428 SNAKES. 



sufficient potency, to place these pretty reptiles in an evil point of 

 view. When I was in the forests of Guiana, I could never coax an 

 Indian to approach a snake. with composure, although I showed him 

 that no danger was to be apprehended, if he only went the right way 

 to work. History teems with the evil doings of snakes. Poor 

 Orpheus lost his beautiful Eurydice on their wedding-day, by the 

 bite of a snake, which stung her in the heel as she was dancing on 

 the lawn with her bridesmaids. Laocoon and his sons were squeezed 

 to a mummy by two enormous sea-serpents. Cleopatra, Queen of 

 Egypt, having lost her sweetheart and her diadem, procured a snake 

 to end her insupportable misfortunes. All Denmark, as we read in 

 Shakspeare, was persuaded that her king had died from the venomous 

 sting of a snake. A Roman legion fought and slew a tremendous 

 serpent in the wilds of Africa. We are told, that, formerly, there 

 lived a family by the name of Gorgon, several young ladies of which 

 had snakes on their heads in lieu of hair ; and that these damsels 

 were looked upon with very great horror, wherever they went. 

 Snakes, in these later times, are by no means in favour with man. 

 I was once on board a Yankee brig, from Cayenne to Paramaribo. 

 The captain had some great grudge or other against the English; 

 for, whenever he saw a vessel in the distance, he would take it for a 

 British cruiser, and remark, " There goes the old serpent, from whose 

 sting, thank Heaven, we are now for ever free." I have adduced these 

 instances, out of many, to show that snakes have never been brought 

 forward for admiration ; but, on the contrary, to impress mankind 

 with the idea that they are devilish and dangerous things, always to 

 be shunned, or killed, as occasion may offer. 



With this little introductory preface, I now propose to offer a few 

 remarks on the serpent family. Possibly, they may be of use to 

 those young naturalists who go in quest of zoological adventures, 

 either at home or abroad. Putting aside hard names, and never-end- 

 ing classification, let us divide all snakes whatever into two separate 

 families, and no more : viz. those which have poisonous fangs, and 

 those which have none. 



The poisonous fangs are invariably on the upper jaw, but they are 

 not fixed on the bone. They are always curved downwards, like the 

 blade of a scythe. There is a little opening on the convex part near 



