OPHIDIANS. 519 



had favorable opportunities of studying the peculiarities of these 

 serpents, captured by him in fishing nets, refers to the case of a 

 British officer, who "died within an hour or two after the bite of 

 a serpent caught at sea;" and also to numerous experiments of 

 his own, " in which fowl, fish, and other animals, invariably died 

 within a few minutes after the bite had been inflicted." We 

 refer to these facts, because it has been stated, that "the Marine 

 Serpents are harmless." 



Rev. John Williams, in his "Narrative of Missionary Enter- 

 prises in the South Sea Islands," says : " That in the Samoa 

 group are water snakes, some of them beautifully marked with 

 longitudinal stripes of yellow and black, and others with rings 

 alternately white and black." He adds, "the natives esteem 

 both the Land and Sea Snakes as good food." 



The MARINE SNAKES, in common with the BOIDJE, have nar- 

 row, elongated scales on the belly, nearly resembling those on 

 the back; the ventral shields are narrow, hexagonal, or band- 

 like, the eyes and nostrils look upwards, the latter usually 

 placed in the middle of a shield, with a slit or groove on its outer 

 edge ; the fangs are of moderate size, and intermixed with the. 

 maxillary teeth ; the pupil is small and round. 



Of the species with compressed teeth, or true Marine Snakes, 

 aretheTwo-coLOREoPELAMYS, Pelamys bicolor, with hexagonal 

 scales, found in the Pacific Ocean ; and the BANDED SEA-SNAKE, 

 Chersydrus, (Gr. chersudros, an amphibious serpent,)/ascza/MS, 

 (Lat. banded,) or C. granulatus, found in meadows. (For figure 

 of which see Chart.) 



FOURTH FAMILY. VIPERS. Sub-order VIPERINA, (venomous 

 snakes.) 



Viperida, (Lat. vipera, a viper.) ., 



This family contains nine genera and twenty species, found 

 chiefly in Asia and Africa ; none of them have been discovered 

 on the American continent. Unlike the Colubrine Snakes, these 

 have few if any teeth in the upper jaw ; but they have, in com- 

 mon with the Crotalidsa, glands secreting a poisonous fluid, which, 

 on occasion, they discharge through their fangs in front. These 

 glands are connected with muscles which are capable of exerting 

 a powerful compression, and thus of ejecting the venom with 

 great force into a wound. The shields of the muzzle in this 

 family, are broad and band-like; the scales keeled, except in 

 the genus Acanthophis, (Gr. spiny. serpent ;) the tail is short 

 and tapering. 



