Horned Serpents. 1^7 



exception of the peculiar appendage above mentioned, I was led 

 to investigate it further, and took the opportunity, for this pur- 

 pose, of examining one of these serpents killed at St Ann of the 

 Orinoko. 



Observing then that the eyes yiere sunk so deep in their 

 sockets as to impede the animals seeing in a direct line before, 

 the idea occurred to me that it must possess the power of push- 

 ing them out at pleasure, and that it might be this circumstance 

 which had given rise to the idea of the horned snake. 



To ascertain whether the animal had this supposed faculty, I 

 passed an instrument through the arch of the jaw into the orbit, 

 and, with much facility, pushed forward the eyeball about an 

 inch from the head, without using any force. I then observed 

 a muscular coat, or strong membrane, attached laterally to the 

 tunic, which envelopes the globe of the eye, and on withdrawing 

 the instrument, the eye again retired into the head by the re- 

 traction of the muscle ; their eyes being, by this mechanism, 

 rendered both protractile and versatile, enabling them to see at 

 once in every direction, and especially to escape the fangs of the 

 rattle-snake, which is said to be their mortal enemy. 



I feel strongly persuaded, therefore, that it is identically the 

 yellow tail, or, at least, a variety of it, with pedunculated eyes, 

 which has been taken for a horned serpent, or with moveable 

 horns, all of them agreeing that it carries the horns in and out 

 of its head occasionally. Finally, it seems to me a construction 

 of sight in this serpent similar to that of crabs, and that that 

 which has been taken for honis is no other than the organs of 

 sight, thus formed by the allwise Author of Nature for some 

 particular purpose unknown to us. 



I intended to have made further inquiries, after my return 

 to Dcraerara from the Orinoko, respecting the peculiarities of 

 this horned or stylephorus serpent, but have hitherto neglected 

 it. 



An old friend of mine (Mr Thomas of the Kitty Estate, Po- 

 nicroon) having killed a yellow tail, on going out to see it, I ob- 

 served all the fowls, Guinea birds, and turkeys in the yard, as- 

 sembled around, and approaching close to the dead snake to 

 examine it, timidly chirping in a low feeble note, the nictitating 

 membrane drawn over their eyes, and seeming, as it were, half 



