200 Recent Researches on Snake Poison. [Sess. 



After an exhaustive examination of the marl-pit, the party 

 was kindly entertained at Marchfield by Dr and Mrs Sprague. 



The final excursion of the summer was arranged to visit 

 the Pentland Hills on July 27, but owing to rain it did not 

 take place. 



[The above paper, which is here given in an abridged form, was illustrated 

 by a large number of lantern slides, the greater part of these being from 

 photographs taken at the excursions by the President, Dr Davies.] 



VIII— RECENT RESEARCHES ON SNAKE POISON, 



Especially those of Dr Cunningham of Calcutta. 



By Dr WILLIAM WATSON. 



(Read April 22, 1896.) 



Snakes belong to the great group of reptiles or creeping 

 animals whose females do not suckle their young. They have 

 only one condyle, not two, on the occipital bone, and their 

 lower jaw is articulated, not directly to the skull, as in mam- 

 mals, but through an intervening quadrate bone. It follows, 

 therefore, that mammals cannot be descended from reptiles, for 

 no true Darwinian believes in Anabolism and Catabolism, as 

 the followers of Henslow vainly talk. 



Snakes are not very far removed from lizards, and if asked 

 to distinguish between a lizard and a snake, it would not be a 

 bad answer to say that a lizard had legs and a snake none. 

 But further inquiry would modify this answer. On dissec- 

 tion, it is found that true snakes are highly specialised, and 

 have five other peculiarities besides wanting legs: (1) They 

 have only one lung, the left lung being rudimentary ; (2) they 

 have no bladder; (3) they have no true eyelids, but have 

 transparent lids over the eyes ; (4) their jaws are united only 

 by membrane; (5) they have no tympanum. Only animals hav- 

 ing these peculiarities are considered true snakes, and legless 

 animals, which are otherwise normal, are relegated to lizards. 



Adopting this classification, the blind-worm or slow-worm 



