324 CLASS REPTILIA. 



cation with the surface of the earth, and that this adder 

 died in ten minutes after having been taken out. Though 

 we believe this fact to rest on respectable testimony, yet it 

 must be confessed that it is exceedingly difficult to believe 

 it. 



We shall now proceed to consider the subdivisions of this 

 order in detail ; but according to our usual plan we shall 

 omit all notice of those which afford nothing interesting to 

 dwell upon. 



The remarkable characteristics of the genus amphisbcena 

 are, that the body is surrounded with rings of square scales, 

 and that the tail is almost as bulky as the head, and as their 

 eyes are extremely small, it is not easy at the first glance to 

 distinguish at which end the head is situated. As these ani- 

 mals can move both backwards and forwards, the name of 

 amphisbcena has been given to them, which literally signifies 

 double-walker. The ancients employed this name, but it 

 must have been for another serpent, for the amphisbcena, 

 which are now known, are of American origin, and conse- 

 quently the ancients could not have been acquainted with 

 them. We may, indeed, aver that their amphisbcena was 

 an imaginary animal, since they gave it, at each extremity, 

 a head armed with venomous teeth. If, however, these 

 fables have any foundation in nature, they must relate to 

 the anguis, which resembles almost in all points the amphis- 

 bcenae, excepting the form of the scales. 



The amphisboense are not venomous ; their teeth are coni- 

 cal, fixed, and disposed in a single rank. Those of the upper 

 jaw are unequal ; there are sixteen in each jaw. The head 

 is furnished with irregular scales larger than those of the 

 rest of the body ; the eyes appear there only like two little 

 obscure points. The nostrils are two simple holes pierced 

 at the end of the muzzle. The tongue is not extensible 

 and forked, like that of most serpents, but flat, short, and 



