POISON-SNAKES. 205 



dangerous. Several circumstances affect the re- 

 sult of a poisoned wound ; the injection of the 

 venom into an artery, the heat of the weather, 

 the more direct and forcible character of the 

 stroke, the vigour of the reptile, the time that 

 has elapsed since it last exerted its powers, 

 and the debility of the sufferer, are all important 

 circumstances. 



We have already described the peculiar struc- 

 ture of the gland by which this deleterious fluid 

 is secreted from the blood, and accumulated ; and 

 we now quote from the distinguished zoologist to 

 whom these pages are so much indebted, an ac- 

 count of the interesting mechanism by which it 

 is injected into the wound. 



" It will not perhaps be wholly uninteresting," 

 observes Professor Bell, " to describe the very 

 beautiful apparatus by which the poison wounds 

 are inflicted, which render these, and so many 

 other Serpents, so formidable. On each side of 

 the upper jaw, instead of the outer row of teeth 

 which are found in non-venomous Serpents, there 

 exist two or three, or more, long, curved, and 

 tubular teeth, the first of which is larger than the 

 others, and is attached to a small movable bone, 

 articulated to the maxillary bone, and moved by 

 a muscular apparatus, by which the animal has 

 the power of erecting it. In a state of rest, the 

 fang reclines backwards along the margin of the 

 jaw, and is covered by a fold of skin; but when 

 about to be called into use, it is erected by means 

 of a small muscle, and brought to stand perpen- 

 dicular to the bone. The tooth itself is, as it 

 were, ])erforated by a tube, the mode of formation 

 of which, was not understood until it was demon- 



