CHAPTER I. 



SYSTEMATIC POSITION OF VENOMOUS SNAKES. 



The order Serpentes Linnaeus l or Ophidia Brongniart 2 had experienced 

 repeated reclassifications by systematists before it was brought into an intel- 

 ligible and a logically conceived system, mainly by the labors of Oppel (1811), 

 Wagler (1830), J. Miiller (183 1), Gray (1849), Dumenl and Bibron (1852), 

 Stannius (1856), Gunther (1864), Cope (1864, 1887, 1898), Boulenger (1896), 

 and Stejneger (1895, 1907). From Linnaeus to Oppel and Merrem the term 

 was applied to a heterogeneous assemblage of various species, including the 

 snake-like lizards and the batrachian Coeciliidae. Laurenti (1768) added 

 no improvement. Wagler eliminated improper members from Serpentes, 

 while Miiller divided it into two divisions, the Microstomata (= Angiosto- 

 mata) and Macrostomata (= Eurystomata), basing them on the proportion 

 and position of the paroccipital bone or suspensorium of the quadrate. 

 Dumenl and Bibron then divided the order according to the dental struc- 

 tures into Opoterodonta, Aglyphodonta, Opisthoglypha, Proteroglypha, and 

 Solenoglypha. The first is angiostomatous and the last four eurystomatous. 

 The Angiostomata were divided by Stannius into Typhlopina and Tortricina, 

 and the Eurystomata into Peropoda (with rudiments of pelvis), Asinea, and 

 Thanatophidia, the last including all of the venomous snakes. Gray created 

 two suborders, the Colubrina and Viperina, while Gunther distinguished 

 between Ophidii colubriformes, O. colubriformes venenosi (Elapidae and 

 Hydrophidae) and O. viperiformes. Cope laid stress upon the modification 

 of the squamosal, ectopterygoid, and endopterygoid bones, the condition of 

 the vestigial limbs, division or nondivision of the anal scutum, lungs, hemi- 

 penis, and also upon the grooved and non-grooved characters of the posterior 

 teeth. In Cope's system the snakes are divided into several divisions, which 

 stand above the rank of families in most of the classifications. Thus there 

 are Catodonta, Epanodonta, Tortricina, Peropoda, Colubroidea, and Soleno- 

 glypha. The term Asinea of Stannius is employed by Cope to cover Peropoda 

 and Colubroidea. Cope finally dropped the term Asinea and broadened 

 Colubroidea superfamily by adding all members of Thanatophidia except 

 the viperine snakes, and subdivided Colubroidea into Aglypha, Glyphodonta, 

 and Proteroglypha. 3 Peropoda was separated from Colubroidea entirely 

 on account of the rudiments of pelvis. In other words, Cope's Colubroidea 

 contains three or four eurystomatous families of Dumenl and Bibron, leav- 



1 Linnaeus, Systema nature, ioth ed., 1758, 196, I, 214. 



2 Brongniart, Bulletin, Academy of Sciences, 1800, Nos. 35, 36. 



3 Peropoda with rudiments of pelvis, and Platycerca containing Hydrophidae, are added to this sub- 



order Colubroidea in his latest work. 



1 



