THE XE NO DONS. 405 



to half the zoological journals of Europe ! ' First observed 

 by C. C. H. ! ' But no ! 



Weeks of wondering suspense passed by. Then everybody 

 went * out of town.' On meeting Dr. Giinther one day at the 

 British Museum, I told him what I had seen. ' The teeth or 

 the jaw moves } ' he asked catechetically. That I could not 

 explain, as it was precisely what one wished to ascertain. 

 ' You must dissect that snake,' he said, adding that he had 

 had no time to examine it yet. All this was duly reported 

 to my Brazilian correspondent, who with a generous impulse 

 promised to send me ' the very first Xenodoii ' he got Alas ! 

 as I told him, it was useless to give it to me, who could 

 neither kill nor cut up snakes. He did not inform me 

 whether he, also, had observed any mobility in the ' fangs ; ' 

 so I could not yet flatter myself that I had ' added to 

 science' in anyway. Professor Halford, when in England, 

 had dissected the head of the dead specimen at the Zoo- 

 logical Gardens (the supposed Jarraraccd) for poison glands, 

 but of course found none ; and I trusted to some scientific 

 friend * happening by ' who would further examine its 

 maxillary bone and report to me ; but ophiological anatomists 

 do not present themselves every day. Dr. Stradling was 

 absent ; so unless other enthusiasts proceed to an examination 

 before this page meets the public eye, there will still remain 

 these * strange-toothed ' maxillaries inviting dissection. 



Dr. Stradling, however, after a while informed me that he 

 had not observed the mobility of the fangs, nor had he 

 seen any mention of such anywhere excepting in my paper 

 to Land and Water (July 9, 1881). He thought those 

 pseudo-fangs 'of considerable importance in bearing on the 



