Serpents. 



-r.EPTILES.- 



-Serpents. 



37 



their mouth after the head has been separated from tlie 

 body for several hours. The sense of hearing does not 

 appear to be very fine, and the sense of smelling seems 

 to be very incomplete also ; whilst that of taste is still 

 feebler, and less developed than that of smell. The 

 sense of touch exists all over the body, but appears to 

 be blunted by the scales, and by the homy epidermis 

 wliioh embraces them in all parts. Their muscular 

 power is very great. The Boa constrictor for example, 

 by twining itself round them, can suffocate the largest 

 quadrupeds between its folds. 



The growth of serpents is rather slow, but they 

 sometimes attain a very great size. There are some 

 species which in time acquire a length of thirty or forty 

 feet. Adanson mentions one in Senegal which was nearly 

 fifty feet long and two and a half in diameter; and Mr. 

 Waterton tells us, that a Spaniard in Angostura, the 

 capital of the Orinoco, showed him part of a serpent's 

 skin, which, judging from its amazing thickness, could 

 not have been less than seventy feet in length. An 

 immense serpent is recorded in ancient history, which 

 was said to have occupied a situation on the banks of the 

 1 iver Begrada, between Utica and Carthage. Many of 

 the soldiers, then under the command of Regulus, were 

 said to have been destroyed by it, whilst going to the 

 river for the purpose of procuring water. No ordinarv 

 weapons could produce any effect upon the huge mon- 

 ster, and Regulus was obliged, according to the state- 

 ment of Valerius Maximus, to use the military machines 

 then employed for throwing large stones. A ponderous 

 stone at length laid him low, and his skin which the 

 commander took with him to Rome, is asserted to have 

 measured one himdred and twenty-three feet in length ! 

 The food of serpents consists of living flesh. The smaller 

 mammalia, birds, and frogs constitute their usual food; 

 but in default of such prey, they will content themselves 

 with the eggs of birds and tishes, insects and mollusca. 

 By far the greater number of them attack their prey 

 while alive, and although deprived of limbs, they easily 

 make themselves master of them. Their food is swal- 

 lowed entire. The oesophagus or gullet is very dilatable, 

 and this, along with the capacious mouth and mobile 

 jaws, enables these reptiles to swallow animals of much 

 larger diameter than themselves. The common snake 

 of this country will swallow frogs, rats, and mice, whose 

 bodies much exceed their own in size ; and the Pythons 

 and Boas of warmer climates will engulf within their 

 capacious throat deer, goats, and even, it is said, small 

 oxen. One repast will suflice them for many weeks ; 

 and we have evidence to show that adders and vipers 

 can be kept six months without any aliment whatever, 

 and without losing a particle of their energy and 

 activity. 



The generality of serpents are oviparous, though 

 there are some, like our common viper, which bring 

 forth their young alive. The eggs are arranged in two 

 ovaries in the form of chaplets, to the number of fifteen 

 or twenty, and not agglomerated in a mass. They are 

 rounded, ovoid, and enveloped by a soft membrane, not 

 porous, and slightly encrusted with a calcareous shell. 

 The yolk is orange-coloured and oily. Hot-beds, heaps 

 of manure, and similar places, are generally chosen by 

 the female, in which to deposit them ; but the larger 



kinds, as the Pythons, have been observed to surround 

 them with their folds, and thus cause them to undergo 

 a kind of hatching. They often take care of their 

 young in early age, and some are said to have been 

 seen to receive their famil}' into their oesophagus at the 

 moment of danger, and eject them again as soon as the 

 alarm was over. 



Serpents are spread all over the warm and temperate 

 parts of the globe; but, like other reptiles, they are 

 larger and more numerous in hot countries. A small 

 number are circumscribed within narrow limits. Rattle- 

 snakes for instance are peculiar to North America ; 

 Boas are almost confined to South America; and 

 Pythons to the torrid climes of the Old World. Some 

 prefer wooded countries for their habitation, some livfe 

 in marshy places, while others are only found in dry 

 sandy plains; and others still are aquatic in their habits, 

 living in the sea, and being seldom seen except far from 

 land. The most exaggerated notions prevail with 

 regard to the numbers of serpents in hot climates, and 

 especially the numbers of poisonous species. Modern 

 travellers, however, unite in ridiculing the terrors thus 

 inspired b}' such ideas. Mr. Waterton, as far as regards 

 the New World, says upon this subject : — When we 

 consider the immense extent of tropical America, and 

 view its endless woods, we are forced to admit that 

 snakes are comparatively few. I have seen more 

 monkeys in one day, than I have found snakes during 

 my entire sojourn in the forests. I have been for weeks 

 together in the swamps of the river Orinoco, barefooted 

 and up to the knees in water ; but as for snakes, I 

 seldom, saw them." Dr. Davy, m his " Interior of 

 Ceylon," thus speaks as regards a portion of the Old 

 World : — " It is commonly supposed that Ceylon 

 abounds in snakes, that they are very dangerous, and 

 that they cannot be too carefully avoided. All this is ' 

 greatly exaggerated. Where the fears are much con- 

 cerned, the reason is generally weak ; and snakes from 

 time immemorial — indeed in all ages and countries — 

 have been objects of aversion and dread, and subjects 

 for superstition and fable. Snakes are neither numerous 

 in Ceylon, nor much to be apprehended. Those who 

 have most experience have the greatest confidence ; the 

 old sportsman, hi pursuit of game, phmges into the 

 wildest jungle without dread or apprehension, whilst 

 the newly-arrived Eurojiean does not cross a lawn but 

 with fear, almost amounting to trembling, of snakes in 

 the grass. The latter is terrified by his imagination — 

 the former is fearless from the knowledge of his security. 

 One of the best and keenest sportsmen in the island, 

 who has lived several years in the Mcgam-pattoo, a 

 district almost deserted by man and extremely infested 

 with wild animals, has assured me, that in all his 

 rambles and excursions he has never met with a 

 poisonous snake. My object in making these remarks 

 is to endeavour to remove senselesa horrors, which 

 apprehension of snakes in Ceylon too often gives rise 

 to, and which if not opposed or subdued detract more 

 from the comfort and happiness of life than can well 

 be imagined, excepting by those in whose mind is still 

 impressed the memory of the miseries produced in 

 childhood by the dread of hobgoblins." Fortunately 

 for man, only a small proportion of the known species 



