TABLES AND PEEJUDICES. 
10 ^ 
DUS, and so small, could produce such an effect, he care- 
fully examined the fowl, and found the folds of the tail of 
the snake around the neck of the bird, which would have 
perished had he not disengaged it. Many birds of small 
size are accustomed to pursue birds of prey, and other 
enemies of their race, or to fly about the place where the 
object of their hatred lies concealed : there is reason to 
believe that this phenomenon, known in Europe to every 
observer, also takes place in exotic regions ; and perhaps 
this is also one of the circumstances which have contribut- 
ed to the invention of the stories which have been related 
of the power of fascination in serpents. 
But I have too long interrupted the progress of my 
work, in exposing the numerous errors which have dis- 
figured one of the most beautiful parts of natural science ; 
and I believe I ought to omit the fables concerning the 
basilisk, the hybrid snakes produced by the congress of 
eels and serpents, and the other tales as strange as absurd, 
which are still believed by many persons. Yet, before 
terminating this division of my work, I shall notice the 
magic power which certain persons pretend to be able to 
exercise over snakes* This pretended art, which formed 
at ail times, and among various nations, the occupation of 
a particular caste, consists in certain tricks which the ser- 
pents execute at the will of the conjurors^ who have trained 
them expressly for the purpose : as they chiefly make use 
of the Naja tripudians and Naja haje, I have, in these two 
articles, stated the manner in which they employ serpents 
in those tricks.^ 
Such conjurors exist now in the Indian Peninsula, and 
in Egypt those of the latter country boast themselves to 
be the descendants of the Psylli,]: — a tribe who inhabited 
ancient Lybia and India, and were celebrated for their 
^ [The author here alludes to the descriptive part of his work, not 
yet translated.] 
t GrEOFFROr, Descrip. del Egypte., xxiv. p. 88, 
t Plin. vii. 2 ; 16, 37, 17, 27 ; Lucan, ix. 891, Consult 
also the paper of Mr Spaldino, entitled Uber die Zwaberei durch Sehlan- 
gen^ and inserted in the Memoires de VAcademie de Berlin ^ 1804-11, 
classe Historico-phiiosphique, p. 9. 
