FANGS OF SERPENTS. 



121 



or, Cobra de Capello;* and is shown in Fig. 285, which 

 represents the full grown tooth, where the slight furrow, in- 

 dicating the junction of the two sides of the original groove, 

 may be plainly seen; as also the two apertures (a and b) 

 above mentioned. This mode of formation of the tube is 

 farther illustrated by Fig. 2S6J which shows a transverse 



292 



288 



section of the same tooth, exhibiting the cavity (p) which 

 contains the pulp of the tooth, and which surrounds that of 

 the central tube in the form of a crescent. Figures 237 and 

 288 are delineations of the same tooth in different stages of 

 growth, the bases of which, respectively, are shown in 

 Figures 289 and 290. Figures 291 and 292 are magnified 

 representations of sections of the fangs of another species of 

 serpent, resembling the rattle-snake. Fig. 291 is a section 

 of the young fang taken about the middle: in this stage of 

 growth, the cavity which contains the pulp, almost entirely 

 surrounds the poison tube, and the edges of the depression, 

 which form the suture, are seen to be angular, and present 

 so large a surface to each other, that the suture is complete- 

 ly filled up, even in this early stage of growth. Fig. 292 

 is a section of a full-grown fang of the same species of ser- 

 pent, at the same part as the preceding; and here the cavity 



* Philosophical Transactions, 1818,-p, 471. 

 VOL. II. 16 



