1 6 REPTILES AND BIRDS. 



them, enabling them to be avoided. Not so with the more minute 

 poisonous Snakes, which glide after their prey without attracting 

 attention, strike it, and puncture the wound with venom, which pro- 

 duces death with startling rapidity. Doubtless this fatal power was 

 the cause of barbarous nations of old worshipping certain Reptiles ; 

 even at the present time these animals are venerated by some bar- 

 barous races of men. The whole class of Reptiles are for the most 

 part calculated to inspire feelings of repugnance, and such has been 

 the prevailing sentiment in all ages. There are people who can- 

 not suppress a movement of fright at the sight of an ordinary 

 Snake, Lizard, or Frog, notwithstanding that they are most inoffen- 

 sive animals. Several causes concur to produce this aversion. In 

 the first place the low temperature of their bodies, contact with which 

 communicates an involuntary shudder in the person who touches 

 them ; then the moisture which exudes from the skins of Frogs, 

 Toads, and Salamanders, their fixed and strong gaze, all combine to 

 impress one painfully, while the odour which some of them exhale 

 is so disgusting, that it has often been known to produce faint- 

 ing ; add to this the fear of a real though often exaggerated danger, 

 and we shall have the secret of the sort of instinctive horror which is 

 felt by many people at the sight of most reptiles. Nevertheless, the 

 poisonous species are exceptional amongst Reptiles, and among Batra- 

 chians there are none, for it is altogether a mistake to take for venom 

 the fluid which the Toad discharges. * Although these animals are re- 

 pulsive in appearance, we can nevertheless recognise their services in 

 the economy of Nature. Inhabitants of slimy mud and foetid swamps, 

 they are incessantly destroying worms and insects which abound 

 there, and which ultimately would become most injurious to animal 

 and vegetable life ; while, in their turn, they find implacable enemies 

 in the Birds, which check an excessive increase in their race. In 

 this manner the equilibrium of Nature is maintained. 



Some of the animals which now occupy our attention render a 

 direct service to man, being utilised by him for food. Frogs are 

 eaten in the south of France, Italy, and many other countries ; and 

 Adders, under the name of " hedge-eels," are not despised in some 

 localities. We know the favour in which Turtles are held by us, 

 where soup made from them is considered a dish only fit for 

 merchant princes. In other countries, Iguanas, Crocodiles, and even 



* The Necturus, a siren-like animal inhabiting the lakes of North America, has 

 a series of small fang-like teeth above and below, which are stated to give an 

 envenomed bite. — Proceedings of the Zoological Society for 1857, p. 61. For 

 poison-organs in certain fishes, vide the same publication for 1864, p. 155. — Ed. 



