194 SiVAKES. 



and which overlie each other like the feathers of birds. The 

 covering of a snake is one entire piece, loose-fitting, and so 

 arranged as to lie in those scale-like folds which accommo- 

 date themselves to every movement of the body. The 

 ventral or under scales are, in fact, a regular kilting, as may 

 be seen by the section; and the upper ones correspond 

 somewhat with what our lady friends call the shell or the 

 leaf pattern in knitting work. The outer or exposed folds are 

 stronger, thicker, and more hardened than the inner parts, 

 just as the knitter * throws up' her pattern with a coarser 

 wool or larger needles, and knits the less conspicuous parts 

 in a softer material. The naked space of thinner skin be- 

 tween these scales being very considerable, one can therefore 

 easily understand how, when a snake would attempt to pass 

 over a horse-hair rope, the sharp, prickly hairs, standing out 

 cJievaiix-de-frise fashion, would insinuate themselves unpleas- 

 antly in those softer and more vulnerable interstices which 

 become exposed by the sinuations of the body. Probably, if 

 we knew it, or had an opportunity of observing, we should 

 ascertain that snakes do not crawl over furze bushes, or 

 thistles, or the prickly pear {opiuitici)^ or any similar vegeta- 

 tion of tropical climates, and for the same reason. The 

 close-scaled burrowing snakes, with their hard and strong 

 cuirass all round them, might have nothing to fear from a 

 furze bush ; but this is mere speculation. That fine, sharp 

 spines or prickles, and therefore a horse-hair rope, would 

 incommode the tender intermediate epidermal folds of other 

 snakes, we can well suppose. Had they sense enough to kap 

 the obstacle, this they could easily do, after the manner 

 of 'leaping' already described; but the 'leap' is only an 



