THE TEETH OF REPTILES. 



245 



lower jaw its mobility have just been alluded to ; the 

 successional tooth germs, which are very numerous, are 

 also arranged in the snake in an. unusual position, which by 



bringing them very close to the surface of the bone, to 

 which they lie parallel, renders them less liable to displace- 

 ment and injury than they would have been had they been 

 placed vertically, as they are in all other creatures ; while 

 in addition to the advantage of protection by position, they 

 are wrapped round by a sort of adventitious capsule of con- 

 nective tissue. 



(!) Developing teeth of a Snake. /. Oral epithelium, e. Neck of the 

 enamel organs. 6. Dentine pulp. c. Enamel cells, d. Dentine. 1, 2. 

 Very young germs. 3, 4. Older germs. 



