288 PHILOSOPHY OF ZOOLOGY. 



dom, they furnish an interesting subject of inquiry, from 

 the superstitious opinions which have been entertained con- 

 cerning them, and the strange properties with which cre- 

 dulity has invested them. It is not our province to give a 

 history of the errors of the human mind, when untutored 

 by that philosophy which gives precedence to accurate ob- 

 servation, but to unfold those characters which the differ- 

 ent groups exhibit, and by which they may be recognised. 

 In this inquiry, it is indeed painful to consider, that hu- 

 man ingenuity has hitherto failed to convert serpents into 

 any thing that is useful, for it is not worth while to re- 

 gard them in this light, when occasionally furnishing a re- 

 past to a few naked savages, or serving to amuse, when 

 dancing to the signals of a juggler, before a few indolent 

 Asiatics. It is still more painful to consider the destruc- 

 tion of human life by their venomous fangs, or the quanti- 

 ty of misery which they have occasioned to those who have 

 survived the noxious bite. 



Serpents admit of a very natural distribution into two 

 sections, according as the scales on the belly are similar or 

 dissimilar to those on the back. Other characters correla- 

 tive with these, intimate the propriety of the arrangement. 



A. Serpents with the Ventral and Dorsal Scales similar. 



THE serpents of this division, which are destitute of 

 ventral shields, have the lower jaws intimately united, and 

 supported at the base by two ossa quadrata, which are articu- 

 lated immediately to the cranium. The upper maxillary 

 bones are united to the cranium and to the intermaxillaries. 

 This arrangement limits the power of gaping, or of swal- 

 lowing objects larger than the ordinary aperture of the 

 mouth. The body is nearly of equal thickness at both ex- 

 tremities. Progressive motion is chiefly accomplished by 



