DEVELOPMEIirT. 
93 
egg, indicate the place at which the young serpent is to 
escape.* 
DEVELOPMENT. 
The young ^ on leaving the egg, usually differ from their 
parents, besides their size, by a system of colouring more 
vivid and more contrasted, by a head more blunt and more 
rounded, by the largeness of the eyes, and by the less per- 
fect state of the epidermis and its appendages. They are, 
however, provided with teeth perfectly resembling those of 
the adult, of which they are ready to make use ; and the 
venomous kinds, instructed by instinct with the power of 
their weapons, alternately elevate and lower their fangs, 
and defend themselves against attacks, with that fury which 
is innate in their race. It was long believed that the tail 
of the young was shorter in proportion to the trunk than 
in the adult, and that this member presented consequently 
in them a smaller number of subcaudal plates. If this 
were the case, we must suppose that new plates develope 
themselves with age ; but as the number of plates corre- 
sponds to the number of vertebrae, we must equally suppose 
the production of new osseous pieces, as is seen in the Julus, 
— a circumstance little probable in animals so high in the 
scale of being as those of whom we treat. Besides, the 
researches which I have made on this subject have proved 
the contrary ; since among a great many individuals, the 
young did not shew any difference from the adults in the 
number of plates, but what might be considered as acci- 
dental. To be sure of the fact, I have repeated these 
observations on a great number of the most dissimilar 
species, and have always obtained the same results. 
Shortly after their birth, the young Ophidians undergo 
their first moult. This operation is repeated in our climate, 
according to the observations of Lenz, five times in the 
year, viz., every month from the end of April, to the begin- 
ing of September ; whence it results that there is no cast- 
* See, on what relates to the development of the egg of serpents, the 
excellent memoir of Professor Herholdt, illustrated hy fine plates. 
Oversigtf 1829, p. 30, fig. 2. 
