S8 ON THE niYSIOGNOMY OF SERPENTS. 



near the head. Large species, or those that inhabit trees, 

 we are often obliged to shoot with a gun. Aquatic snakes 

 sometimes are cauglit in the fisherman's nets, and this is 

 probably the only method to obtain them, since in swimming 

 they never expose any part of their bodies above the water. 

 But the greater number of innocuous serpents are easily 

 taken with the hand, either in seizing them by the neck or by 

 the tail. Several, however, have the power of turning round 

 to bite, while others soil their assailant with a foetid fluid, 

 which they can eject to a considerable distance. It is 

 not within the scope of our work to explain the various 

 methods which may be employed to give chase to serpents : 

 for more complete information, the work of M, Lenz may 

 be consulted, who treats fully of this subject, and to whom 

 a long experience has taught the means of easily capturing 

 those dangerous animals, and how to shun, at the same 

 time, the numerous risks which they run who pursue that 

 occupation. In the same work will be found observations 

 relative to the best method of destroying these noxious rep- 

 tiles, or at least of preventing their too great multiplication. 

 The means enumerated by this philosopher, are chiefly 

 included under the following heads : — In the first place, to 

 destroy the animals which serve as food for snakes, as bats, 

 rats, frogs, and the like ; to favour the enemies of serpents 

 mentioned above, among which the stork occupies the first 

 rank, as doubly useful by the havoc it also makes among 

 frogs ; afterwards to burn the vegetation on the places in- 

 fested by numerous snakes, or when these are in plains, to 

 bring them into cultivation ; lastly, to offer a premium to 

 those who can produce certain parts of the snakes they had 

 killed, abolishing at the same time the premium paid for 

 the destruction of the birds of prey that feed on serpents, 

 such as buzzards, kites, and crows. 



Several species of intestinal worms infest the viscera of 

 serpents. I have often found the stomach, near the 

 pylorus, so full of them, that their presence must have 

 caused continual obstructions, if not death ; these worms 

 formed a mass hanging on the internal walls of that intes- 

 tine. Some are confined to the intestinal canal, others to 

 the mesentery, and some exist even in the serous mem- 



