CHAPTER I. 



THE SNAKE'S PLA.CE IN NATURE. 



In order to recognise any given snake it is not sufficient 

 to say "This is. a ground snake or a rat snake, etc." Such 

 a statement conveys little or no information. We must 

 first reahse the snake's relation to other living things and then 

 the various snakes' relations to one another. This we do by 

 a process of classification. 



As everyone knows, living things are divided into two 

 kingdoms— the animal kingdom and the vegetable kingdom. 



The animal kino'dom is ao-ain divided into two sub- 

 kingdoms, viz., animals with back-bones (the vertebrates) 

 and animals without back-bones (the invertebrates). This 

 latter sub-kingdom we need not mention further. It 

 contains the insects, crabs and lobsters, jelly-fish, microbes, 

 and so on. 



The back-boned animals or vertebrates are divided into 

 three sections, viz., the fish-like animals, the lizard-like ani- 

 mals and the mammals. The first section contains two 

 classes, viz., the fishes and the amphibians (things like frogs, 

 etc).* The third section we are all familiar with because it 

 contains ourselves, dogs, horses and in fact all animals which 

 have their young born alive and suckle them. 



The second section chiefly concerns us at present. It 

 has two classes, viz., the reptiles and the birds. Look at a 

 bird's eyes and scaly legs and you will understand hOw 

 it comes to be classed with the lizard-Hke animals. 



The reptile class is divided into four orders : one of 

 which is the order snakes. The other three are the tortoises, 

 the lizards and the crocodiles. 



* 'These animals spend the first part of their lives iu the water «md tbeu 

 are just like fisbe^, 



