344 SNAKES. 



on one side of the mouth and now on the other (except in 

 the case of some poor mortal with the toothache, when, 

 having only the two jaws, his distressful efforts are chiefly 

 directed towards relieving that side of its ordinary duties). 

 Snakes, for aught we knov/, may have the toothache : loose 

 teeth they frequently have ; they suffer from gum and mouth 

 affections too, and no doubt can at such times relieve a 

 whole jaw of its work. 



In all true snakes the teeth are long, conical, and curved : 

 not planted perpendicularly, but directed backwards ; these 

 long, fine, claw-shaped instruments presenting a formidable 

 obstacle against the retreat of a creature once seized by 

 them. Their arrangement is a species of trap, like the wires 

 of a mouse-trap : to enter being easy enough, but to escape 

 against the spikes being impossible. 



All snakes renew their teeth throughout life. Except 

 fishes, therefore, no creatures are so abundantly supplied 

 with teeth as are the Ophidia. ^ 



On account of this continual loss and replacement of teeth, 

 the number is rarely so fixed and determinate as to be 

 characteristic of the species. Probably no two snakes, not 

 even brothers and sisters of the same brood, may possess 

 precisely the same number of teeth at a given age ; because 

 they are so easily loosened and lost, that the normal number 

 might rarely occur in all the members of the same family at 

 the same time. In the scientific language of Rymer Jones, 

 * the facility for developing new tooth germs is unlimited, and 

 the phenomena of dental decadence and replacement are 

 manifested in every period of life.' 



Says Nicholson, * The teeth are replaced not merely when 



