S8 
OJf THE PHYSIOaNOMY OE SEEPEISTTS. 
near the head. Large species, or those that inhabit trees, 
we are often obliged to shoot with a gun. Aquatic snakes 
sometimes are caught in the fisherman’s nets, and this is 
probably the only method to obtain them, since in swimming 
they never expose any part of their bodies above the water. 
But the greater number of innocuous serpents are easily 
taken with the hand, either in seizing them by the neck or by 
the tail. Several, however, have the power of turning round 
to bite, while others soil their assailant with a foetid fluid, 
which they can eject to a considerable distance. It is 
not within the scope of our work to explain the various 
methods which may be employed to give chase to serpents : 
for more complete information, the work of M. Lenz may 
be consulted, who treats fully of this subject, and to whom 
a long experience has taught the means of easily capturing 
those dangerous animals, and how to shun, at the same 
time, the numerous risks which they run who pursue that 
occupation. In the same work will be found observations 
relative to the best method of destroying these noxious rep- 
tiles, or at least of preventing their too great multiplication. 
The means enumerated by this philosopher, are chiefly 
included under the following heads : — In the first place, to 
destroy the animals which serve as food for snakes, as bats, 
rats, frogs, and the like ; to favour the enemies of serpents 
mentioned above, among which the stork occupies the first 
rank, as doubly useful by the havoc it also makes among 
frogs ; afterwards to burn the vegetation on the places in- 
fested by numerous snakes, or when these are in plains, to 
bring them into cultivation ; lastly, to offer a premium to 
those who can produce certain parts of the snakes they had 
killed, abolishing at the same time the premium paid for 
the destruction of the birds of prey that feed on serpents, 
such as buzzards, kites, and crows. 
Several species of intestinal worms infest the viscera of 
serpents. I have often found the stomach, near the 
pylorus, so full of them, that their presence must have 
caused continual obstructions, if not death ; these worms 
formed a mass hanging on the internal walls of that intes- 
tine. Some are confined to the intestinal canal, others to 
the mesentery, and some exist even in the serous mem- 
