INTRODUCTION 
blooded, and perhaps clammy to the touch, but they 
have a dry covering which is certainly neither ‘ slimy,” 
nor “slippery.” Several poets have fallen into grave 
error by a repetition in their verses of old beliefs and 
misconceptions. Thus, Chatterton talks of “ the slimy 
Serpent’; Byron even goes so far as to refer to the 
black slime which betrays a Snake as it crawls. The 
greatest bard of any age, and an Englishman to wit, 
William Shakespeare, joins the merry throng, for in 
“Antony and Cleopatra’ he writes of fig leaves having 
the trail of the Aspic (a Snake) upon them in the form of 
slime. That Snakes can, and do, “ sting” is another 
erroneous and unscientific statement. The forked tongue, 
shot in and out with lightning rapidity, has given rise 
to this belief, but all Snakes are by no means poisonous, 
and certainly none of them can “ sting.” ‘Those which 
are venomous perform the operation of inserting poison 
by means of poison-fangs contained in the upper part 
of the jaw, but no Snake is capable of stinging. 
The Prophet Job, who was a keen and loving interpreter 
of Nature, made the error of saying: ‘“‘ The Viper’s 
tongue shall slay him,” and other references in the Holy 
Word could be given if necessary. 
Ovid talks of a Snake having a “ barbed sting”; 
Virgil warns all and sundry to ‘‘ beware the secret Snake 
that shoots a sting,” and of others that “ wind,” and 
* grind.” 
Chaucer refers to Snakes as ‘‘ Neders,’’ and Shakes- 
peare again makes several references to the Snake’s 
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