33 ON TUB PHYSIOGNOMY OF SERPENTS. 



the Ophidians, are by far the most complete which have 

 ever appeared on this difficult branch of science. I have 

 dissected the muscles of serpents of many different genera ; 

 but these organs have presented in the different species 

 such distinct modifications, that it would re([uire very ex- 

 tensive and comparative researches to reduce all these dif- 

 ferences to a common type. Such a labour, more interest- 

 iug to i)hysiology, would be foreign to the end whicli I 

 proposed to myself in this work. I shall, therefore, con- 

 tent myself with presenting a superficial \'iew of the muscles 

 of 0])hidians in general. 



The muscles, especially those of the trunk, arc remark- 

 able for the considerable volume observed in some, and the 

 extraordinjiry size of the tendons, which acquire, in some 

 species, especially in the true venomous snakes, an uncom- 

 mon development. This organization is re<iuisite to give 

 that force and activity, with Avhich the undulatory move- 

 ments of the body, the principal means of locomotion in 

 Ophidians, is executed. The muscles of Ophidians being 

 frequently interlaced with each other, it becomes very dif- 

 ficult to give an exact description of each individual muscle ; 

 and it is not less difficult to compare those organs with 

 those of animals of a more elevated scale, and to state the 

 modifications they present in departing from their type. 



The upper part of the spine, or, if you will, the posterior 

 part, presents a great number of muscles which take their 

 origin from the lateral part of the spinous processes, and 

 which are united to long tendons inserted into the articu- 

 lar apophyses : they form a compound muscle, which cor- 

 responds to the spinalis and semi-spmalis muscles of mam- 

 mifera, and which sends, through its whole length, tendons 

 to the ends of the spinous apophyses ; it divides on the 

 neck in two parts, of which the interior is attached to the 

 atlas, while the exterior is prolonged on the occiput, in 

 order to fulfil the functions of levator of the head. The 

 muscles which w^e are describing unite themselves inti- 

 mately with the transverse spinous processes which they 

 cover ; and this anterior attaches itself to the posterior 

 surface of the occiput. The extensor of the spine is 

 another very considerable muscle, composed of a great 



