12 OPHIDIANS. 
can be supposed to convey a subtler meaning, and symbolize 
a belief in its magnetic power; its bearer was the messenger 
of the gods, and his wand may be supposed to typify an 
attribute of a higher nature not known to its bearers, but be- 
lieved to exist in the reptile. 
To go back to the remotest epoch in history, we find the 
prince of darkness represented as a serpent tempting Eve; 
and it should cause no wonder to the student, who tries to 
trace popular beliefs to their origin, that all the histories of 
all people and nations should bear some record of the adop- 
tion of a marked belief in the existence of some peculiar 
virtues or characteristics in these reptiles. These are born of 
experience, and merit of the man of science, a profound at- 
tention and study, although the scientific world has heretofore 
satisfied itself by assigning to such beliefS a purely supersti- 
tious origin. 
The classification of Ophidians is a task attended with great 
difficulty in many cases. 
Some varieties are distinctly marked, such as the Elaps 
Corallinus, for example; others occur possessing very different 
characteristics ; a third class possess marks peculiar to both 
species, produced by a male of the first kind copulating with 
a female of the latter species: this leads to the formation of 
a new species, and following this custom of naturalists leads 
to a most interminable number of varieties, which could be 
very much simplified by adopting another method of classifi- 
cation. 
