NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 143 



rattle, the hood, and even the horns and prolonged snouts of 

 some species, not merely accepted as curious facts, but discussed 

 intelligently from a physiological point of view. Concerning the 

 first we are told : — 



" For the most part nocturnal, winding their way under tangled masses 

 of vegetation, often in dark caves, holes, crevices and obscure retreats, with 

 their eyes so placed that they can see neither before nor under them, and 

 with other senses only feebly developed; the tongue, with its sensitive 

 papillae, feels its way and conveys impressions to its owner. Gats have 

 their whiskers to help them in the dark ; moles and mice have their quick 

 sense of smell to guide them ; all nocturnal animals are gifted in some 

 manner or another, but snakes have only their tongue 



"Much as an iusect uses its exquisitely-coustructed antenna?, so does a 

 snake its long, slender, pliant, bifurcate, and highly-sensitive tongue. Ever 

 busy, ever vigilant, exploring while barely touching each surface within 

 reach, yet by night and by day conveying with that slight contact all 

 necessary information to its owner. Sent out with the speed of a flash, it 

 telegraphs back with like quickness the result of its discoveries." 



The writer betrays an obvious partiality for the Crotalidce, 

 some of the best chapters being devoted to that family, while the 

 illustrations of the different rarities are noteworthy for their 

 fidelity to Nature. An amusing account of a rattlesnake battue is 

 quoted from Catlin. The sections devoted to the sea-snakes and 

 serpent-worship are especially interesting, and under the heading 

 ;< The Great Serpent " a vast amount of testimony and learned 

 opinion in favour of, and adverse to, the existence of such 

 a monster is adduced. Many little points, too, well worthy of 

 attention, are noted. The possibility that rare and singular 

 snakes, which have been classified in museums as the sole 

 representatives of new varieties, species, or even genera, may be 

 nothing more than hybrids, is inferred from a case of hybridisa- 

 tion which actually occurred in the reptilium at the Zoological 

 Gardens, and is a consideration which may be extended far 

 beyond the domain of ophiology. As practical, also, is the 

 solution of the mystery which has puzzled many observers, who 

 have found vegetable substances in the intestinal canal, viz., that 

 they were simply the contents of the stomach of some animal 

 which has been swallowed by the snake, and dissolved away from 

 them. We have seen grain from a pigeon's crop rejected by a 

 boa, and btill retaining sufficient germinal vitality to grow when 



