GENERAL CHARACTERS 69 



meal the scales are widely separated. The manner in which 

 serpents feed in a wild state is certainly one of the most cruel 

 processes of Nature. 



The eyes of a serpent have no lids, and the eyes never 

 close; but they are protected by a thin and perfectly trans- 

 parent section of the outer skin, or epidermis, which is shed 

 and renewed periodically. 



The epidermis, or outer skin, is completely renewed about 

 three times per year. To free itself from the old skin, the 

 serpent usually crawls through a small aperture, the edges of 

 which catch the old skin at the head and hold it fast while 

 the owner crawls out of it. The first intimation of an im- 

 pending change of epidermis is found in the dull appearance 

 of the eye, over which a glassy film seems to be forming. 

 Strange to say, even the eye sheds its outer surface, and 

 emerges clear and brilliant. Most snakes shed their skins 

 about three times a year. 



A serpent is always most beautiful immediately after it 

 has shed its epidermis, for then its colors are brightest and 

 most iridescent. In captivitj^ it often happens that the at- 

 mosphere in which a snake lives is not sufficiently moist to 

 enable the old skin to loosen and be cast off. In such cases, 

 if the serpents are non-venomous species, the owner must 

 moisten the old skin, and peel it off by hand, or with forceps. 



Reproduction. — Some snakes lay eggs, with soft, tough 

 shells, that are hatched by the sun. A serpent which de- 

 velops in an egg of this sort is provided with a special, tem- 

 porary tooth, set on the tip end of its jaw, with which it 

 easily punctures the shell sufficiently to escape. Others do 



