I883.J 
Analyses of Books. 291 
to expose, the subject calls for no discussion. A curious pheno- 
menon of kindred nature has been recorded by Dr. Cantor. The 
sea-snakes of the Eastern Ocean (Hydrophidas) are sometimes 
found so soundly asleep on the surface of the water that they are 
not aroused by a ship passing among them. 
In connection with hybernation, the authoress mentions some 
cases of large numbers of snakes which had collected together 
under manure-heaps, &c., for the purpose of passing the cold 
season. We have more than once found large heaps of the eggs 
of snakes — far greater in quantity than could be deposited by any 
ten females of the species in the district — amongst decaying 
leaves and other vegetable refuse. We do not find in the work 
before us any notice of the alleged mass meetings of snakes 
which are said to have been observed in warm weather, both in 
the Eastern and the Western Hemispheres. 
The chapter entitled “ The Tail of a Snake ” contains mention 
of some curious notions held in former ages. It was supposed 
that several serpents — such as the horn-snake of Virginia, 
described by Lawson — are armed, in addition to their poison 
fangs, with a sting at the end of the tail. It was said that if the 
sting was by chance struck into the bark of a young tree, the 
tree instantly withered. 
In such a work as the one before us the “ Great Sea-Serpent ” 
— to some people a name for any and every thing fictitious — 
cannot be wanting. Like most writers who have given the sub- 
ject a candid examination, Miss Hopley inclines to the belief in 
the existence of huge marine ophidians. There is some amount 
of direCt evidence in the affirmative, e.g., the case of the Pauline , 
whilst the only negative evidence — the non-occurrence, as far as 
has been observed, of vertebrae and other remains of such huge 
serpents — has been invalidated by a recently recorded faCt. An 
American vessel, engaged in a dredging expedition, succeeded in 
bringing up from the bottom no relic of human or other verte- 
brate life, save an india-rubber doll ; yet the region explored was 
one where sharks, dolphins, &c., abound, and where many ship- 
wrecks have happened. Hence it is fair to infer that the skele- 
tons of animals which perish in the sea are, as a rule, rapidly 
disintegrated. Thus we have small grounds for wondering 
that no remains of any giant ophidian have hitherto been 
dredged up. 
The chapter on the “ Venoms and their Remedies ” embodies 
the modern views based on the researches of Fayrer, Nicholson, 
&c. The difference of kind between the secretions of different 
species is recognised ; but the great question, whether the aCtive 
principle in any case is a ferment or a definite chemical com- 
pound, is not discussed. It is asserted that “ the blood of an 
animal killed by a bite, if injedted into the veins of another ani- 
mal kills that also. But is the proportion of blood thus injedted 
as small as that of the original poison, and is death brought on 
in the same manner and with the same symptoms? 
