REPTILES. 



as that in the cage, which he never offered to touch. 

 Another hving bird, the loxia cardinaUs, intlcad of being 

 frightened by tinding himfelf in company with the boiquira, 

 amufed himfelf with pecking at the cage, and eating millet- 

 feed thrown into him ; he changed his fitu^.tion frequently, 

 and would even perch on the reptile'a back ; but he moved 

 off at the found of the rattle. Several kinds of frogs, 

 living and dead, were prefented to the fame ferpent ; but he 

 touched none. The black ferpent, on the contrary (coluber 

 conltriAor), attacked the frogs immediately, and feemed 

 to prefer the tree-frogs. He alfo fwallowed flies and other 



infefts. _ ■,,.■• 



" A common rat was put mto the cage with the boiquira, 

 who immediately appeared animated ; the rat, frightened, ran 

 towards the fide oppofite to the reptile. The chafe lafted a 

 few feconds, the animal uling every effort to efcape, when the 

 reptile, perceiving a favourable moment, flew at his prey, 

 and bit it. The rat continued to run round the cage, but 

 the ferpent remained quiet : the former, in about a minute, 

 fweiled, became convulfed, died, and was fwallowed by his 

 enemy. Thefe convulfions were probably confidered by 

 old obfervers as the effedl of the charming power of the 

 ferpent, or of extraordinary fear ; but they are a regular 

 fyniptom of the aftion of the poifon. 



"Perhaps thefe experiments do not determine exaftly the 

 means which ferpents employ for feizing their prey, fo likely 

 to efcape them by running or flying : but they feem fufhcient 

 to authorife us in rejedling all ideas of fafcination, or charm, 

 of extraordinary terror or fuffocating vapour. On the 

 latter point, I can flate, that nine boiquiras were kept 

 for three weeks in the fame box ; when it was opened, at 

 the end of this time, no particular odour was obferved." 

 Daudin's Hift. Nat. des Reptiles, in the edition of Buffon, 

 by Sonnini, v. 5. p. 55. ct feq. 



Thofe ferpents which have not this quick and effeftual 

 means of deftroying their prey by the poifonous appa- 

 ratus, accomplifh their objett in another manner. They 

 throw themfelvcs on the animal which they attack, twine 

 round his body and lim^bs, and exert, in this manner, a com- 

 preflive force capable of breaking the bones. When he is 

 thus difabled from refiftance, they fmear him over with a 

 mucous faliva, and fwallow liim gradually in the way al- 

 ready defcribed. The enormous ferpents of Africa and 

 America, thirty or forty feet long, are ftrong enough to 

 attack and overcome the larger animals, and can then 

 fwallow them entire. See the account of the boa aboma 



See his Hill. Nat. des Reptiles, v. 5. p. 22. 



The following is given by Humboldt as a comparative 

 enumeration of the venomous fpecies in the old world, and 

 in America. 



In the old continent. 



Bungari 

 Crotalus - 

 Scytalie 

 Lachefis - 

 Cenchris - 

 Viperx- 

 Platuri 

 Clothonia 

 Langaha - 

 Hydrophes 



58 



22 



See the Recueil d'Obfervations de Zoologie et d' Anatomic 

 comparee, v. 2. p. 5. 



Horny Co'vering of the Jaws in the Chelon'tan Order. — This 

 fubftance is fimilar in its nature to that which compofes the 

 hollow horns of animals (fee Horn) ; and there is no 

 eli'ential difference between it and that of the bill in birds. 

 (See Birds, in Comparative Anatomy.) As in birds, this 



by Stedman, in his voyage to Surinam and Guiana ; and of horny covering is fpread over the oppofed furfaces of the 



the boa conllridlor, in Adanfon's Voyage au Senegal, 

 p. 152. et feq. 



Proportion of the venomous to the harmlefs Serpents. — The 

 number of ferpents poffeffmg venomous fangs is more con- 

 fiderable than has been generally fuppofed. " Ne telis hor- 

 rentibus," fays Linnsus, " execrabili veneno nimium fsvi- 

 rent, decimam quamque tantum fpeciem armavit impcrans, 

 et verfipelles eos voluit, ut dubii omnes metuerentur ab 

 omnibus." Yet Dr. Ruffel found feven venomous fpecies 

 among forty-three, which he obferved ; and the proportion 

 of the venomous to tlie non-venomous kinds, among the 

 ferpents defcribed by Daudin, in his Hiftory of Reptiles, is 

 as 80 to 233. Tiiere are not more than 14 or 16 genera 

 of ferpents indigenous in Europe, yet among thefe are 

 five vipers. Of the fpecies defcribed by Daudin, 201 be- 

 longed to the ancient, and 112 to the new continent : the 

 venomous kinds formed a fourth in the former, and a fifth 

 in the latter. 



Daudin gives the following lifts of the poifonous and 

 harmlefs kinds. 



two mandibles ; but the organ fo covered is much lefs fuf- 

 ceptible of motion in the teliudines, as the upper mandible 

 is always fixed in them. In general it is fenfibly fibrous in 

 its texture, but fometimes it appears homogeneous. It is 

 very hard, fo as to enable thefe animals to break fhells with 

 facility. In this refpeft, it is analogous to the horny bills 

 of the birds of prey, and the refemblance is fo ftriking in 

 one fpecies of turtle, that it has received the name of hawk's- 

 bill. It is formed on a vafcular fubftance covering the bone, 

 as is the cafe with the hollow horns and the bill of birds. 

 The edges are fometimes fimple, fometimes ferrated, fome- 

 time« divided into large unequal teeth ; the extremity is 

 either entire and rounded, or grooved, or brought to a 

 (harp point. The edge of the upper jaw is terminated by 

 a thin (harp plate of horn, within which the lower paffes 

 to fome height, being rather narrower in its tranfverfe 

 nieafurement : hence any fubftance may be cut by them as 

 with fciffars, for the outer margin of the lower jaw is alfo 

 brought to a (harp edge. Be(ides this (harp edge, there 

 is a covering of fome breadth in the upper jaw, forming 



a ric ge 



