JIERPETOLOar. 297 



Class REPTILIA. 



Cold-blooJeJ Tortel)rat;t, which breathe by means of lungs tlirongh'iut life, and 

 undergo no metamorphosis. The body covered with plates or scales. One occipital 

 condyle. 



Order OPHIDIA. 



Body slender, cylindrical, covered with horny scales, no cxtei'ual limbs. No 

 eyelids. Mouth dihitable. Tongue bifid. All the bones composing the upper and 

 lower jaws are movable, and united by ligaments or muscles, and not by cartilage. 

 This peculiar structure enal)les the mouth to be enormously dilated (Pascoe). 

 Reproduction ovipai'ous or viviparous. Vent linear, transverse. Tongue and repro- 

 ductive organs bitid. 



HARMLESS SNAKES. 



"Innocuous serpents (writes Dr. Mason) are very numerous from the diminutive 

 blind worm, that hides itself in its burrow, to the gigantic python that displays its 

 coat of many colours on the tree tops, ready to dart upon any animal that seeks the 

 shade. The Burmaus have marvellous myths concerning the ' blind snake ' and the 

 short-tailed earth snakes. They say that each snake has a head at each end, and 

 runs at pleasure either backwards or forwards. Cut one in two and immediately one 

 half runs off in one direction and the other in an opposite direction, ilore than this, 

 I had a Burman before mo who by some misadventure killed one of these snakes, 

 and immediattdy, lie knew not how, two others appeared by the side of the dead one. 

 Others say this snake has a head and tail, but that they change places every six 

 months. It can throw itself six feet at a jump against an elephant, and as soon as it 

 strikes, the elephant reels from one side to the other, and immediately falls down 

 dead. Hence one of the common names is ' The snake that shoots tlie elephant.' On 

 account of its power of self-midtiplication it is called ' Father of the birtli of many.' " 



It is not quite clear to which of the two snakes mentioned above [I'yphlops and 

 Cijlindrophis) the above legends apply. Doubtless they are applied loosely to more 

 snakes than one, just as in India the name ' two-headed snake' is applied to -Eri/r, 

 though in Burma, where AVi/x is not known, the name with its nexus of myths is 

 bestowed on Typhlops or CyUndrophis. 



Of reptiles as food, Dr. Mason writes: "The reptiles form a much more 

 important branch of Zoology in a tropical country like Burma than they do in a 

 temperate land like England. Both their number and variety are vastly increased. 

 Their utility for food is very considerable to the natives of this country. All the 

 tortoises and turtles arc eaten, and the crocodiles, sauriaiis, snakes and frogs are not 

 wanting in a Karen's bill of fare. Still, if man's olfactory nerves were given to aid 

 him to select his food, as they seem to have been, there is little of the flesh of 

 reptiles that can faii-ly pass muster." The above verdict of Dr. Mason is, I think, 

 too sweeping, though raw snakes have a repulsive odour. As I have probably 

 consumed more reptilian flesh than Dr. Mason, I may perhaps be allowed to observe 

 that most tortoises and turtles are good eating, and their flesh, and that of lizards, 

 is not more oftensive when raw, than fish, and incomparably less offensive than the 

 odour evolved from the fresh and recking flesh of either uuiu or monkey. 



