New York Zoological Park. 
TWENTY -TWO-FOOT RETICULATED PYTHON (DEAD). 
CHAPTER XXXIX 
THE ORDER OF SERPENTS 
General Characters. — A serpent, commonly 
called a “snake,” is a very slender, long-bodied, 
legless reptile, cold-blooded, covered with scales, 
and breathing air. It moves by a sinuous mo- 
tion, in which the scales under the body grip the 
earth, while the extension of the body muscles 
push the body forward. To afford a good hold 
upon the earth, the abdominal scales are very 
broad, set crosswise with the body, and the rear 
edge of each scale is free and sharp, like a blade. 
The backbone contains a great number of 
vertebrae, sometimes nearly 300, and there is one 
for ea'ch crosswise scale under the body. There 
are also a great number of ribs, but the tail verte- 
brae are of course without them. The ribs are 
quite loosely attached to the vertebrae, in order 
that they may have the very free play that is 
absolutely necessary to the life of a serpent. 
The head is usually flat and broad, and en- 
tirely covered with scales. The jaws are long, 
and well armed with long, sharp-pointed teeth, 
which point backward, in the direction of the 
throat. There are no molars for masticating 
food, and therefore all food is swallowed whole. 
Excepting in the injection of poison, the only 
function of the teeth is to seize and hold fast 
the serpent’s prey while it is being swallowed. 
Poisonous serpents have special teeth, called 
fangs, for making deep wounds and filling them 
with poison. These are set in the roof of the 
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