Serpents. REPTILES. Viperine Serpents. 39 
tliey slioiild send forth such a foetid emanation as some 
autliors assert is extremely doulitful. We rather agree 
witli Mr. Waterton upon this subject, who gives his 
opinion thus: — “The nauseous smell, or foetor, which 
is said by some authors to come from the bodies of 
these monster snakes (the large Boas of Guiana), and 
to infect the atmosphere, is fabulous. The whimsical 
account of it deserves a place on the shelves of a nursery 
library. I have never perceived anything of the sort, 
although it has been my good fortune to come in con- 
tact with great serpents. Did such a foetor really exist 
to the extent which authors have described, other 
animals could not live with any comfort under its suf- 
focating influence, and it would be a salutary warning 
to them that an enemy was in the neighbourhood. 
Their precipitous retiring from it would be the means 
of starving the serpent to death for want of ordinary 
nourishment.” Serpents have numerous enemies always 
on the look-out for them. They are pursued without 
relaxation, Azara tells us, by all kinds of eagles, hawks, 
falcons, storks, herons, and by individuals of the same 
order to which they belong. In self-defence they have 
almost no other resource than their fangs, or concealing 
themselves in the holes of mice, armadillos, or other 
burrowing animals, or in the pasture grounds where 
the grass is high. The manner in which the secretary 
bird, and some others of the rapacious order, attack 
serpents, is worthy of observation. As if well aware 
of the danger they encounter, the birds approach the 
serpent in a sidelong manner, making a shield of one 
of their wings, which they half open and allow to fall 
on the ground. They try at the same time to strike 
with their beak the reptile’s head. Succeeding in 
this, they are sure to kill them, and then they devoui' 
them. 
In all times, and amongst almost all nations, serpents 
have fixed the attention of the human race. The great 
tempter of mankind assumed the form of a serpent, 
and under its guise crept into Paradise. When in 
the wilderness the Jews were bitten by “fiery-flying 
serpents,” Moses made, by command of God, a brazen 
serpent, which he j)laced upon a pole, so that those 
who looked upon it might live. In the times of their 
idolatry this very brazen serfient, being preserved by 
them, became an object of their idolatrous worship ; 
“for unto those days,” the days of Hezekiah, “the 
children of Israel did burn incense unto it.” Amongst 
the Egyptians, as would appear from some of the bronze 
relics in the British Museum, the Cobra de capello was 
regarded in some sense as sacred. A serpent was one 
of the gods of Babylon ; and in the Hindoo mythology 
serpents were regarded as malignant genii which 
tenanted the infernal regions. The serpent Python 
figured as an important agent amongst the ancient 
Greeks. Amongst the Romans the serpent was sacred 
to Hfsculapius, and he himself was worshipped under 
the form of that reptile. The ancient Mexicans wor- 
shipped the Boa, and offered human sacrifices to it; 
and in Africa some of the nations paid similar honours 
to a serpent. 
Notwithstanding all this respect and adoration, and 
in spite of the natural dislike almost all people have 
for them, serpents are often used as food. They arc 
also regarded in many countries as affording aid in 
curing some diseases. The Anacondas and other Boas 
supply the natives of the countries which they inhabit 
with wholesome nourishment. Rattlesnakes are much 
sought after in some parts of North America, where 
they are considered excellent food; and vipers are eaten 
by many people in the South of France. 
The method of dentition, and the structure and dis- 
tribution of the scales, form the great characters upon 
which the arrangement of serpents is based. In most 
popular works they are divided into two large groups, 
solely from their possessing venomous fangs, or being 
destitute of them. In the arrangement of Reptiles 
which we have adopted, viz., that of the British 
Museum, serpents are divided (see p. 5) into two 
sub-orders, tbe Viperine and Colubrine— both of which 
groups contain species that are poisonous. 
Sub-order I. — VIPERINE SERPENTS (Viperina). 
The species of this sub-order are pre-eminently poi- 
sonous, and their mischievous nature is indicated by 
many external characters. Their general appearance 
and physiognomy have something so peculiar in them, 
and the impression which their look creates is so vivid, 
that they may be for the most part immediately recog- 
nized by any one who has ever examined a single 
species. Their jaws are generally weak. The under 
one is provided with a series of sharp-pointed teeth ; 
hut the upper jaw is destitute of any, except the mov- 
able poison fangs, which have been fully described in 
a previous page (p. 35). The head is extremely broad, 
flattened on the crown, and heart-shaped or trigonal. 
■Instead of being covered with plates, like the Colubrine 
snakes, it is clothed in scales similar to those of the 
back. Their eyes are small, have a vertical pupil, are 
sunk deep in the sides of the head, and are shadowed 
by the projecting plates of the eyebrow. The upper 
lip is swollen and hangs down, in order to conceal the 
long fangs. In form they are heavy and squat, the 
body being pretty thick in the middle, somewhat com- 
pre.ssed ; the back slightly keeled, covered with rough, 
keeled scales ; and the belly broad, convex, and covered 
with broad, band-like shields or scuta. The tail is 
short, conical, thick, but never blunt at the tip.* 
Their manners, habits, and method of living assist 
* The difterences visilile between the poisonous and inno- 
cuous groups of serpents were known to early oliservers. 
“The viper.” says Catesby (meaning by the term viper, the 
whole of this sub-order), “hath the neck small, the head broad, 
the cheeks extending wide, their scales rough, the body short 
and thick in most; is slow of motion, can swell his head 
and neck; when irritated, hath the aspect terrible and ugly. 
Whereas snakes (the Colubrine species of serpents) have the 
head small, the body long, the scales smooth, are nimble, and 
of a harmless aspect.” 
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