A NATURAL HISTORY 



Clouds often appear very beautifully coloured j they coniifl 

 of aqueous Particles, between which Air is intcrfperfed; therefore, 

 according to the various Thicknels of thofe aqueous Particles, the 

 Cloud will be of a different Colour *. 



IX. AMP HIS B^ NA Serpent, fo called from oc^P^ & |3^'^^, 

 Biceps, a Monfter with two Heads. This is a fmall and weak Crea- 

 ture, equal in Bulk to a little Finger, and about a Foot long, of a 

 whitiih or terraceous Colour; of the oviparous Family, of fmall 

 Eyes, no othcrways vifible than the Prick of a little Needle; lives* 

 much under ground, and is often found by digging; feeds upon 

 Ants. Under this Head, the Hiftorian mentions three Serpents, 

 viz. 



The Brafilian, that has two Pleads, and moves as a Crab -f*. 



The '^aprobanenjian, with four Heads : and he who believes it 

 muft have a four- headed Faith. 



The Himgariau; of which elf&where. 



The flime Hiftorian adds, that the marine Amphisbana, 

 taken in the Ejiglifi Sea, has two heads. Ibid. Pli?iy, Mlian^ 

 Lucaji^ Mantuan, — affirm it has two Heads; Matthiolm denies 

 it, Hefychius is doubtful. Mention is made of a Serpent found 

 near Chipping-Norton^ not far from Oxford, having two Heads, and 

 Faces like Women; one being fhaped after the new Tyre of that 

 Time; the other was habited after the old Fafliion, and had great 

 Wings refembling thofe of the Flinder-Moufe or Bat J. This 

 happened in the Reign of Edward III. 



A SpaniJJj Author fays, that in Chiapa he found a two-headed 

 Serpent, 1 8 Inches long, in the Form of a Roman T, and very ve- 

 nemous; it does not only kill, adds he, by its bite, but if any 

 tread upon that part of the Ground over which 'twas jufl gone, it 



proves fatal ||. The Poet alfo fubfcribes to two Heads**.- If 



this two-headed Serpent has llain its Thoufands, there is a certain 

 metaphorical three-headed Serpent on the Banks of Tyber, that has 

 llain its Ten Thou£u:ids. 



Perhaps 



* Bcerhaave, Grave fand. f Acofla, % ^/jzu's Annals, Z<7«^iP«, printed, 1631, 



jj Antcnio de Herrera'% Hiftory of America. 



** Et gravis ingeniumfurgein caput Amphisbceiia, Lucan, p. 270, 



