I90 " SNAKES. ': 



Water, April 1872. It was sent to him by his friend Dr. 

 Bowerbank of St. Leonard's. 



A curious jumble of the Amphisbcena and the Cobra, with 

 its elevated and expanded neck, is found in the Philosophical 

 Transactions, vol. iii. p. 863, for 1665. There had been a 

 correspondence on the subject of two heads, and a reader 

 was evidently sceptical, for the writer thus protests that he 

 is telling the truth : — 



* There are indeed such Serpents in these Parts (Java 

 Naja) which have an Head on each End of their Body, called 

 Capra capella. They are esteemed Sacred by these People, 

 and fortunate to those in whose House and Lands they are 

 found ; but pernicious to whomsoever doth them Harm.' 



This credulous gentleman writes from the East, and cannot 

 corroborate what he has been told by a personal acquaint- 

 ance with even an Amphisbaena, Which might really deceive 

 a casual observer. But that the belief prevailed extensively 

 prior to this, we find from a distinguished physician of his 

 day, F. Hermandez, or Fernandez, who, in his work, Ani- 

 malium Mexicanuin, 1628, represents a creature that would 

 fill one of these pages, with two heads like a ram with 

 wattles and other ample appendages, and distinguishes it as 

 Amphisbcena Enropcea. 



* It is not for us to question the Ancients,* 

 says the much too modest author, betray-' 

 ing a lurking misgiving as to the reality 

 of the creature, but nevertheless doing his 

 best to represent it as his imagination ^"^^^"^^^"^^"-'^J^^-- 

 depicts it. It is here much reduced in size, but may be 

 found on p. 797 of the above very interesting volume. 



