886 LETTET LX. 



malignity of the venom, that the pain soon grows in- 

 supportable. Some have expired under it in five or 

 six hours; and those whose vigor of constitution en- 

 ables them to survive a little longer*, are usually qar- 

 ried oft' by a mortification, which rapidly dift'uses it- 

 self through the whole frame. 



Of the serpent kind there are a great number and 

 variety of species, which it would at this time be te>* 

 dious to describe, and useless to enumerate. The 

 only species of the venomous kind which is with cer- 

 tainly known to exist in Great Britain is the viper. 

 The common snake, the largest of British serpents, is 

 perfectly innoxious. It feeds on insects, worms, and 

 mice,and deposits its eggs very frequently in dung-hills, 

 where the natural heat promotes the exclusion of the 

 young; or in dry sandy banks, where the heat of the 

 sun answers the same purpose. 



The slow, or blind worm, is the smallest of the ser- 

 pent race that is found in this country, and, like the 

 snake is perfectly harmless. 



I cannot, my dear Sir, conclude this article without 

 some general remarks on certain properties which 

 are perhaps peculiar to the serpent tribe. From the 

 width of their mouths, the conformation of their jaws, 

 and the yielding texture of their whole bodies, ser- 

 pents are capable of swallowing animals much more 

 bulky than themselves. It is, however, not a little 

 remarkable, that although they are voracious to ex- 

 cess, and although the liboya, the largest of the race, 

 will swallow without chewing a larger morsel than 

 the whale itself can take in, no other animal whatever 

 can so long support abstinence. 



The long forked tongue of the serpent has some- 

 times been supposed to be the instrument with which 

 it inflicts the poisonous wound; but this weapon is 

 perfectly harmless, and is, indeed, too soft to make 

 any puncture. The poison lodges in a bag under the 

 teeth, and is communicated by the bite. It is, how- 

 ever, a happy circumstance, that none of th'e venom- 

 ous race ever attack mankind. The rattle-snake itself 

 t 



