158 Proceedings of the 



but it has been discovered, some years since, that there are serpents, 

 the jaw of which has not that moveable character, and contains as 

 many teeth as the common snake, but which has in front a fang not 

 easily perceived, but hollow, and instilling venom. But even this 

 was not sufficient, as MM. Leschenault, Delalande, and Boy& ascer- 

 tained that some serpents, which certainly had no hollow fangs in 

 front of the jaws, were unquestionably of a venomous nature ; and 

 it therefore became necessary to seek in some other part of the 

 mouth the source of the poison. Accordingly, MM. de Beauvois, 

 Reinward, Boye, and Cuvier ascertained that the serpents in 

 question have, in the back part of the jaw, some teeth which are 

 longer and stronger than the others, and are sometimes hollowed in 

 a manner which may be supposed as well adapted to convey poison 

 into wounds as the hollow fang of the viper. The important point 

 to ascertain, therefore, was whether these back teeth were, in fact, 

 connected with glands of a venomous character or not. M. Schlegel, 

 in a memoir printed in 1828, in the 14th volume of the * Memoirs of 

 the Academic des Curieux de la Nature,' had commenced the inves- 

 tigation, and pointed out the particular glands to which these 

 hollowed back teeth can serve as conducting canals, and which 

 glands may be co-existent with the ordinary salivary glands, as he 

 particularly noticed in the homalopsis monilis. M. Duvernoy, who 

 was not acquainted with the memoir of M. Schlegel, has carried 

 his investigations to a much greater extent, and has given a far 

 better account than previously existed of the venomous and salivary 

 glands, and such parts of osteology and myology as relate to them, 

 and which he has illustrated with carefully executed plates. His 

 observations have been principally directed to the following species : 

 non-venomous, the tortrix scytale, the coluber natrix, the coluber 

 quincunciatus, the elaps lemniscatus, the vipera verus, the naia tri- 

 pudians, and the crotalus durissus ; venomous, with numerous 

 maxillary teeth, the baugarus fasciatus and the pelanus bicolor ; and 

 finally, among those suspected of venomous properties, on account 

 of the long back teeth, the coluber plumbeus, the dipsas interruptus, 

 and the homalopsis pantherinus. In describing, in a very perfect 

 manner, the general and particular characters of the organs of de- 

 glutition and insalivation, M. Duvernoy had added to, and rectified 

 the previous observations of M. Dugez, particularly with respect to the 

 adductor muscle of the jaws, which he considers to be a dismember- 

 ment of the mylohyoidean as well as the mylovaginian of M. Dugez, 

 which is attached to the skin above the large scales of the under 

 jaw. M. Duvernoy has also entered into minute inquiries as to the 

 proportions of the lachrymal gland, and the variation of its position 

 within and without the orbit in different genera and species, and also 

 as to the analogy between the developement of that gland and the 

 salivary and venomous glands, and the size of the eye, a point 

 which had been left untouched, even in M. Cloquet's work on the 

 lachrymatory organs of serpents. There are also several new 



