126 
ON THE PHYSIOONOMY OP SERPENTS, 
SYNOPTICAL VIEW OF OPHIDIANS. 
I come now to mj proper subject. I have already men- 
tioned in the Preface, the motives which induced me to give 
my work the title under which it has appeared. The ge- 
neral part of my book has no need of commentary ; conse- 
quently I have only now in the following pages to give a 
synopsis of the descriptive or special part.^ 
I have retained the old division of serpents into Inno- 
cuous and Venomous. The constant character of these 
last is, being provided with a gland of a cellular structure, 
secreting a fluid which, introduced into the animal frame, 
there produces deleterious effects. The maxillary teeth, much 
longer than the rest, are hollow internally, and provided 
with two orifices, one for the entrance, and the other for the 
exit of the venom ; they are called Fangs, and are the wea- 
pons by means of which those serpents inflict wounds, and 
at the same time introduce into the wound the destructive 
fluid. It is very diflicult, if not impossible, to assign to 
venomous serpents distinctive external characters. Several 
of them, as sea-snakes, are distinguished by their flattened 
tails ; the venomous snakes properly so called, have some- 
thing so peculiar in their general form and their physiog- 
nomy, that it requires but a small experience to recognise 
them at the first glance ; but it is not so with that family 
of venomous serpents to which I have given the name 
of Colubriform: the greatest number of these reptiles so 
much resemble innocuous snakes, that naturalists even 
have confounded the two races. A muzzle generally thick 
and rounded, a short, thick, and conical tail : these are 
the principal external characters, little prominent it is true, 
which can be assigned to the colubriform venomous ser- 
pents. The habits of venomous serpents offer several other 
marks to distinguish them from the harmless species ; and 
* [This special or descriptive part is not now translated. It forms a 
volume about double the size of that now submitted to the English 
reader, and constitutes the clearest and best digested general description 
of serpents which has fallen under the notice of the Translator.] 
