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LXI. Dissertation 07i JVater Snakes, Sen Snakes, and Sea Ser- 

 pents. By C. S. Rafinesque, Esq. 



W HENEVER a singular phaenomenon, or an extraordinary na- 

 tural occurrence, happens to l)e observed in the United States, 

 whether spots in the sun, huge fossil bones, or serpents, a crowd 

 of superficial writers hasten to offer us, instead of facts, their own 

 ideas and conjectures on the subject, which prove, sometimes, 

 more or less ingenious; but often wild, incorrect, or ridiculous. 

 Thev are generally so much taken up by their own fancy, that 

 they forget entirely to consult former writers of eminence on the 

 same subjects, should thev even iiappen to know of their existence. 

 What idea are we to entertain of their attempts to explain those 

 subjects, without availing themselves of the valuable writings of 

 Herschel or La Place, Cuvier or Pinkerton, ojc. ? in whose works 

 thev had been previously and often completely illustrated. Let 

 lis listen to a group of children attempting to reason and argue 

 on the rising of the sun, an eclipse of the moon, on the oeconomy 

 of bees, or on the structure of a whale, without asking any pre- 

 vious questions of their parents, and we shall find a great si- 

 milaritv I)etween their thoughts and those of many of our spe- 

 culative writers. Thev often contribute to render contemptible 

 the subject of their inquiries, at least towards the vulgar, while 

 it would otherwise become deeplv interesting ; and should their 

 crude speculations ever reach Europe, they will certainly afford 

 very unfavourable specimens of our knowledge and attainments in 

 science. These reflections have naturally suggested themselves 

 to my mind on the present occasion. 



The ancients gave the name of Water Snakes and Sea Snakes 

 to many fishes of the eel tribe, which bear an apparent likeness 

 to land snalies, although they differ materially on examination, 

 by liaving fins and gills, and neither lungs nor scales. 



Many land snakes are in the luil)it of going into the water, in 

 pursuit of their food, or to escape their enemies, and they have 

 been called Water Snakes when found in that element. 



Real Water and Sea Snakes had been noticed at a very early 

 period by navigators in the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Seas; 

 but as thev had not ijcen- destroyed, eminent naturalists had 

 doubted their existence, believing that eels, or similar fishes, had 

 been mistaken for snakes. 



Russel was ])erhaps the first writer who established their ex- 

 istence beyond a doubt, bv describii-g and figvn-ing many of thcni, 

 in his splendid work on the Snakes of the Coast of C'oron)andel. 

 Schneider established fi)r them his genus Hydras, which wrong 

 name has been with much propriety changed into Hydrophis. 

 They have since been described in all the works on enpetology, 



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