P H 



L 



yet capable of a great variety of 

 those active movements which we 

 see in animals the most gifted 

 with those parts. We see them as 

 if running on all fours, pursuing 

 their prey, rapidly winding through 

 the turf, and through the low 

 vegetables that cover extensive 

 plains. If the prey, to escape 

 from danger, betake itself to the 

 trees, imagining there to be in 

 safety, we find these serpents wind- 

 ing round the tree, and almost 

 without any apparent motion of 

 any portion of their trunk, gliding, 

 as if they were sticking by suckers, 

 up the trunks of the trees they 

 climb, till within reach, and then 

 with a velocit) 7 , like an elastic 

 spring let loose, they dart forward 

 and twine round their prey. If 

 their prey should even rise from 

 the ground into the air, we see 

 these serpents, as if they were 

 gifted with wings, spring with 

 velocity from the ground, dart 

 upon the bird and seize it, or if the 

 animal be a quadruped, and plunge 

 for safety into the water, the ser- 

 pents still pursue it in that 

 element, swimming like fishes. 

 Yet, when we examine the condi- 

 tion of the skeleton, we find it 

 simply to consist of a vertebral 

 column and ribs ; and with that 

 simple condition of the solid in- 

 ternal frame-work, we see all those 

 varied movements effected. The 

 spine of serpents is formed of a 

 great number of vertebrae ; in the 

 rattle-snake there are about two 

 hundred, and in the coluber natrix 

 above three hundred have been 

 counted. These vertebrae are all 

 united by ball and socket joints, 

 the posterior rounded eminence of 

 each vertebra being received into 

 the anterior surface of the next. 

 Serpents swallow their prey entire ; 

 and it is well ascertained that they 

 will swallow animals having ten 

 times the diameter of that of their 



5 ] P H 



own neck. The loose connexion 

 of all the bones surrounding the 

 mouth of serpents, enables them to 

 distend their jaws and mouth to 

 receive undivided prey, and thus, 

 so far as food is concerned, to dis- 

 pense with arms to grasp it, and 

 assist in its sub-division. Neither 

 are their teeth suited for mastica- 

 tion, being conical, slender, sharp, 

 osseous, and recurved. 



Venomous serpents, or those with 

 isolated fangs, have their organs of 

 manducation constructed on a very 

 peculiar plan. Their superior max- 

 illary bones are very small, at- 

 tached to a long pedicle, and are 

 very moveable ; in them is fixed 

 a sharp-pointed pervious tooth, 

 thro ugh which flows a liquor which, 

 poured into the wound made by 

 the tooth, produces effects according 

 to the species of the reptile se- 

 creting it. This tooth, when the 

 animal does not wish to use it, is 

 concealed in a fold of the gum, and 

 behind it are several germs desti- 

 ned to replace it, in the event of 

 its being broken. 



All those venomous serpents, 

 whose mode of production is well 

 ascertained, bring forth living 

 young ones, as their eggs are 

 hatched without being laid. In 

 more modern classification ophidia 

 constitutes the seventh order of 

 Reptilia, comprising Coluba, and 

 the extinct genera Palaeophis and 

 Paleryx. 



OPHI'DIOUS. Belonging to the order 

 Ophidia. 



OPHI'OLITE. (from o'0ts, a serpent, 

 and X/0os, a stone, Gr.) Another 

 name for mineral serpentine. 



OPHIOMO'RPHA. The fourth order of 

 the class Amphibia, comprising 

 Cecilia, or the blind worm. 



O'PHITE. (o'^rnys, lapis in modum 

 serpentis maculosus, db o'0ts, a 

 serpent, Gr.) Green porphyry, or 

 serpentine. A green-stone, vary- 

 ing from blackish-green to pistachio 



