512 OPHIDIANS. 



tribes are indeed very generally regarded with feelings of horror 

 and aversion, for which it would not be difficult to account ; and 

 yet to some these reptiles have furnished objects of religious 

 veneration. The ancient Mexicans adored the Boa, and in the 

 blindness of their superstition, sought to propitiate it with human 

 victims. Among the bronze relics of the Egyptians, is a figure 

 of the Cobra, with expanded hood, which was probably regarded 

 as the image of a divinity, or one of the household gods. Fig- 

 ures of the Hindoo Chrisna sometimes present him entwined by 

 a large Cobra, which is fixing its poisoned fangs in the heel; and 

 again they represent him as crushing the head of the Serpent, 

 while he triumphantly tears the creature from his body. The 

 origin of these emblems cannot well be doubted ; they, in all 

 probability, spring from traditions related to the great prophetic 

 promise of scripture, Gen. iii. 15. " The serpent stands as an 

 emblem of the principle of evil to be ultimately destroyed with 

 the poison of death itself, by the seed of the woman." 



The divisions of the present order have been variously given 

 by systematic naturalists. We like the arrangement of Mr. J. 

 E. Gray, who divides the order into five families, viz. : (1) Co- 

 lulrida; (2) Boida ; (3) Hydrida; (4) Viperida ; (5) Crota- 

 tida. (On the Chart the reptiles of the last two families are, 

 for convenience, arranged among the Boidce.) 



Between three and four hundred species are enumerated, of 

 which about one-fifth are venomous. But few species of Ophi- 

 dia have been found in a fossil state. 



FIRST FAMILY. Colubrida. (Lat. coluber, a serpent.) 



This family of the Ophidians includes snakes the larger por- 

 tion of which are harmless, but few being provided with poison- 

 ous fangs. They are distributed over the globe, and are more 

 numerous, considered both as individuals and species, than any 

 other family of the order. 



Dr. Gray arranges them, together with the Boidce and Hydri- 

 dee, into the sub-order Colubrina, of which he gives the follow- 

 ing definition : "Jaws strong, both toothed, sometimes with fangs 

 in front or grooved teeth behind. Head moderate or indistinct ; 

 crown often covered with regular shields." The section Colu- 

 bridtz have the belly covered with broad scales ; the tail conical 

 and tapering, and rarely compressed ; the nostrils are open and 

 placed at the side of the muzzle, near the top. The head is 

 usually covered with large regular plates, the variations of which 



