10 B. NATURAL HISTORY. 



Our last witness is one who appears to have been overlooked 

 throughout this discussion, one whose statement, it would seem, 

 ought of itself to have decided the question long ago. M. Palisot 

 de Beauvois, an eminent French naturalist, member of the Institute 

 and Councillor of the University of Paris, thus details an observa- 

 tion made near the close of the last centuiy : — " When making my 

 first excursion into the Cherokee country,* I happened, while bot- 

 anizing, to see a rattlesnake in my path. I approached as softly 

 as possible, but, just as I was about to strike, imagine my surprise 

 to see it, after sounding its rattle, open a very large mouth and 

 receive into it five little serpents, each about the size of a goose- 

 quill. Astonished at this singular spectacle I retired some dis- 

 tance and hid behind a tree. After some minutes, the animal, 

 believing itself out of danger, again opened its mouth and allowed 

 the little ones to escape. I advanced, the little ones retreated to 

 their stronghold, and the mother, carrying her precious treasure, 

 disappeared among the underbrush where I was not able to find 

 her."t 



We have the opinion of Dr. Jeffries Wy man, j Prof. Gill and other 

 plrysiologists, that there is no reason wiry the young snakes may not 

 live for a time within the parent. It would be very difficult to 

 smother a reptile, even in such close quarters, and lizards, toads 

 and snakes have often been rescued, unharmed, after a sojourn in a 

 suake's stomach. It is a well known fact that living tissues are 

 acted upon very feebly by the gastric juice. § 



The supposition that the serpents swallow their 3'oung for food 

 is manifestly absurd, for the act is purely voluntary with the 3 T oung 

 snakes. If the habit is not protective in its design, it must be 

 destructive to a degree that will in time exterminate the species 

 which practise it. 



An analogous case is found among certain South American fishes 

 of the genera Geophagus, Arius and Bagrus, the males carrying 

 the eggs in their mouths, depositing them in places of safet}' and 

 removing them on the approach of danger. || 



*The Chevokees were at this time joint-owners of the states of Tennessee, Missis- 

 sippi and Alabama, with the western portions of North Carolina and Georgia. 



t Beauvois, "Observations sur les Serpens "in Dauilin's '-HistoireNaturelle, Gen- 

 erate et Particuliere des Reptiles" Paris. An. Rep. xi (1803), vol. v,p. 65. 



t " American Naturalist," vol. ii. p. 137. 



§ Flint's '■ Physiology of Man." New York. 1871. vol. ii. pp. 275-282. 



||\Vyman, '-Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History," vol. vi. p. 32«, 

 1853. " American Journal of Science and Arts," vol. xxvii. 1S59. p. 11. Gunther 

 " Catalogue of the Fishes in the British Museum." vol. v, 1SC4, p. 173. 

 (183) 



