38o SNAKES. 



serpent striking violently misses its aim, and] the stream has 

 been seen to spirt five or six feet. A blow given in anger is 

 always accompanied by the spirt of venom, even if the fangs 

 fail to engage.' . . . Another curious piece of mechanism, and 

 one not previously described that I am aware of, is a provi- 

 sion for the fangs when they fail to bite. ^ A serpent always 

 snaps his jaws together, and thoroughly r/f^j-^j" than when he 

 strikes ; therefore, if the fangs failed to engage, they would 

 penetrate the lower jaw. But there is a certain movement 

 among the loose bones of the skull (perhaps not yet 

 thoroughly made out), the result of which is to spread the 

 points of the fangs apart, so that they clear the inner sides of 

 the under jaw, instead of injuring them.' Coues here describes 

 rattlesnakes particularly, but no doubt the same extends 

 throughout the viperines. ..." In a large snake the entire 

 gland may be an inch long and one-fourth as wide, having 

 the capacity of ten or fifteen drops of fluid. There is no 

 special reservoir for the venom other than the central cavity 

 of the gland. Formerly there was thought to be such a 

 storehouse ; but when the tooth is folded back, certain 

 muscles press or compress the canal to prevent a wasteful 

 flow : in other words, the communication is shut off! ' 



In this wonderful exhibition of the ivory hypodermic 

 syringe there has not, I trust, been so much repetition as to 

 render the subject tedious. Presented in such graphic 

 language and from such a source, it must attract almost 

 every intelligent reader, while the viperinc fang is absolutely 

 acting before his eyes. On this subject, then, no more need 

 be said ; though on the Crotalus family generally some 

 interesting matter still remains to be told. 



