44 VERTEBRATA. - REPTILIA. 



length ; splitting first on the belly, and the peeling 

 from the head being completed the last." * 



It is scarcely necessary to add, that the epithet 

 "blind," by which it is so often called, is by no 

 means descriptive. 



In a species from the Cape of Good Hope, (A. 

 Meleagris,) the general structure is that of the 

 Slow- worms, but there is no internal vestige of 

 either pair of limbs, so gradual are the steps by 

 which nature passes from one form to another. 



FAM. II. - SERPENTIA.f 



The limbs no longer appear in most of the genera 

 of this family, and yet in a few there is still the 

 recurrence of a vestige concealed in the flesh, repre- 

 senting the hind pair : and the great Boas do even 

 show externally a sort of hook, which answers to 

 the hind foot. The eyelid is not visible, and there 

 is no external ear. The first genus does not, how- 

 ever, exhibit the full characters of the true Serpents. 



To this American genus, of course unknown to 

 the ancients, an ancient name has been given, ori- 

 ginally applied to a fabulous snake which was re- 

 puted to have a head at each extremity. It is, 

 however, perfectly applicable to this, for from the 



* White's Selborne. (Bennett's Edit.) t Serpo, to creep. 



+ 'AftQis, amphis, both ways, and /Www, baino, to go. 



