distinguished, — the Boas and the Snakes proper. 



The Boas (Boa, Lin.), — 

 Formerly comprehended all Serpents, venomous or not so, the under-part of the bodv and tail of 

 which is covered with scaly transverse bands, each of a single piece, and which have neither spur r.or 

 rattle at the tip <>f the tail. Being very numerous, it is necessary to subdivide them, after abstracting 

 the venomous ones. 



* The common opinion is. that nil Serpents destitute of pierced , buck-molars of which are very Isr^e, arc l 



fimirs in the lower part of the Jaw, are non-venomotu i bat this I have I re noua In the eoontrlei which they Inhabit ; an opinion wh 



.cine reason to doubt. All have a maxillary {land, often very large j confirmed by the experiment! of Lalandc and Lescheaauld, which It 

 aud the back-mi I ira. freqaeDtly exhibit a KTOOre, which would teem to is desirable should be repeated, 



conduct some liquor. This much is certain, that various species, the I 



