
9 
~ 
Order I. Ophidia. (Snakes.) 
No animals are so much dreaded as the snakes, Plate I. fig. a. Boa constrictor inhabits tropical 
although we have only one venomous kind in Eng- | America and attains a length of twenty or thirty feet 
land, the Common Viper, or Adder. All snakes have and the thickness of a stout man’s thigh. The size 
a long cylindrical body, with a well-marked flattened and strength of the creature enable it to attack and 
head, but generally with no distinct division between | destroy animals as large as a deer. It breaks the 
the body and the tail. They have no limbs, and it | bones of its prey by coiling its gigantic body round 
is only in a few species such as the Pythons, that on | it, and then slowly swallows it. After a meal the 
careful dissection, we meet with two small bones, which | Boa sinks into a prolonged torpor, when it falls an 
can be recognised as the rudiments of the hind limbs. | easy victim to the natives, who value it for its 
The so-called scales of snakes consist ofa wrink- | flesh, and its thin variegated durable skin. 
ledscaly skin, and In the Py- 
a delicate epider- thons the head is 
mis, covering the well-marked, and 
whole of it even covered with 
to the eyes, and plates and there 
which is thrown are teeth on the 
off completely se- palate. There are 
veral times ayear. Be two spurs at the 
The  flattenned (ane base of the tail. 
i: Ai 
head is interest- 7, The Rock 



cy S 
KN 
SN 
hr 
ing with its widely (es ere Snake (Python 
cleft mouth, (@ ; Varin Ss a Ny molurus) is found 
movable upper « / ( ny SU et in most parts of 
jaw, and loosely YON India, and attains 
connected lower Skeleton of Snake. a length of ten or 
jaw; an arrangement which enables the creature to | eleven feet. The head is greyish flesh-colour, and 
swallow enormous mouthfuls. The teeth are curved | the back is adorned with a row of large, irregular 
backwards, and are only used for seizing prey, and are | brown blotches, which are darker at the edges, and 
solid in harmless snakes, but have an outer groove in | varied with deep yellow in the middle. 
other species, or are perforated by a duct in In the genus 77vopzdonotus the teeth are of nearly 
venomous kinds, to convey the venom from the | equal size. The eyes and nostrils are small and the pupil 
poison-gland. The forked tongue lies in a kind of | of the eye is round. The scales are ridged in the middle. 
sheath, and is a highly movable organ of touch, Plate II. fig. ce. The Common Snake (/7ofz- 
which to some extent replaces the deficiences of the | doxotus natrix) is frequently met with in England, 
other senses. In spite of the absence of limbs, | and is quite harmless. It is easily recognized by its 
snakes move steel grey colour 
rapidly both on and the yellow 
land and in the blotches edged 
water, by rapid behind with black 
contractions on each side of 
of the vertebral , the neck. It some- 
column, and DY gac times attains the 
supporting them- — length of three 
selves with the ~=, for four feet. It is 
free ends of the ~~ a good swimmer 
ribs; only a few and diver and 
species climb. feeds on frogs, in- 
All snakes sects &c. To- 
feed on living ani- wards the end of 
mals, which they the summer the 
kill either by female lays from 
crushing them, or twenty to thirty- 
by their bite ; and six oval eggs in 
after satisfying their hunger, they fallintoa long torpor. | a dunghill or some other warm place. The common 
Snakes inhabit the whole of the tropical and | snake seldom bites, but defends itself by emitting a 
temporate zones but they are far more numerous in | foul odour when alarmed. 
hot countries than in cold. Plate II. fig. d. Coluber Aesculapiz was sacred 
Section I. Non-venomous Snakes. to Aesculapius in ancient times. It is still common 
In these, all the teeth are equally developed ; there in Southern Europe and is as large or larger than 
are two parallel rows on each side in the upper jaw, | OUt Common snake. It is of a shining brownish grey 
and a close series of curved teeth in each division | With greenish shading marked with white on the 
of the lower jaw. sides, and with the belly sulphur yellow. (In this 
In the Boa the head is triangular and flattened | and the next species, the scales are smooth and 
and the jaws open very widely and are armed with unridged.) 
strong teeth. The head is covered with plates, and Plate Ill. fig. b. Coluber flavescens is probably 
the throat with scales. There is a horny claw on | a variety of the last species, and may have been 
each side of the base of the tail containing the rudi- | introduced into Germany by the Romans. It is found 
ments of the hinder extremities. The Boas inhabit | at Schlangenbad and Schwalbach in Nassau. It is 
Asia, Africa and South America. brownish-grey above with two suffused yellow marks 




