SNAKES. 12T 



fication. Thus the maxillary, in other poisonous 

 snakes a longish bone, firmly fixed, and lodging 

 the fangs and sometimes smaller teeth behind, 

 is in the vipers reduced to a columnar shape and 

 shifted forwards so as to lie in the front of the 

 jaw. Into the lower end of this bone the long 

 poison tooth is fixed ; above, it is slung on to the 

 neighbouring bones so as to move as by a hinge. 

 By this means, when the mouth is closed the 

 fang is drawn backwards so that its point looks 

 towards the throat, but as soon as the jaws 

 open the point is forced forwards so as to- 

 be in the best possible position for its deadly 

 work. 



As is generally the case among poisonous 

 snakes, a series of reserve teeth are to be found 

 packed away behind the functional fang. Every 

 gradation is represented, from the nearly finished 

 tooth to the merest germ. 



The Viper family has succeeded in many 

 spheres ground-dwelling, arboreal, semi-aquatic, 

 and burrowing types being represented. 



Pages might be written on this group, but we 

 must select for the present purpose one or two 

 of the most conspicuously dangerous types. 

 Such are the "Daboia" (Fipera russelli) and the 

 Pit-vipers. 



The " Daboia" has been described as one of 

 the scourges of India, and is equally terrible in 

 Ceylon, Burma, and Siam. What the " Daboia " 

 is to India, the " Fer-de-Lance " (Lachesis lanceo- 

 latus) one of the Pit- vipers is to America, 

 since it occurs in abundance in the sugar-planta- 

 tions, and exacts therefrom a heavy toll on those 



