140 ZOOLOGY. 



Mechanic and Manufacturer, commonly denominated Tor- 

 ioise-Shell. Of the Frog tribe, several species are in com- 

 mon use as food, as also various species of Lacerta ; and 

 even of the Serpent family, Man has deigned to select some, 

 as applicable to the purpose of Food or Medicine, particu- 

 larly the Viper, common to Great Britain. In other coun- 

 tries, some of the most formidable and dangerous in the 

 catalogue of poisonous Snakes, are rendered in a degree 

 domestic, and are so far tamed, as to perform numerous; 

 tricks for the divertion of idle spectators in the East Indies ; 

 where Coluber Naja, the Hooded or Spectacle Snake, 

 (or as it is more generally called, the Cobra de Capello, ) 

 whose bite has been known to produce death in less than an 

 Lour, is a common companion of the jugglers, who having 

 extracted the fangs, have nothing to fear from its bite. 



The colours of many species in the different genera belong- 

 ing to this class, are exceedingly beautiful, and in their 

 farms and motions a great degree of elegance is observable j 

 some surprise us by their enormous bulk, and extraordinary 

 strength ; others, by the elegant disposition, and contrast 

 of their colours ; their vivacity and peculiarity of structure; 

 yet as many of the kinds possess the poisonous fangs, they 

 are all looked upon with a mistrustful eye, so much so, that 

 Men who have braved the din of war, with all its horrors, 

 who have stood unappalled, amidst the cannon's dreadful 

 roar, have been almost petrifyed with fear at the sadden 

 approach of a harmless Snake. 



If our finite ideas do not enable us to perceive the uses of 

 tfais-class of Animals, or to penetrate into that inscrutable 



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