130 DIVISION I. VERTEBRAL ANIMALS.—CLASS III. REPTILIA. 
But though these animals are, above all others, the most voracious, and, 
though the morsel which they swallow, without chewing, is greater than 
what any other creature, either by land or water, the whale itself not ex- 
cepted, can devour, yet no animals upon earth bear abstinence so long as they. 
A single meal, with many of the snake kind, seems to be the adventure of 
a season; and is an occurrence for which they have been for weeks, nay, i 
sometimes for months, in patient expectation. Their prey continues, for a 
Jong time, partly in the stomach, partly in the gullet, and a part is often 
seen hanging out of the mouth. In this manner it digests by degrees, and, 
in propoytion as the part below is dissolved, the part above is taken in. It 
is not, therefore, till this tedious operation is entirely performed, that the 
Serpent renews its appetite and its activity. But, should any accident pre- 
vent it from issuing once more from its cell, it still can continue to bear 
famine for weeks, months, nay, for years, together. Vipers are often kept 
in boxes for six or eight months without any food whatever; and there are 
little Serpents sometimes sent to Europe from Grand Cairo that live for 
several years in glasses, and never eat at all, nor even stain the glass with 
their excrement. Thus the Serpent tribe unite in themselves two very op- 
posite qualities — wonderful abstinence and yet incredible rapacity. 
Though all Serpents are amphibious, some are much fonder of the water 
than others ; and, though destitute of fins or gills, remain at the bottom, or 
swim along the surface, with great ease. They can, however, endure to live 
in fresh water only; for salt is an effectual bane to the whole tribe. 
Some Serpents have a most horrible foetor attending them, which is alone 
capable of intimidating the brave. This proceeds from two glands near the 
vent, like those in the weasel or polecat; and, like those animals, in propor- 
tion as they are excited by rage or by fear, the scent grows stronger. It. 
would seem, however, that such Serpents as are most venomous are least 
offensive in this particular, since the rattlesnake and the viper have no smell 
whatever; nay, we are told that, at Calcutta and Crangamore, in the East 
Indies, there are some very noxious Serpents, who are so far from being dis- 
agreeable that their excrements are sought after, and kept as the most pleas- 
ing perfume. The Esculapian Serpent is also of this number. 
Some Serpents bring forth their young alive, as the viper. Some bring 
forth eggs, which are hatched by the heat of their situation, as the common 
black snake, and the majority of the Serpent tribe. When a reader, igno- 
rant of anatomy, is told that some of these animals produce their young 
alive, and that some produce eggs only, he is apt to suppose a very great 
difference in their internal conformation, which makes such a variety in their 
manner of bringing forth. But this is not the case; these animals are 
internally alike in whatever manner they produce their young; and the 
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