CECILIA. 



759 



which would, in all probability, act the part of the 

 other species. 



Let it not be said, after what has been thus stated 

 of the ravages and other injurious properties possessed 

 by this genus of diminutive gnats, that insects are 

 beneath the notice of mankind, from their insignifi- 

 cance or trivial powers. It has indeed been well 

 said, that the generality of mankind overlook or 

 disregard these powerful but minute dispensers of 

 punishment, seldom considering in how many ways 

 their welfare is affected by them ; but the fact is 

 certain, that, should it please God to give them a 

 general commission against us, as he did durirg the 

 terrific plagues of Egypt, and should he excite them 

 to attack at the same time our bodies, our clothing, 

 our houses, our cattle, and the produce of our fields 

 and gardens, we should soon be reduced, in every 

 possible respect, to a state of the most extreme 

 wretchedness. 



Mr. Stephens has enumerated twenty-six British 

 species, in addition to which we have captured 

 several very elegant species, which do not appear to 

 have yet been described by dipterologists, having the 

 wings maculated. We have also discovered another 

 British species of a far larger size than any of those 

 previously described, and which we have dedicated 

 to Mr. Kirby. 



CECILIA. The last of the three families into 

 which Cuvier divides the ophidian reptiles, and differ- 

 ing in many respects both from the snakes and the 

 true serpents. The present, group is indeed one of 

 the most singular in the whole animal kingdom, and 

 it is not very easy to decide with perfect certainty, to 

 what part of the natural system it should be referred. 

 These animals are usually called by the general name 

 of naked ser/>c>its, because they have no apparent 

 scales. In external appearance they resemble earth- 

 worms more than they do any other creatures, and 

 some of them are described as boring holes in the 

 ground in the same manner that worms do. Their 

 skin is also annulated, or marked with narrow ridges 

 and furrows passing round the body, in the same 

 manner as worms ; and it is probable that these 

 ridges are used for progressive motion in the same 

 manner as those of worms. The skin also secretes a 

 viscid slime, such as is secreted by the skin of the 

 common earth-worm, and also by eels, and sings. 



But notwithstanding these external resemblances, 

 and notwithstanding also that the eyes of all the 

 species are exceedingly minute, and so covered by 

 the skin as to be hardly visible, and that one species 

 is perhaps altogether blind, these animals have no- 

 thing in common with worms, except those external 

 appearances which have been noticed. They are not 

 annulated animals, and have not the power of con- 

 tracting and extending the lengths of their bodies, as 

 is the case with worms ; they are vertebrated animals, 

 although both their organisation and their habits are 

 very singular. 



The name Cecilia, or Cecilia, was formerly applied 

 to the common brittle snake, or slow-worm, which is 

 found in this country, and which may be considered 

 as a sort of connecting link between the Saurian rep- 

 tiles, and the harmless serpents. It has the rudiments 

 both of shoulders and pelvis, and its ribs are united 

 into entire rings ; so that its motion, destitute of feet 

 as it is, is not of the same kind of crawling which 

 belongs even to the true serpents. 



The Cecilia of modern naturalists are at the oppo- 



site extremity of the Ophidia, and form the connecting 

 link between the true serpents and the footless ba- 

 trachia; and as, though they are not aquatic animals, 

 so decidedly as these are, they are still near the 

 waters, and produce their eggs in a manner somewhat 

 similar, there is only wanting the metamorphosis 

 which these undergo, in order to transfer them from 

 one class to another, or rather perhaps to separate 

 them from both classes. 



The term "naked" applies to these serpents, as 

 contrasted with the clothing of scales possessed by 

 the others, though correct to common observation, is 

 not strictly true. The skin indeed seems quite naked, 

 and, as was mentioned, it is viscous : but it is the 

 epidermis which is so, and when that is removed the 

 true skin is found completely covered over with very 

 minute scales, which form the little annular rings on 

 the skin, and are the real organs of motion in the 

 animals. 



The head of these animals is flattened, and the vent 

 is placed about the middle of the length, so that the 

 tail is as long as the head and body. Their ribs are 

 very short, so as not nearly to surround the cavity, 

 and this enables them to have much more complete 

 motion of the spine. The articulation of the spine 

 resembles that of fishes, of the batrachian reptiles, and 

 partially also of the amphisbcena among reptiles : that 

 is, each vertebra is made up of two cups of a conical 

 form, having their vertices turned towards each other, 

 and thus the cavities of the adjoining pieces are 

 placed mouth to mouth. Those cavities are filled 

 with elastic cartilaginous matter, and thus the joints 

 bend freely in every direction. The only joint which 

 forms an exception to this is the articulation of the 

 cranium with the first vertebra, which is done by two 

 tubercles, and thus this which is, generally speakhur, 

 the lithest of reptiles, has the neck so much stiff'er 

 than the spine, that it appears to have hardly any 

 neck at all. 



The maxillary bones completely cover, or rather 

 fill up, the orbital fosses, so that there is only a very 

 minute hole for each eye ; and the temporal bones, 

 in like manner, fill up the temporal fosses. There 

 are many other peculiarities in their structure, the 

 minute details of which would be inconsistent with 

 the character of this work. 



Those singular serpents are found only in the 

 warmer parts of central America, by the banks of the 

 rivers, and the borders of the marshes. It has been 

 said that one species is met with in the island of 

 Ceylon ; but it does not appear that there is the least 

 foundation for this. The rich and humid ground, 

 between the forests of Guiana and the sea, are the 

 places where these animals abound the most ; though 

 they are found in many other parts, and indeed 

 generally in the warm places of America ; and as 

 much of that country is flooded during the rainy 

 season, their habitation agrees remarkably well with 

 their quadruple character of Batrachian, Saurian, Ophi- 

 dian, and Fish ; for they have some of the characters 

 of all these, although that of the reptile certainly 

 predominates. They are very harmless creatures ; 

 and if we may judge from the substances found in 

 their stomachs, their food bears a considerable resem- 

 blance to that of earth-worms, as the contents of the 

 canal have consisted of mud and grains of sand, with 

 a small admixture of vegetable matter, in all the 

 recent specimens which have been examined. There 

 are about five species described by naturalists. 



