The Banded Bungarus.- 



-REPTILES.- 



-Shielded Reptiles. 



07 



the serpent becomes stiff and immovable, falling into 

 a sort of catalepsy. Afterwards they waken it up 

 whenever they please, by seizing its tail and rolling it 

 briskly between their hands. From the earliest times 

 the saliva of man was considered to possess great effi- 

 cacy and power over serpents. Pliny mentions this ; 

 l)ut though the use of the saliva is still kept up by the 

 modern serpent-charmers and jugglers of Egypt, it 

 would appear that tlie chief effects just mentioned are 

 caused by the pressure on the back of the head. " My 

 father," says M. I. St. Hilaire, " having often been an 

 eye-witness in Egypt of these remarkable effects, was 

 persuaded that of all the actions of wliich the practice 

 of these men consisted, one alone had any efficacy in 

 producing sleep (if one might use such an expression). 

 Wishing to verify this suspicion, he tried to induce 

 a juggler to conline himself to touching merely the 

 upper part of the serpent's head. The man, however, 

 received the proposal as one full of horrible sacrilege, 

 and refused to comjily with the request, in spite of all 

 the offers that could be made. The conjectiu'e of my 

 fixther, however, was well founded ; for having pressed 

 his finger rather strongly upon the head of the Haje, 

 he saw it immediately manifest all the phenomena which 

 usually attended the mysterious practice of the juggler. 

 The man, at the sight of such an effect, believed that he 

 was the witness of a prodigy, as well as at the same time 

 a frightful prcifination, and lie fled struck with terror." 

 THE BANDED BUNGAEUS [Bangarus fasciatus) — 

 another venomous species of this group, represented in 



Plate 5, fig. 4 — is a native of India, China, Java, and 

 Ceylon, and is known on the coast of Coromandel by 

 the name oi Bunr/arum Pamah. It attains a length of 

 sis feet, and is considered by the natives of India as 

 very deadly. The body is nearly of equal size through- 

 out, the head being rather small, and scarcely distinct 

 from it. Its tail is short, keeled above, nearly of equal 

 size as the body, and terminating in a conical top or 

 round blunt point. It is only about five inches in 

 length. Its body is encircled by large black bands, 

 and generally, either in an adult or young state, there 

 is a large white spot on each side of the neck, sending 

 pff a white streak to the crown, the two meeting there 

 and forming an arrow-shaped mark. Dr. Russell tells 

 us that he had a live specimen sent to him from Manoor 

 Cottah, but in a very languid state. Being set at 

 liberty, it remained for some time without moving, but 

 soon began to crawl slowly towards a dark corner. A 

 cliickeu was presented to him, but he took no notice 

 of it, though when placed on his back the claws of the 

 bird were so fast that he dragged the snake a little 

 way. After the lapse of an hour it was forced to bite 

 the chicken on the naked thigh, and the poor bird died 

 within twei}ty-six minutes after being bitten. 



Of the third group of Colubriform serpents, viz., 

 those which have venomous fangs permanently erect, 

 the species are few and little knoAvn. AVe must there- 

 fore pass them over, and hasten to the consideration of 

 the remaining orders of reptiles, the Tortoises and the 

 Crocodiles. 



SHIELDED REPTILES (Cataphracta). 



In the synopsis of the orders and fimilies of Reptiles, 

 pp. 5, 6, we have already mentioned that the Shielded 

 Reptiles {Cataphracta) are divided into three Orders — 

 the Tortoises and Turtles [Clidortia], the Crocodiles 

 and Alligators {Emydosauria), and the AmphisbK- 

 nians or Double-walkers {AmplushcKnia). 



The number of species contained in these three 

 orders of reptiles are very few compared with the 

 Lizards and Ser]jent3, and as we have devoted so 

 much space to the consideration of these latter and 

 more typical forms, we must now limit ourselves to a 

 more brief description of the present group. 



Okder I.— tortoises and TURTLES (Chelonia). 



The form and structure of Tortoises are such that 

 they cannot be confounded with any other order of 

 animals in existence. They appear, in fact, to be 

 animals turned inside out, for their skeleton is exter- 

 nal, and the muscular and vascular systems are inter- 

 nal. They may be all arranged in throe large groups, 

 according to their habits of life, viz., Land tortoises, 

 Fresh-w'ator tortoises, and Marine tortoises or turtles. 

 The same general structure, however, is found in 

 them all, as the body is inclosed within a case or 

 double buckler, which only allows the head and neck, 

 the tail, and the four limbs to be protruded or with- 

 drawn (in the greater number) when the animal 

 requires to do so in order to protect these parts. 



This case or double buckler acts the part of a solid 

 armour. Invested with it, they can shelter themselves 

 very effectually from the attacks of all their adversaries 

 except man, and some few animals of great strength 

 and power. The upper portion of this case, which 

 has always a more or less rounded and vaulted form, 

 is called the carapace, and the under part is called the 

 2iluslron, and is usually of a flattened form. Those 

 two parts are united by their margins. The carapace, 

 which is equivalent to the thurax or chest in the higher 

 classes of animals, is formed by the soldering and weld- 

 ing together into a compact vaulted plate, of the ribs 

 and back-bone, the former being broad, and consisting 

 of eight pairs, and the latter retaming motion only at 



