THE GLOTTIS. 135 



the Boa Constrictor takes its Prey, and of the Adaptation 

 of its Organization to its Habits,' by W. J. Broderip, Esq., 

 F.L.S. The paper was written as a criticism of the M'Leod 

 story. 



I, also, on several occasions, saw the fur or feathers stirred 

 by air when the mouth or valve opened of what we may safely 

 call the air-tube, whether larynx or trachea. 



Though so rarely mentioned in popular books on snakes, 

 this surprising modification of the breathing apparatus was 

 described by the indefatigable Dr. Edward Tyson, on his 

 dissection of the first rattlesnake that fell into the hands 

 of the Royal Society, 1683, and whose paper on the Vipera 

 caiidiso7ia, as he named it, is quoted in chapters xvi. and xx. 

 * Over the tongue did lye the larynx, not formed with that 

 variety of cartilages as is usual in other animals, but so as 

 to make a rime or slit for receiving or conveying out the 

 air. Nor was there any epiglottis for preventing other 

 bodies from slipping in, this being sufficiently provided for 

 by the strict closure of it.' 1 



Dr. Tyson examined only a dead specimen, and could 

 not therefore witness the action observable in life ; but his 

 remarkable accuracy in describing the parts will be evident 

 in comparing what he said with Dumeril, who did observe 

 the living reptiles. The confusion which sometimes occurs 

 in distinguishing the parts may be also explained by the 

 less complicated structure of the tube, which in higher 

 animals presents the nicer distinctions of the parts, glottis, 

 epiglottis, larynx, etc. 



'II n'y a pas de veritable larynx, une petite languette 



^ Philosophical Transactions, vol. xiii. p. 25. 16S4. 



