378 



SEKPENTS. 



legs short, and their anterior toes split at the end into three or four 

 points. The tongue is entirely wanting. The species best known 

 inhabits the warm and humid parts of South America, and is re- 

 markable on account of the manner in which its young are developed. 

 The male places the eggs on the back of the female, who immediately 

 takes to the water, where her skin swells and forms cells, wherein the 

 young are hatched, and remain until they have completed their meta- 

 morjDhosis ; then tlie mother returns to land. 



CHAPTER XXV. 



Serpents (Ophidia)* 



The first order of true Eeptiles includes the Serpent 

 tribes, — animals entirely deprived of limbs, and yet 

 endowed ^yith most formidable attributes. Unfur- 



FlG. 310. — SKELKTON- OP SERPENT. 



nislied with any apparent means of progression, the 

 scale-clad Serpent makes its way in either element 



* 6(pis, ophis, a serpent ; eUos, eidos, form or shape. 



