Snakes.] 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



107 



enemy. During such a proceeding the snake is ge- 

 nerally observed witli its head raised about ten or 

 twelve inches above the branch, round which its 

 body and tail are intertwined, with its mouth open, 

 and its neck inilated, as if anxiously endeavouring 

 to increase the terror which it would almost appear 

 it was aware would sooner or later bring within its 

 grasp some one of the feathered group. Whatever 

 may be said in ridicule of fascination, it is neverthe- 

 less true, that birds and even quadrupeds are, under 

 certain circumstances, unable to retire from the 

 presence of their enemies ; and what is still more 

 extraordinarj-, unable to resist the propensity to 

 advance from a situation of actual safely, into one 

 of the most imminent danger- This I have often 

 seen exemplified in the case of birds and snakes, 

 and I have heard of instances equally curious, in 

 which antelopes and other quadrupeds have been 

 so bewildered by the sudden appearance of croco- 

 diles, and bv the grimaces and contortions they 

 practised, as to be unable to fly, or even move from 

 the spot towards which the latter were approaching 

 to seize them." There is nothing, however, myste- 

 rious in all this ; the snake does not mcsmeiise its 

 prey, but merely so terrifies it as to stupil'y it ; be- 

 sides, the victim may feel an impulse similar to 

 that which urges many nervous persons on the 

 edge of a precipice, or top of a lofty tower, to throw 

 themselves down headlong, and which we have 

 heard such describe as resisted with difficulty ; so 

 may the panic-struck bird feel an impulse to rush 

 into the danger which it might escape by flight. 

 After all we agree with Dr. Barton of Philadelphia, 

 that it is generally in defence of their eggs or young 

 the parent birds sacrifice their lives, while they 

 vainly endeavour with their beak and wings to drive 

 the intruder away. . 



The ancients were not only well acquainted with 

 the serpents of Italy and Greece, but also with the 

 huge pythons of other countries. Aristotle notices 

 certain serpents of Libya of enormous size, and nar- 

 rates that some voyagers to that coast were pursued 

 bv individuals of such magnitude, that they overset 

 one of the triremes, or galleys with three stages of 

 rowers. The peculiar manner, too, in which these 

 pythons enfold and crush their victim was also 

 understood, and is delineated in the admirable 

 statue of Laocoon and his sons vainly struggling 

 against their fate. (Fig. 2234.) ,_. „ " 



The story which is illustrated by this hne 

 work * is told by Virgil in the Second ^Eneid, and 

 refers to the vengeance taken by Minerva on ac- 

 count of the insult offered by Laocoon, in hurling 

 his spear at the wooden horse filled with armed 

 men, which the Trojans drew through a breach of 

 the walls into the city. One charactenstic circum- 

 stance is mentioned by Virgil, namely, that alter 

 the snakes had destroyed their victims, they glided 

 off to the temple, and sheltered themselves under 

 the feet and buckler of the goddess ; " Sub pedi- 

 busque deae clypeique sub orbe teguntur:" and this 

 leads us to glance at the antiquity and prevalence 

 of serpent-worship, for it would appear that these 

 animals were regarded as genii, either of good or 

 evil, and to be either reverenced or propitiated. 



The Egyptians, as is well known, deified various 

 species Herodotus notices the Cerastes, which he 

 erroneously calls harmless ; when dead, these snakes 

 were, he says, interred within the precincts of the 

 temple of Jupiter Ammon and dedicated to that god. 

 Another species, the Haje, or Cobra de capello, was 

 assumed as the emblem of Cneph, or the good deity 

 (6 a7a0os 8cu>v), and among the bronze rehcsin the 

 British Museum are figures of this snake with its 

 expanded hood, and which were apparently some of 

 the penates or household gods. It is also clear that 

 the Egyptians were in the habit of sacrificing human 

 beings to serpents ; for in the tomb first discovered 

 bv Belzoni in Thebes, is a representation thus de- 

 scribed by Dr. Richardson ('Travels along ihe 

 Mediterranean,' vol. i.) : " Here a human sacrifice 

 .tares us in the face ; three human beings rest upon 

 their knees with their heads struck off; the attitude 

 in which they implored for mercy is that in which 

 they met their doom, and the serpent opposite erects 

 his crest, on a level with their throats, ready to 

 drink the stream of life as it gurgles from their 

 veins." The executioner is a priest, which concurs 

 with other circumstances to show beyond dispute 

 the religious character of the exhibition. 



The sacred figure of the circle, wings, and serpent 

 occurs in many of the monumental remains of Upper 

 Egypt, and is represented abundantly among the 

 sacred symbols. 



To say nothing of the Babylonians and other 

 people of antiquity who reverenced the serpent as an 

 agathod»mon, or good genius, there are proofs of a 

 like superstition in Qreece and Italy. Fig. 224o is 

 the copy of a terra-cotta of Etruscan workmanship, 

 in the Townley Gallery (Brit. Mus.), representmg a 



• The KrpenM ve artirti', not natanillrt.' wrpenU ; il il strange 

 tli« h. who could copy .0 well the human fllture could not work oat 

 the form of a arakf. 



Vol. 11. 



female, perhaps the goddess Hygeia, feeding a ser- 

 pent. Fig. 2246 is one of many similar representa- 

 tions at Pompeii, in which the lares or household 

 gods are delineated in the form of serpents brooding 

 over an altar. It is from a painting in the kitchen 

 of a first-rate house, and the upper part of the tablet 

 represents a sacrifice in honour of those serpent- 

 deities, whose protection and custody over the pro- 

 visions and cooking utensils are indicated by the 

 border figures. We may also state that a picture 

 found in'Herculaneum represents a serpent twined 

 round an altar, from which it is taking its food, 

 with a youth apparently worshipping it ; the in- 

 scription is " Genius hujus loci montis. ' Similar 

 representations are common. The Greeks, accord- 

 ing to Justin Martyr, introduced the serpent into all 

 their mysteries ; and not only had the walls of Athens 

 the snaUe-encircled head of Medusa sculptured upon 

 them, but a live serpent was kept in the Acropolis. 

 Fi"- 2247 is a portion of the Egyptian painting 

 prevwusly alluded to, exhibiting human sacrifices to 

 a serpent ; and Fig. 2248 represents several sacred 

 symbols of the Egyptians, in which the serpent is 

 conspicuous. It will be remembered that the Is- 

 raelites worshipped a brazen serpent (seraph) till it 

 was broken by Hezekiah. In Hindoo mythology 

 this animal also has a place, and according to Colo- 

 nel Briggs cobras are sometimes kept and wor- 

 shipped in temples, where they are pampered with 

 milk and sugar, by the priests, and become very 



Tf we turn to the New Worid, we find that in 

 Mexico and South America snake-worship was com- 

 mon. The ancient Mexicans in particular paid 

 homage to the mighty boa, and not only had ser- 

 pent idols of fine workmanship, but living boas of 

 monstrous size were kept tame by the priests and 

 doubtless not without human victims ; for Bullock 

 in his ' Six Months in Mexico,' speaks of a great 

 serpent-idol of good workmanship, and almost per- 

 fect in the cloisters behind the Dominican convent, 

 represented in the act of swallowing a human vic- 

 tim which is seen crushed and struggling in its 

 horrid jaws. To the worship of the boa we shall 

 again allude when we come to notice that reptile. 



We shall now pass on to our pictorial specimens 

 of the ophidian race ; beginning with the non- 

 venomous. 

 Family COLUBRID^ (COLUBRINE SNAKES). 



2249 (6), 2250.— The Ringed Snake 

 (Natrix torquata, Ray). Tropidonotus Natrix, Kuhl ; 

 Coluber Natrix, Linn. As an example of the Colu- 

 bridffi we may adduce the common ringed snake of 

 our island and Europe generally. The head in this 

 genus is distinct, oblong-ovate, depressed, and co- 

 vered above with scuta ; the gape is wide ; the body 

 lon<' and slender ; the squamae are imbricate, lan- 

 ceolate, and generally carinated ; the abdominal 

 scuta are simple; those under the tail double or 

 biserial. Fig. 2251 represents the Head and lail ol 

 the Common Snake. 



Fig ''•'49 exhibits— a, the Common Adder ; b, the 

 Ringe'd'Snake, by way of comparison : they are our 

 only two true ophidian reptiles. 



The ringed snake is very harmless, and may be 

 readily tamed; it is abundant in low moist woods, 

 damp meadows, and hedge-rows, especially in the 

 vicinity of water, to which it delights to resort, and 

 in and around which its favourite food, the frog, is 

 alwavstobe procured. It often frequents gardens 

 attracted by the warmth of hotbeds and heaps ot 

 manure, in which the females deposit their eggs; 

 for the same reason, as we can personally testily, 

 snakes often frequent the sides and bases ol lime- 

 kilns composed of large rough masses of stone and 

 turf, forming a thick mound, between the crevices 

 of which they habitually conceal themseves and lay 

 their eeES. White, in his ' History of Selborne, 

 complains that snakes lay chains of eggs every sum- 

 meT?n his melon-beds. In spite of all that can be 

 Ze to prevent them: the eggs, he adds, do not 

 hatch till the spring following; hence it follows 

 that where they are not laid in such places as ma- 

 nufe-heaps, or fn the crevices of limekilns as above 

 noticed, and so subjected to what may be termed 

 ariificial heat regularly kept up, they have to un- 

 de go the natural cold of our winter In al cases 

 moft probably they are so secured as to be delend^ 

 against severe frost. The eggs are invested with a 

 membrane, and are eighteen or twenty in number, 

 wnnected together, by a glutinous matter, in a 



'°T'hf snaV; ^wims well and very gracefully, with 

 the head arched above the surface, and, as we have 

 witnessed, it can remain a considerable time below. 

 Us probable that snakes pursue frogs and water- 

 sh ew^s°n this element; but they also delight in ,t 

 for we have watched them swimmmg about without 

 anv aVparent object beyond the pleasure of the 

 bath Thave alio known them take to the water in 

 order' to escape when chased. In this fondness for 



water the snake differs from the blindworm, which 

 avoids it, and from the viper, which prefers dry lo- 

 calities, seldom if ever voluntarily attempting to 

 swim. 



The snake is very voracious, and pursues its prey 

 with great determination. It feeds on mice, nestling 

 birds, and frogs, especially the latter, of which it is 

 a great destroyer. We have several times seen 

 snakes in the act of swallowing a frog, their jawg 

 forced asunder, their neck swollen, and so absorbed 

 in their laborious efforts to ingulf their prey, all the 

 while alive, that they have made no attempt to es- 

 cape. In taking the frog, the snake generally seizes 

 one of the hind-legs, and first draws it in, then the 

 whole body, portion after portion, till the whole dis- 

 appears. This in-drawing of the prey is not an act 

 of simple suction, but is connected with the me- 

 chanism of the jaws, of which the bones are dis- 

 tinct, being united together, and to the cranium, 

 only by elastic ligaments. "This plan" ensures the 

 necessary dilation of the mouth, for the prey swal- 

 lowed generally exceeds the circumference of the 

 snake ; and next, allows the opposite side of each 

 jaw, above and below, the power of independent 

 motion : the upper jaw on each side has two rows 

 of sharp teeth ; the lower jaw has one row. The 

 process is as follows : — The frog being seized, the 

 snake advances as far as possible the corresponding 

 branches of the upper and lower jaw of one side, fix- 

 ing the teeth into the skin of the victim ; this done, 

 and a secure hold taken, it advances the branche* 

 of the opposite side, and so on alternately till the 

 whole is gradually forced into the gullet, stretched 

 almost to bursting. The poor frog is swallowed 

 alive, and has been distinctly heard to utter its pe- 

 culiar cry of distress some minutes after having 

 been swallowed : this piteous cry it utters when 

 chased by the snake, of which it has an instinctive 

 terror ; when fairly seized, however, it gives itself 

 up to its fate, and seldom attempts to struggle. Mr. 

 Bell relates a curious circumstance of two snakes 

 seizing one the hind-leg, the other the fore-leg of 

 the same frog, and continuing their inroads upon 

 the victim till their upper jaws met, and they bit 

 each other in turn. After one or two such accidents, 

 the most powerful of the snakes commenced shaking 

 the other, which still had hold of the frog, with 

 great violence from side to side. In a short time 

 the other returned the attack, and this was repeated 

 till the one which had the slightest hold was regu- 

 lariy shaken off, when the victor swallowed his prey 

 in quiet. The contest being over, a frog given to 

 the unsuccessful combatant was immediately seized 

 and swallowed. In taking birds, lizards, &c., the 

 snake swallows them head foremost. After gorging 

 its food it becomes lethargic, and continues in astate 

 of inaction till the whole is digested, when it seeks 

 a fresh supply. 



A celebrated naturalist, M. Schlegel, has ventured 

 an opinion that snakes never drink : this is far 

 from being correct. Dr. Cantor observes that the 

 greater number of Indian serpents are partial to the 

 water, and with the exception of the tree-snakes, 

 not only drink, but moisten the tongue, which, as 

 this organ is not situated immediately in the cavity 

 of the mouth, becomes two different acts. The same 

 has been observed respecting African serpents, and 

 the same applies to our common snake. Not only 

 does it drink, but it is extremely partial to milk : 

 Mr. Bell states that a tame one in his possession was 

 accustomed to come to his hand every morning for 

 a draught of milk, which it did of its own accord, 

 and both in England and on the Continent it is ac- 

 cused of invading the precincts of the dairy in order 

 to obtain its favourite beverage. Latreille says, 

 " It is asserted that it is very fond of milk, and that 

 it even makes its way into dairies for the purpose of 

 drinking what is kept there, and further, that it 

 sucks the teats of cows and sheep." The latter part 

 of the story is decidedly the offspring of ignorance, 

 but we believe the former part. We have heard it 

 frequently affirmed by persons in the country, that 

 snakes invade dairies for the sake of the milk, and 

 that they have themselves witnessed them in the act 

 of drinking it. Latreille states that this species 

 sometimes'surprises young birds ; "for it climbs very 

 easily : sometimes it suspends itselffrom the branches 

 of trees, twisting its tail around them ; sometimes it 

 hooks on by means of its head placed between the 

 forks of a twig." We have seen, on more occasions 

 than one, the snake entwined in the midst of the 

 close-locked branches of an old hedge, but we do 

 not believe that it ever climbs trees, nor does its 

 long, slender, fine-drawn tail appear, as far as our 

 experience goes, to possess that grasping power so 

 remarkable in the short tail of the boa or python ; 

 neither does it kill its prey by entwining them in its 

 coiis. When irritated, the snake hisses, vibrates its 

 " double tongue," and elevates its head ; its eyes 

 sparkle, its body swells, and it emits a disgusting 

 odour. It is, however, a timid animal, and is disposed 

 rather to escape than oppose an enemy. That it 

 can be tamed numerous experiments prove, and fur- 



