ZOOLOGY. 



147 



kinds possess sucli great strength, as to enable tliem to seize 

 and destroy Animals of the size of an Ox ; and even Man 

 himself is sometimes overcome by these immense creatures ; 

 but few if any of the very large Snakes are poisonous ; 

 but destroy tn jv ;»cums by mere muscular compression, 

 as when oi\ce any animal becomes encircled in their 

 enormous folds, the contraction of their muscles is salTi- 

 eient to deprive it of life ; the lesser kinds feed on 

 Birds, the lesser Quadrupeds, Frogs, Lizards, and even 

 their own species. They are devoured by Birds of prey. 

 Swine, and more particularly by the Weesel tribe, who w age 

 constant war against the whole family, and are kept for this 

 purpose in a half domesticated state, in many of the w^armer 

 climates* 



Most of this class a,re oviparous, depositing their eggs 

 amongst heaps of decaying vegetables, in dung-hills, under 

 hay or corn stacks, or similar places ; some kind? are 

 viviparous, or to speak perhaps more correctly, ovavivipa- 

 rous ; hatching their eggs internally : they are mostly land 

 animals, though some kinds readily take the water ; and 

 a few are amphibious ; those resident in cold countries, 

 become torpid in the winter ; all of them are capable of ab- 

 staining from food for a great length of time, in some cases, 

 from four to six months and upwards. 



The broad scaly plates on the bellies of Serpents are 

 «alled Scutcty and the smaller or divided plates beneath the 

 tail Subcaudal Scales ; from the number, absence, or disposi- 

 tion of these scales, the Linnean genera of Serpents, are 

 qhiefly constituted. 



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