DENTITION. 357 



lent to me by Holland, the keeper, for examination, and 

 sent all together in a little box, there were few in which I 

 could not discern the join. The keeper was not sure to which 

 snakes each belonged, excepting one or two of the largest, 

 which were those of a puff adder. Those of the larger 

 Crotalidcz I could identify by the peculiar curve. In a 

 functional fang of the ' bushmaster ' {Lackesis imitus), which 

 I myself took from its jaw, there is a well-defined line, like 

 a crack, the whole way down, from the base to the slit ; in 

 a rattlesnake fang, also in my possession, there is a faint 

 appearance of this line or join ; and in a young Crotalus fang 

 it is still there, — only a faint crack, such as you would 

 contemplate with alarm in your egg-shell china, still there 

 it is. 



It is scarcely necessary to explain that fangs differ in size 

 in different families, as well as proportionately to the size of 

 the possessor. In sea snakes they are not much larger than 

 the simple teeth behind them. In the Cobra they are 

 larger than in the Bungarus ; in the viper they attain their 

 largest size. 



But in one respect all fangs agree, and that is in their 

 delicacy and fineness. Under the microscope, the stronger 

 the lens the greater the degree of exquisite polish and 

 sharpness revealed. To handle those of very young vipers 

 is as difficult as it would be to handle fine needle-points of 

 similar length. One can compare them with nothing else, 

 except perhaps the fine thorns of the sweet briar, which are 

 equally unmanageable, and, as compared with manufactured 

 articles, equally exquisite. 



Sir Samuel Baker describes the fangs (both functional and 



