354 REPTILES. OPHIDIA. 



tongue are similar to those of the genus Seps of the preceding order ; and the eye is 

 furnished with three eyelids. Latreille places them indeed at the end of the Saurian 

 reptiles. The second family, or the True Serpents, comprehends the genera without 

 sternum or vestiges of shoulder bones, in which the ribs sarround a great part of 

 the circumference of the trunk, and in which the vertebrae are articulated to one 

 another by a convex and concave surface. They want the third eyelid and tympa- 

 num. Although their head be large, the cranium forms but a small part of it. 

 Their eyes are fixed, and they have no external ear. Their nostrils are short, not 

 much developed, and generally situate at the extremity or sides of the muzzle. 

 The tongue varies much ; but although soft, moist, long, and forked, it appears 

 rather destined to assist in seizing their food than as an organ of taste. Their sense 

 of touch is blunted by the scaly epidermis which covers their body, and which they 

 change at least once in the year. The third family comprehends the Naked Ser- 

 pents, or those singular animals which form the genus Ccecilia. 



All serpents are furnished with conical and curved teeth, calculated rather for 

 securing their prey than for breaking down their food. Some of the genera have 

 pervious teeth or fangs in the upper jaw, which, pressing a gland or sac, forces the 

 included poison into the wounds they inflict. The jaws are often not united in the 

 middle, in consequence of which they are enabled to dilate the mouth very consider- 

 ably. The digestion of serpents is very slow, and when they have taken food, 

 they fall into a state of languor or lethargy. The organs of generation and the 

 cloaca terminate in a common opening. 



The circulation in serpents is slow. They possess a heart with two auricles and 

 one ventricle divided into two compartments, and a single lung. Their voice is 

 feeble, and they emit only a hissing noise. The ova have in general a slightly cal- 

 careous covering, and they are commonly united together in a chaplet form. Some- 

 times these ova are developed in the body of the female, and the young are pro- 

 duced alive. The females take care of the young for some time. 



FAMILY I. ANGUINES, 



Teeth small and of nearly equal size ; tongue notched in a luna- 

 ted form ; ribs more or less united, to supply the place of a 

 sternum ; eye furnished with three eyelids. 



Gen. 1. OPHISAURUS, Daud. Anguis, Lin. 



Tympanum externally visible ; maxillary teeth conical, and two 

 small groups of teeth on the palate. 



O. ventralis, Cuv. Body yellowish green, spotted with black above ; 



under parts pale yellow; a line on each side furnished with smaller 



scales, and a deep longitudinal furrow ; tail longer than the body. 



18 to 24 inches long. N. America. Catesby, Car. ii. pi. 59. 



This animal is said to be so very brittle as to be denominated in Carolina the 

 Glass-snake. 



Gen. 2. ANGUIS, Cuv. 



Tympanum concealed under the skin ; maxillary teeth com- 

 pressed and hooked ; no palatine teeth. 



A.fragilis,^\Ti. Blind- Worm, Penn. Body silvery yellow above, 

 blackish below ; scales smooth and shining ; three black longitu- 

 dinal dorsal streaks, changing with age into a series of points, and 

 finally disappearing ; tail longer than the body. 10 to 12 inches 

 long. Inhabits Europe. B. Penn. Brit. Zool. iii. pi. 5. 

 The excessive fragility of this animal has been greatly overrated. Dr R. E. 

 Grant has had living species in his possession for months, which sustained no injury 

 by a fall from a table. This animal feeds on lumbrici and insects, and is viviparous. 



