SNAKES. 119 



ence on one kind of food. But, at the same time, 

 in gaining these ends they have done so by a com- 

 plete surrender of freedom in other directions. 

 The development of perfection in one direction has 

 been at the expense of efficiency in every other. 

 In other words, it has led to specialisation. In 

 many cases this specialisation may be traced to 

 the pursuit of food. A pursuit dictated possibly 

 by congenital preference, sometimes by force of 

 circumstances. In others the interpretation is 

 to be sought elsewhere. 



The peculiar form of the body of the snake 

 is, in part, probably to be attributed to its 

 singular feeding habits. In the case of the 

 blind burrowing forms this interpretation seems 

 certainly to be well founded, but whether the 

 pursuit of their peculiar food is the result of an 

 ancestral preference, or of force of circumstances 

 cannot of course be known. It is legitimate 

 speculation to suppose that the earliest snakes 

 were small creatures, living upon insects and the 

 smaller members of their own class. These being 

 easily procurable without the effort of pursuit, 

 the limbs became less and less needful, and con- 

 sequently gradually atrophied. Later, in the 

 absence of severe competition and abundant 

 food, the carnivorous species were evolved, ulti- 

 mately developing into the giant forms of to-day 

 which, by the way, are not so large as certain 

 extinct species. 



The foregoing remarks will probably gain an 

 additional interest if a brief survey is given of 

 the different methods adopted by snakes for pro- 

 curing their prey ; and of the peculiar, and indeed 



