50 



OEKPEKT'! — -REPTILES. Cor-UBRiNE Serpents. 



poison gland is also less developed tlian in tbe true 

 venomous serpents, forming a narrow pear-shaped sac. 

 The skin wliich covers the body, is viry loose and 

 easily detached, and the scales upon it are cenerally 

 small, in some so much so, that when fh.: skin is dis- 

 tended the body looks as if deprived of it? ^.pi(l'-.rmis. 

 There is a peculiarity in the structure vl tho lung (for 

 there is onlj' one) in sea-snakes which adipts them for 

 their method of living. It is a long narrow canal, 

 swollen out in some parts of its course into tolerably 

 sized sacs ; and as it extends as low down as near the 

 extremity of the intestine, it fulfils at once both the 

 function of an organ of respiration and a swimming 

 bladder. 



Sea-serpents were known to the ancients, but unfor- 

 timately the}' often confounded with them various fishes 

 of an elongated eel-shaped body. They seem to be 

 confined to the intertropical seas, or those in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the tropics. They are sometimes found in 

 the open ocean at great distances from land, but in 

 general they appear to prefer Hving near the shore, or in 

 the moutlis of large rivers where they find an abundant 

 supply of food ; such places as the Sunderbunds which 

 form the delta of the Ganges. All the species belonging 

 to this familj', without exception, are venomous, though 

 some naturalists have asserted the contrary. Differ- 

 ences of opinion, too, exist with regard to their nature 

 and disposition ; several naturalists and travellers assert- 

 ing them to be of a gentle and peaceable temper, while 

 others maintain tlie opposite. Dr. Russell found in 

 one or two species, that no provocation could excite 

 them to bite. M. Lesson, after inclosing them in 

 vessels vrith fowls, was not able to make them attack 

 the birds. M. Siebold, on the testimony of Schlegel, 

 asserts that the pelagic serpents are not of a fierce dis- 

 position, and that during his voyage from Batavia to 

 Japan, he has caught many with a hand net, landed 

 tbem into the boat, and that the sailors handled them 

 without fear or any bad effects. Professor Reinwardt, 

 who has frequently met with these serpents, confirms 

 Siebold's account of their quiet, gentle disposition. Dr. 

 Cantor, on the contrary, who had abundant oppor- 

 tunities in India of seeing them, declares that they are 

 Iiighly venomous and dangerous. After taking notice 

 of the opmions mentioned above, be says, " an asser- 

 tion like this, may easily mislead travellers, who by 

 carelessly handling animals provided with weapons of 

 the most dangerous description, are, if wounded, certain 

 to pay VTith their life for their temerity. I must there- 

 fore from my own experience, assert that those species 

 which I have observed in the Bay of Bengal and the 

 Gangetic estuaries, are of very ferocious habits, as well 

 iu as out of water." 



Their motion in the water is very active and grace- 

 ful, and is described as being a sort of gliding on the 

 surface, when the sea is calm, raismg from time to time 

 their head above the wave, perhaps to breathe. They 

 are able swimmers, and their movements are executed 

 by repeated strokes of the tail from righttoleft, succeeded 

 by a lateral and undulatory motion of other parts of the 

 body. At times their agility is described as being 

 extreme, and their swimming most rapid. When 

 removed from the sea, however, they become blinded. 



by the light contracting the pupil ; and then, in addition 

 to the difficulty which they experience whilst attempt- 

 ing to support their sharply-keeled bodies on dry land, 

 their movements become just as uncertain and mal- 

 adroit as they are nimble and swift in their own element. 

 Taken from the sea, and placed on dry ground or in 

 fresh water, they soon die. 



The size of these serpents varies in the different 

 species. Some are not more than two feet and a half 

 long, whilst others reach a length of five feet. The 

 females are ovoviviparous, but the sexes cannot be 

 distinguished externally. These sea-serpents are 

 usually of a yellowish colour, shading sometimes to a 

 green, sometimes to a blue, or to white, and most 

 frequently relieved by numerous blackish bands, or by 

 large lozenge-shaped spots disposed in a transverse 

 manner along the back. In the young the colours are 

 generally of a brighter hue than the adults, and these 

 feed upon small floating Crustacea. 



THE BLACK-BACKED PELAMIS {Pelamis bkolor), 

 or the Nalla-whalagei.lee pam — represented in 

 Plate 4, fig. 5, and fig. 13 annexed — being common 

 in all the parts of the sea frequented by sea-snakes, is 

 perhaps the one best known in European collections. 

 It is about two feet four inches in length, and about 

 three inches in circumference in the thickest part. 

 The skin is very loosely attached to the body, and is 

 uniformly covered with small hexagonal scales disposed 

 in such a manner as to resemble the stones of a pave- 

 ment. The body is strong and thick, of a cylindrical 

 form in the anterior part, but becoming compressed pos- 

 teriorl^', and termuiating in a short, thin, flat tail, of a 



Fig. 13. 



The Black-backed Pelamis (Pelamis bicolor). 



lanceolate form, and broadest at its extremity. The 

 head is long, compressed, and projecting into an obtuse 

 beak. The mouth is large, and the eyes are lateral 

 and of good size. The head and beak are of a black 

 colour, and the sides and belly yellow, with some 

 obscure, black, round spots towards the tail, which is 

 singularly spotted with white, black, and yellow. This 

 species is the most widely diffused of all the Pelagic 

 serpents. It is common on the coast of Coromandel, 

 Pondicherry, Malabar, and Bay of Bengal. It has 

 been met with on the coasts of Java, Borneo, New 

 Guinea, in the Sea of the Moluccas, near the Celebes, 



