I5 2 HOURS WITH NATURE. 



movement of the ribs easy is the great moblity of the 

 vertebral column. 



Body covered with scales. The bod/ of the snake isr 

 covered with scales; but a little observation will show that, 

 all of them are not of the same size and form. The 

 scales of the head assume the form of plates or shields, 

 and do not overlap each other like those of the other 

 parts of the body ; those of the urrder surface of the 

 body are broad and long, extending from side to side. 

 The number and character of scales of the different 

 regions of a snake's body are important elements ir> 

 the determination of its specific identity. 



Eye, tongue and teeth. Every body must be familiar 

 with the forked tongue of the snake which is constantly 

 darted in and out with a rapid quivering motion. It is 

 protruded through a slit in the lower lip. A snake's 

 tongue has not much to do with taste, which, as far as we 

 know, is the proper function of this organ ir> other 

 animals. What is the good then, it may be asked, of 

 its having a tongue at all ? A great deal. As surely as 

 a blind man gropes his way with the help of his stick, so 

 surely does a snake feel its, with the aid of its rapidly 

 quivering and sensitive tongue, in dark holes, in the midst 

 of tangled weeds, and in all sorts of debris^ which form 

 the natural surroundings of a snake's life. The tongue 

 of the snake when retracted within the mouth is lodged 

 in a sheath. The chief peculiarity of the eye of a 

 snake consists in the absence of lids properly so called;; 

 a layer of transparent epidermis extends over the eyeball 



