REPTILES OPHIDIANS DIAGRAM 5 9l 



every year. The epidermis loosens in a single piece, first round 

 the lips, and then the animal moves backwards and forwards 

 among the stones, to shuffle off this epidermis along the whole 

 length of its body, till it finally comes out of its old skin like a 

 glove. 



Serpents feed only on living prey, which they swallow without 

 tearing or bruising them. A viper swallows a mouse or a small 

 rat, at a single mouthful, in the following ^nauner. It springs 

 on it, kills it, and seizes it by the head. The jaws of the 

 serpent are then seen to distend enormously, and by little and 

 little it swallows a prey larger than its own body. After it has 

 swallowed it, it lies motionless for a time, as if fatigued by the 

 exertions which it has made, whilst its head returns to its usual 

 size. 



There is in America a very large kind of serpent, the loa, 

 which can swallow a sheep in this manner after crushing it in 

 the coils of its body, or against the trunk of a tree. The boa is 

 not venomous. 



There are however two other kinds of serpents which are 

 much more venomous than the viper ; one is the spectacle snake, 

 and the other the rattlesnake. The spectacle snake inhabits 

 India. It owes its name to a pattern on its neck which almost 

 exactly resembles one of those pairs of spectacles which were 

 formerly worn, like eyeglasses, on the nose. These serpents 

 have the power of inflating their neck with air. which gives 

 them a peculiar appearance. They raise themselves on their 

 tail when they are irritated, and in some countries the jugglers 

 exhibit them in public, but they take care beforehand to remove 

 their fangs by giving them a piece of cloth to bite, which they 

 jerk sharply when the animal has buried its teeth in it. After 

 this, they are no longer dangerous, or at least their bite is no 

 more to be feared than that of the common snake. 



The rattlesnake inhabits America, and is one of the most 

 venomous known. It has a row of hard horny pieces at the 

 end of the tail, which make a noise when rapidly shaken ; and 



