=^n:F 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



OPHIDIAN NOMENCLATURE AND VERNACULARS. 



IN a lecture on ' Chameleons ' at the Zoological 

 Gardens, Professor St. George Mivart described in 

 his peculiarly lucid, facile manner, some of the features 

 possessed in common by totally different zoological families, 

 and facetiously added, ' It is tiresome how a single species 

 will come and interfere with our nice definitions in classifi- 

 cation.' ^ I will devote a chapter to the confusion arising 

 from some such mixed features. 



In the classification of the Ophidia these tiresome com- 

 plications present themselves more, perhaps, than \\\ any 

 other creatures. We have seen how snakes of entirely 

 opposite families may possess one single feature in common 

 and differ in other generic respects ; as, for instance, in the 

 moveable but innocuous fang of the Xenodons ; in those 



^ Davis Lecture^ July 28th, 1881. Since the above was written, Professor 

 Flower on 'Armadillos,' at the opening lecture of the 'Davis Series,' June 8th, 

 1882, further corroborated the difficulties presented in these mixed characters, 

 which have caused zoologists to place the armadillo among the Edentata^ ant- 

 eaters, sloths, etc., notwithstanding it is permanently supplied with teeth, 



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