NORTH AMERICAN 



HERPETOLOGY. 



Order III. OPHIDIA. Brogniart. 



Serpents form a very natural order, as they present peculiar anatomical and 

 natural characters. "Of all reptiles, they best merit the name, as they creep 

 only by alternate folds of their long and slender bodies, and though deprived of 

 feet, or obvious external organs of locomotion, they glide swiftly on the ground, 

 ascend trees, move rapidly along their branches, and even swim with great 

 facility." 



The order Ophidia includes the families Anguina and Serpentia, of which latter 

 I shall only speak in this place. Cuvier again subdivides the family Serpentia 

 into two tribes, Amphisbsena and Serpentes, or true serpents, which are the only 

 ones of the Order found in the United States. 



Serpentes. — Cuvier. 



CHARACTERS. 



1. The head varies in form; the branches (rami) of the lower jaw-bone are not 

 firmly united to each other at their anterior extremities, but are joined by 



