SNAKES OF FICTION AND OF FACT. 51 



names each (the reason for which is deferred till the later 

 chapters), my readers will cheerfully dispense with much 

 in the way of classes and orders, especially as the present 

 methods are reckoned very defective, and there is a loud 

 cry for a new classification of the Reptilia. Already the 

 reader can surmise some of the difficulties, and they will 

 be more evident as we proceed. 



The whole order of Ophidia may be divided into the 

 venomous and the non-venomous, or into other two 

 divisions, viz. those which approach the Saurians, having 

 scales alike all round, vestiges of shoulder bones and 

 hind limbs, and with ribs nearly encircling the body ; and 

 those which have the broad ventral plates, no rudimentary 

 limbs, and a tongue far more extensible than the previous 

 group. 



It will not, I trust, be out of place to introduce a 

 table as presented to us at some of the ' Davis Lectures ' 

 at the London Zoological Gardens ; for I think I am 

 safe in saying this arrangement is adopted by nearly 

 all our living authorities. To go back to the days of 

 our childhood and the game of 'Animal, Vegetable, or 

 Mineral } ' — the original three kingdoms of Nature, — the 

 first heads our table : Animal Kingdom. Next comes the 

 sub-kingdom, comprising five divisions, namely mammals, 

 birds, reptiles, frogs, and fishes, each of which is divided 

 into class, order, family, genus, species, with sometimes 

 a sub-class or a sub-order. Professor St. Georcfe Mivart 

 divides the whole of the reptiles into — (i) Chclonia, the 

 tortoises ; (2) OpJiidia, the snakes ; (3) Crocodilia, or Lori- 

 cata, the crocodiles ; (4) Saiin'a, the lizards. Batrachia, 



