Serpents. 



-HEPTILES.- 



-Sl'.RPENTS. 



35 



liy the term slougliing. It comes off in a single piece 

 from tlie head to the tail, without tearing in any part ; 

 and after it has been thrown off it preserves all the 

 external characters so well, that a person may recognize, 

 by finding the skin, the species of serpent to which it 

 had belonged. The eyes have no true eyelids, but are 

 covered by the common skin, which is perfectly pellucid. 

 They have no visible external ear, and their nostrils are 

 situated on the side of the front part of the muzzle. 

 Serpents have a very capacious and very dilatable 

 raouth. This arises from the very peculiar disposition 

 nf the bones of the jaws and the muscles which move 

 tliem. The bones forming the jaws and the face are 

 all loose and disunited, being connected only by skin 

 and ligaments. The upper jaw is in two pieces, is sus- 

 pended, as it were, distinct from the cranium, and acts 

 Bubordinately to the movements of the lower jaw. The 

 lower jaw is also in two pieces, and consists of two dis- 

 tinct lateral branches, each branch being, in fact, itself 

 made up of two portions, uin'ted by a loose kind of 

 suture. Instead of being secured by firm joints to the 

 skuU, the lower jaw is attached on each side by a lax 

 joint to a movable bone, called the tympanic portion of 

 the temporal bone. This joint admits of a natural kind 

 of dislocation, so that it gives way in the act of swal- 

 lowing, and recovers its position when the prey is 

 swallowed. From this mobility of the jaws and bones 

 of the face, the mouth is rendered capable of being 

 very much increased in size; and the animal is enabled 

 to take into it the bodies of animals of a large size. 

 The tongue of these reptiles is long and very movable, 

 and is capable of being withdrawn into a sort of sheath 

 at its base. It is slender, tapering, and forked at tlie 

 tip. This forked nature of the tongue gives it some- 

 what of a malignant appearance, and accordingly, by 

 the ignorant, it is looked upon as a deadl}- weapon, and 

 called the dart. Shakspeare has embodied this idea in 

 several passages of his immortal works. Thus King 

 Lear, telhng of the wrongs sustained by him from his 

 daughter Goneril, is made to say — • 



" Slie has abated me of half my train ; 

 Looked blacl\ upon me; struck lue vuth her tongtte^ 

 Most serjjent-liks, upon the verj' heart." 



Again, in the " Midsummer Night's Dream," Hermia, 

 reproaching Demetrius for the supposed murder of 

 Lysander, says — 



" And hast thou killed him sleeping ? brave touch ! 

 Could not a worm, an adder, do so much ? 

 An adder did it ; for with dotihler tongue 

 Than thine, thou serpent, never adder stuvg /"' 



This double tongue, however, possesses no hurtful pro- 

 perty. It forms, in foot, the chief organ of touch ; 

 appears rather destined to seize aliments than to per- 

 ceive savours; and evidently serves more for assisting 

 the animal to swallow, than for tasting its food. The 

 teeth of serpents are numerous, and are inserted upon 

 all the bones of the mouth, as well as the two jaws. 

 The number and proportion vary, and they form good 

 characters for distinguishing genera and species. 



Serpents, indeed, are generally divided into two 

 groups, the poisonous and harmless; the chief, and 

 sometimes almost only perceptible difference between 



them, consisting in the structure of their teeth. In the 

 latter group, the harmless or Colubrine serpents, the 

 teeth are disposed in two rows in the upper jaw, and 

 a single row in the lower. They are sharp-pointed, 

 regularly inclined backwards, so that the hand may be 

 passed down over them with impunity, but not drawn 

 back ; for then they pierce the skin immediately. 

 Hence while they offer no impediment to the passage 

 of food, they securely detain the struggling victim. In 

 the poisonous or Viperine serpents, on the contrary, 

 there is only a single tooth on each side of the upper 

 jaw, properly speaking ; these are the poison fangs, the 

 otlier teeth being placed in a single row on the bones 

 of the palate. The lower jaw is only partially furnished 

 with teeth. The poison fangs are thus decribed by Mr. 

 Waterton : — " They 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 the point. 

 From this opening to the point, which is as sharp as 

 a needle, the fang is quite solid, but hollow from it to 

 the root. This point may aptly be styled the pioneer 

 of death, as it makes the wound into which the poison 

 of the irritated serpent flows through the hollow part of 

 the fang. It is the fatal weapon which causes a snake 

 to be so much dreaded, and condemns the whole race 

 to universal detestation ; although, in fact, not one 

 snake in ten has been armed by nature with the deadly 

 fang. When not in readiness to inflict a wound, these 

 two poison fangs resume a recumbent position, so as 

 not to interfere with the action of the ordinary teeth, 

 which are firmly fixed and are very small, and most 

 admirably formed to seize their prey, and to send it 

 down into the stomach." * The glands which secrete 

 the poison are found on the sides of each branch of the 

 upper jaw behind the orbit, and almost below the skin. 

 Two muscles destined to raise the fangs, traverse them 

 from back to front, one outwards, the other underneath, 

 so that they cannot act without compressing the gland 

 and impelling the poison into its excretory canal, which 

 conducts it to the base of the fangs, where it penetrates 

 by a cleft which prevails throughout their whole extent, 

 and opens toward the point obliijuely, " like the cut 

 of a pen." 



When the irritated animal bites its victim, these fangs 

 are raised upright by means of the mobility of the jaw- 

 bones. They never strike their prey more than once ; 

 should they miss their aim they withdraw themselves 

 for a time. " Armed with a poison fing," says Jlr. 

 Waterton, " the snake at one single stroke (never 

 repeated, as far as I could see) avenges itself on the 

 imfortunato animal which has trodden upon it, or has 

 put it in bodily fear by disturbing its repose." The 

 nature of these poison fangs, and the situation of the 

 gland which secretes the venom, seem to have been 

 known to the Jews at a very early period. David in 

 his prayer to be delivered from Saul and Doeg, in the 

 140th Psalm, says— '• Deliver me, Lord, from the 



• This description of the poison fangs applies chiefly to the 

 ]>re-eniinently venomous or Viperine group, as for instance, the 

 rattlesnake, &c. In the poisonous serpents belonging toths 

 Colubrine Kroup, as the cobra de capello, &c.. the poison 

 I'angs arc fixed, and are not movable. Sec — Cobra. 



