46 THOSE OTHER ANIMALS. 



gigantic proportions of the fossil serpents, who could have 

 mastered and made a meal of the Mastodon as easily as the 

 largest boa now existing could dispose of a rabbit. With the 

 disappearance of the huge prehistoric animals, the serpent 

 must have seen that unless he were to perish of hunger it 

 was necessary for him to reduce his size; and by a long 

 process, the exact reverse of that by which he had built 

 up his bulk, he diminished himself to dimensions which, 

 though still vastly greater than those of the poisonous snake, 

 were yet in exact proportion to the size of the animals that 

 were henceforth to furnish him with food. 



So far there has been no marked change in the sentiments 

 which man and the snake have entertained towards each 

 other from the earliest times ; and it is probable that at no 

 distant date, when man has peopled the world to its utmost 

 limits, the snake will find that it is incumbent upon him 

 to go. 



