SER 
Jator of Gmeliii, “ are cast naked upon tlie 
earth, without limbs, exposed to every iu- 
jury, but frequently armed with a poison, 
the most deadly and horrible : this is con- 
tained in tubular fangs resembling teeth, 
placed without the upper jaw, protruded or 
retracted at pleasure, and surrounded with 
a glandular vesicle by which this fatal fluid 
is secreted: but lest this tribe should too 
much encroach upon the limits of other 
animals, the benevolent Author of nature 
has armed about a fifth part only in this 
dreadful manner, and has ordained that all 
should cast their skins, in order to inspire 
a necessary suspicion of the whole. The 
jaws are dilatable, and not articulate, and 
the oesophagus so lax that they can swallow, 
witliout any mastication, an animal twice 
or thrice as large as the neck : the colour is 
variable, and changes according to the sea- 
son, age, or mode of living, and frequently 
vanishes, or turns to another in the dead 
body : tongue filiform, bifid ; skin reticu- 
late.” The distinction between tl5b poison- 
ous and innoxious serpents, is only to be 
known by an accurate examination of their 
teeth ; those which are poisonous being al- 
ways tubular, and calculated for the injec- 
tion of the poisonous fluid, from a peculiar 
reservoir communicating with the fang on 
each side the head. These teeth or fangs 
are situated in the upper jaw : they are 
frequently accompanied by smaller fangs, 
seemingly intended to supply the place of 
the others, if lost by age or accident. The 
fangs are situated in a peculiar bone, so 
articulated with the rest of the jaw as to 
elevate or depress them at the pleasure of 
the animal : in a quiescent state they are 
recumbent, with their points directed in- 
wards or backwards ; but when the animal 
is inclined to use them as weapons of of- 
fence, their position is altered by the pecu- 
liar mechanism of the/ bone in which they 
are rooted, and they become almost per- 
pendicular. 
Serpents in cold and temperate climates 
conceal themselves during winter, in cavi- 
ties beneatli the surface of the ground, or 
in any other convenient places of retire- 
ment, where they become nearly or wholly 
in a state of torpidity. Some serpents are 
viviparous, as the rattle-snake ; the viper, 
&c. : while the innoxious species are ovi- 
parous, depositing, as we have observed, 
their eggs in a kind of chain bi any warm 
and close situation, where they are after- 
wards hatched. The broad undivided la- 
inin:£ on the bellies of serpents, are termed 
SES 
scuta, and the smaller or divided ones be- 
neath the tail are called subcaudal scales, 
and from these dilFerent kinds of laminae, 
the Linnaean genera are characterized. 
SERRATULA, in botany, saw-wort, a 
genus of the Syngenesia Polygaraia iEqualis 
class and order. Natural order of Com- 
positre Capitatae. Cinarocephalae, Jussieu. 
Essential character: calyx, subcylindrical, 
imbricate, awnless. There are twenty 
species. 
SERROPALPUS, in natural history, a 
genus of insects of the order Coleoptera: 
antennae setaceous ; four feelers unequal ; 
the anterior ones longer, deeply serrate, 
composed of four joints, the last joint very 
large, truncate, compressed, patelliform ; 
the posterior one suhclavate; thorax mar- 
gined, concealing the head, with a pro- 
minent angle on each side; head deflected; 
feet formed for digging. There are two 
species, viz. S. striatns, which is of a brown 
colour, with striated shells, found in autumn 
in old buildings : S. laevigatus, which is 
black and smooth. 
• SERTULARIA, in natural history, a 
genus of the Vermes Zoophyta class and 
order: animal growing in the form of a 
plant; stem branched, producing polypes, 
from cup-shaped denticles or minute cells. 
Nearly fourscore species have been enu- 
merated. These are divided into two classes : 
A. stem horny, tubular, fixed by the base, 
beset with cup-shaped denticles, and fur- 
nished with vesicles or ovaries containing 
polypes, eggs, dr the living young. B. stem 
crustaceous, inclining to stone, and com- 
posed of rows of cells : there are no vesi- 
cles, but in the place of them are small 
globules. 
SERUM. See Blood. 
SESAMUM, in botany, sesamum or 
oilygrain, a genus of the Didynamia Angi- 
ospermia class and order. Natural order of 
LuridEB. Bignoniae, Jussieu. Essential 
character : calyx five-parted ; corolla bell- 
shaped, five-cleft, the lower lobe larger ; 
rudiment of a fifth filament ; stign)a lan- 
ceolate ; capsule four-celled. There are 
three species, viz. tlie orientale, the indicum, 
and the luteum. S. orientate has ovate, ob- 
long, entire leaves. It is an annual, and 
grows naturally on the coast of Malabar and 
in the island of Ceylon ; rising with an her- 
baceous four-cornered stalk, two feet high, 
sending out a few short side branches. After 
the flowers are past, the germen turns to an 
oval acute pointed capsule, with four cells, 
filled witli oval compressed seeds, which 
