198 SNAKES. 



Professor Owen, in describing the bony structure of the 

 Ophidia, and in allusion to the scriptural text — 'Upon thy 

 belly shalt thou go ' — affirms that so far from the reptiles 

 being degraded from a higher type, their whole organization 

 demonstrates how exquisitely their parts are adapted to 

 their necessities, and thus proceeds : ' They can outclimb the 

 monkey, outswim the fish, outleap the jerboa, and suddenly 

 loosing the coils of their crouching spiral, they can spring 

 into the air and seize the bird upon its wing.' 



The active snakes can always ' leap ' their own length, 

 whether upwards to seize a bird, or horizontally, and, as in the 

 case of the Jamaica boa (described p. 186), can leap much 

 farther from a similar impetus when the direction is doivn- 

 7vards. Indeed, they can let themselves fall from a certain 

 elevation with an additional impetus to progress, as a boy 

 first runs in order to leap a ditch. 



* With neither hands nor talons, they can out-wrestle the 

 athlete, and crush their prey in the embrace of their pon- 

 derous, over-lapping folds. . . . Instead of licking up its 

 food as it glides along, the serpent uplifts its crushed pre}^, 

 and presents it grasped in its death-like coil, as in a hand, 

 to its gaping mouth.' ^ 



A similarly graphic account is given by Rymer Jones, 

 p. 718 of his work,^ that will be read with interest by 

 those who wish to pursue the study scientifically. 



In watching the larger constricting snakes while feeding, 

 you see how dexterously they manage. — (One may use this 

 word here, because those above quoted, * as in a hand,' are 



' Anatomy of the Vertebrates, vol. iii. p. 260 et seq, 

 ^ Organization of the Animal Kingdom. 



