ON SNAKES. 



205 



Snakes in these latter times, are by no means 

 in favour with man. 1 was once on hoard a 

 Yankee brig, from Cayenne to Paramaribo. The 

 captain had some great grudge or other, against 

 the English ; — for, whenever he saw a vessel in the 

 distance, he would take it for a British cruiser, 

 and remark, " there goes the old serpent, iron; 

 whose sting, thank heaven, we are now for ever 

 free." 



I have adduced these instances out of many, 

 to shew, that snakes have never been brought 

 forward for admiration; but, on the contrary, to 

 .mpress mankind with the idea, that they are devil- 

 ish and dangerous things, always to be shunned, or 

 killed, as occasion may offer. 



With this little introductory preface, I now 

 propose to offer a few remaks on the serpent family. 

 Possibly, they may be of use to those young 

 naturalists who go in quest of zoological adven- 

 tures, either at home or abroad. 



Putting aside hard names, and never ending 

 classification, let us divide all snakes whatever, 

 into two separate families, and no more : viz., those 

 which have poisonous fangs, and those which have 

 none. 



The poisonous fangs are invariably on the upper 

 jaw, but they are not fixed on the bone. They are 



