3SG 



VEllTEBRATA. 



lirusliw.M.d and crcfpiii-,' jihiiits, aiv tlu-ir favorite places of abode. Tliere they not only exist, 

 l)Ut^\varl^• there the must j,'i_ifantic of their tribes rears its resplendent form ; and there thou- 

 sands of cvorv si/e and hue justonish <>?• .ilaini the passer-by. Some species, slender as whipcord, 

 and of jxreat len;.'tii, twine around the twigs and boughs of trees and shrubs, their tints amalgam- 

 ating witli the eoior of the foliage that eonceals thoni, while rapidly and silently they glide even 

 to the tops of the loftiest trees, in chase of insects and of the eggs and young of birds. Others 

 mav be beheM by the traveler darting along the ground, crossing his path, and plunging into the 

 midst of tiie JMiiLile ere his eve can catch their tints, while a loud and angry hiss sufficiently 

 intimates lliat it is perilous to follow. Many are endowed with the most deadly poisons, while 

 others are t)f gigantic size and strength. In the Dutch colonies of the East Indies, Andre Cleyer 

 is sai.l to have purchased of the lumters of the country an enormous serpent, in the body of 

 which he found a deer of middle age, absolutely entire. In another individual of the same spe- 

 cies, also examined by this traveler, he found a wild goat, with its horns; and a third had evi- 

 dently swallowed a porcupine with its quills, lie also adds that a woman became tlie prey of a 

 reptile of the same genus in the island of Amboyna, and that this kind is sometimes kept for the 

 purpose of attacking buffaloes in the kiudom of Arracan, on the frontiers of Bengal. We need 

 hardly be astonished at this, when I'rince Maurice, of Nassau Siegen, one of the governors of 

 Brazil in the seventeenth century, assures us that he himself was an eye-witness of stags and 

 other bulky animals, and even of a Dutch woman being devoured in this manner. Instances of 

 this kiixl have, indeed, become common in more modern times. 



The animals of this order, familiarly called Serpents and Snakes, are characterized by an elongated 

 body, clothed in scales and destitute of limbs, but furnished with a tail. They have hooked, 

 conical teeth, and cold blood like other reptiles ; the skin is covered with scales and plates, and 

 this is covered with an epidermis which is frequently cast. They possess the power of fasting a 

 great length of time; they feed on living prey, and always swallow it whole, which they are en- 

 abled to accomplish by their faculty of dilating their jaws and bodies to an enormous size. This 

 power is carried to such an extent that the largest species can swallow a bullock whole, though 

 twice as thick as its body, and suffering no other inconvenience than that of lying in a state of 

 torpor while digestion is proceeding. Serpents generally roll themselves up when in a state of 

 repose, with the head in the center, and when disturbed, raise the head before they uncoil the 

 body. They also frequently raise themselves upright, supporting themselves on the tail. They 

 have great freedom of motion, the scales on the belly enabling them to lay hold of fixed objects, and 

 by the alternate elongation of the body, they glide along, often with great celerity. Their usual 



modes of progression are by a vertical motion, as represented in the preceding engraving, and more a 

 frequently by a lateral movement, which enables them to glide rapidly among grass and bushes, as ex- j 

 hibited in the following figure. They are not only able to run on the land, but they swim freely in \ 

 water, and many species, as we have said, climb trees with facility. Few animals have such variety of ; 



IIL 



