Serpents. KEPT I LES. Serpents. 
tlie'T moufli after the head has been separated from tlie 
bod}' for several hours. The sense of hearing does not 
appear to be very fine, and the sense of smelling seems 
to be very incomplete also ; whilst that of taste is still 
feebler, and less developed than that of smell. The 
sense of touch exists all over the body, but appears to 
be blunted by the scales, and by the horny epidermis 
which embraces them in all parts. Their muscular 
power is very great. The Boa constrictor for example, 
by twining itself round them, can suffocate the largest 
quadrupeds between its folds. 
The growth of serpents is rather slow, but they 
sometimes attain a very great size. There are some 
species which in time acquire a length of thirty or forty 
feet. Adanson mentions onein Senegal which was nearly 
fifty feet long and two and a half in diameter; and Mr. 
VVaterton tells us, that a Spaniard in Angostura, the 
capital of the Orinoco, showed him part of a serpent’s 
skin, which, judging from its amazing thickness, could 
not have been less than seventy feet in length. An 
immense serpent is recorded in ancient history, which 
was said to have occupied a situation on the banks of the 
river Begrada, between Utica and Carthage. Many of 
the soldiers, then under the command of Kegnlus, were 
said to have been destroyed by it, whilst going to the 
river for the purpose of procuring water. No ordinary 
weapons could produce any effect upon the huge mon- 
ster, and Regulus was obliged, according to the state- 
ment of Valerius Maximus, to use the military machines 
then employed for throwing large stones. A ponderous 
stone at length laid him low, and his skin which the 
commander took with him to Rome, is asserted to have 
measured one hundred and twenty-three feet in length ! 
The food of serpents consists of living flesh. The smaller 
mammalia, birds, and frogs constitute their usual food ; 
but in default of such prey, they will content themselves 
with the eggs of birds and fishes, insects and mollusca. 
By far the greater number of them attack their prey 
while alive, and although deprived of limbs, they easily 
make themselves master of them. Their food is swal- 
lowed entire. The oesophagus or gullet is very dilatable, 
and this, along with the capacious mouth and mobile 
jaws, enables these reptiles to swallow animals of much 
larger diameter than themselves. The common snake 
of this country will swallow frogs, rats, and mice, whose 
bodies much exceed their own in size ; and the Pythons 
and Boas of warmer climates will engulf within their 
capacious throat deer, goats, and even, it is said, small 
oxen. One repast will suffice them for many weeks ; 
and we have evidence to show that adders and vipers 
can be kept six months without any aliment whatever, 
and without losing a particle of their energy and 
activity. 
The generality of serpents are oviparous, though 
there are some, like our common viper, which bring 
forth their young alive. The eggs are arranged in two 
ovaries in the form of chaplets, to the number of fifteen 
or twenty, and not agglomerated in a mass. They are 
rounded, ovoid, and enveloped by a soft membrane, not 
porous, and slightly encrusted with a calcareous shell. 
The yolk is orange-coloured and oily. Hot-beds, heaps 
of manure, and similar places, are generally chosen by 
the female, in which to deposit them ; but the larger 
37 
kinds, as the Pythons, have been observed to surround 
them with their folds, and thus cause them to undergo 
a kind of hatching. They often take care of their 
young in early age, and some are said to have been 
seen to receive their family into their oesophagus at the 
moment of danger, and eject them again as soon as the 
alarm was over. 
Serpents are spread all over the warm and temperate 
parts of the globe; but, like other reptiles, they are 
larger and more numerous in hot countries. A small 
number are circumscribed within narrow limits. Rattle- 
snakes for instance are peculiar to North America; 
Boas are almost confined to South America; and 
Pythons to the torrid climes of the Old World. Some 
prefer wooded countries for their habitation, some live 
in marshy places, while others are only found in dry 
sandy plains; and others still are aquatic in their habits, 
living in the sea, and being seldom seen except far from 
land. The most exaggerated notions prevail with 
regard to the numbers of serpents in hot climates, and 
especially the numbers of poisonous species. Modern 
travellers, however, unite in ridiculing the terrors thus 
inspired by such ideas. Mr. Waterton, as far as regards 
the New World, says upon this subject : — W^hen we 
consider the immense extent of tropical America, and 
view its endless woods, we are forced to admit that 
snakes are comparatively few. I have seen more 
monkeys in one day, than I have found snakes during 
my entire sojourn in the forests. I have been for weeks 
together in the swamps of the river Orinoco, barefooted 
and up to the knees in water ; but as for snakes, I 
seldom saw them.” Dr. Davy, in his “ Interior of 
Ceylon,” thus speaks as regards a portion of the Old 
World : — “ It is commonly supposed that Ceylon 
abounds in snakes, that they are very dangerotis, and 
that they cannot be too carefull}' avoided. All this is 
greatly exaggerated. Where the fears are much con- 
cerned, the reason is generally weak ; and snakes from 
time immemorial — Indeed in all ages and countries — 
have been objects of av'ersion and dread, and subjects 
for superstition and fable. Snakes are neither numerous 
in Ceylon, nor much to be apprehended. Those who 
have most experience have the greatest confidence ; the 
old sportsman, in pursuit of game, plunges into the 
wildest jungle without dread or apprehension, whilst 
the newly-arrived European does not cross a lawn but 
with fear, almost amounting to trembling, of snakes in 
the grass. The latter is terrified by his imagination — 
the former is fearless from the knowledge of his security. 
One of the best and keenest sportsmen in the island, 
who has lived several years in the Megam-patloo, a 
district almost deserted by man and extremely infested 
with wild animals, has assured me, that in all his 
rambles and excursions he has never met with a 
poisonous snake. My object in making these remarks 
is to endeavour to remove senseless horrors, which 
apprehension of snakes in Ceylon too often gives rise 
to, and which if not opposed or subdued detract more 
from the comfort and happiness of life than can well 
be imagined, excepting by those in whose mind is still 
impressed the memory of the miseries produced in 
childhood hy the dread of hobgoblins.” Fortunately 
for man, only a small proportion of the known species 
