196 SiVAKES. 



case, we shall presently see, owing to the flexibility of the 

 spine, and its capability of grasping and twining round 

 objects of almost any shape, and of taking, as Roget says, 

 'their exact measure.' For this grasping power is not 

 confined to the constricting snakes only. In all snakes a 

 great flexibility is abundantly provided for in the con- 

 struction of ' these lithe and elegant beings,' as Rymer 

 Jones in unprejudiced language calls them (p. 724 of the 

 book above quoted) ; ' the spinal column admits the utmost 

 pliancy of motion In any required direction.' 



Though snakes have no limbs externally, 'the work of 

 hands, feet, and fins is performed by a modification of the 

 vertebral column.' ^ ' Except flying, there is no limit to 

 their locomotion,' said Professor Huxley in /as lecture on 

 ' Snakes,' a (qw weeks previously to that of Ruskin, and 

 under the same roof. To both these lectures we shall again 

 refer, as the reader will feel sure that all coming from such 

 sources must add value to the present writer's arguments. 



As * flying,' the swift motions of many snakes have been 

 described by ancient writers, as, for example, the 'flying 

 serpents ' of Scripture, though these are by many supposed 

 to be the Dracunculiy the earliest known of human parasites. 

 The astonishing movements of serpents were, however, in 

 superstitious ages ascribed to supernatural agency. Says 

 Pliny : ' The Jaculus darts from trees, flies through the air as 

 if it were hurled from an engine.' The ' wisest of men ' 

 admitted that the actions of serpents were beyond his com- 

 prehension ; * the way of a serpent on a rock ' was ' too 

 wonderful ' for him. 



^ Owen's Anatomy of the Vertebrates, p. 261. 



