BOOK OF NATURE LAID OPEN. 1) 



Being- deprived of those instruments of motion 

 possessed by other animals, to carry them speedily 

 forward in pursuit of their prey, Serpents are neces- 

 sitated to have recourse to the resources of artifice* 

 and to lie in wait for it ; and, to enable them to do 

 this to the best possible advantage, Nature has not 

 only endowed them with the power of intwining 

 themselves in ambush around the trunks and among 

 the branches of trees, by the slender make and flexi- 

 bility of their bodies, but, by a very particular and 

 singular construction of the back-bone in Serpents, 

 they are enabled to coil themse'ves up in a very 

 small compass. In the generality of animals, the 

 joints in the back-bone do not exceed thirty or forty ; 

 but in the serpent kind they amount to one hundred 

 and forty five from the head to the vent, and twenty- 

 five more from that to the tail. If Serpents are not 

 furnished with the claws of the Tiger to lay hold of 

 their prey, the strong hooked bill and talons of the 

 Eagle to pull it to pieces, and the tusks of the Boat- 

 to devour it, several of this species are furnished with 

 a poisonous sting for instantaneously inflicting the 

 mortal wound, others are soon enabled to extinguish 

 the vital spark by means of the convulsive energy 

 of their enormous twistings ; while the general con- 

 formation of the jaws, the width of the mouth, and 

 yielding texture of the bodies of Serpents are such, 

 as to enable them to swallow prodigious mouthfuls, 

 and animals more bulky than themselves. A Ser- 

 pent in the island of Java was observed at one time 

 to destroy and devour a Buffalo; after having bro- 



