HANDED RATTLE-SNAKE. 



as to represent two preparatory stomachs, as it 

 were] nor was the real or proper stomach capable 

 inurh distension as these : the length of the 

 true stomach or third enlargement was nearly 

 similar to that or' the srcond enlargement of the 

 asophagus; it was much thicker than that part, 

 and resembled in its fabric that of the Viper. 

 IVom the pylorus the duct straitened again for 

 about half an inch, and then formed a large 

 intestine, the weaved rugae of its internal coat 

 nting a curious and pleasing spectacle: 

 ti.is intestine, utter some small windings, termi- 

 nated in the rectum, which was of much smaller 

 diameter. " In the promiscuous food which ser- 

 pents take in (adds Dr. Tyson), which they al- 

 ways swallow whole, and in which there are always 

 some parts unfit for digestion, and which must, 

 therefore, be returned, the oesophagus here being 

 very long, Nature has provided the above-men- 

 tioned swellings or enlargements of that part, 

 where they may be respited, during the efforts 

 made use of by the animal for that purpose, till 

 collecting its force, it gives them, as it were, 

 another and another lift, and at length ejects 

 them ; and if what is confidently affirmed be true, 

 that, on occasion of danger, they receive their 

 young into their mouths, these are fit places for 

 receiving them." 



'\ he heart was placed near the bottom or base 

 of the trachea, on the right side of it : its length 

 \\as an inch and a half, and its figure rather flat 

 than round; encompassed with a pericardium; 



