The Banded Bungarus. REPTILES. Shielded Reptiles. 67 
the serpent becomes stiff and immovable, falling into 
a sort of catalepsy. Afterwards they waken it up 
whenever they please, by seizing its tail and rolling it 
briskly between their hands. From the earliest times 
the saliva of man was considered to possess great efB- 
cacy and power over serpents. Pliny mentions this ; 
but though the use of the saliva is still kept up by the 
modern serpent-charmers and jugglers of Egypt, it 
would appear that the chief effects just mentioned are 
caused by the pressure on the back of the head. “ My 
father,” says M. I. St. Hilaire, “ having often been an 
eye-witness in Egypt of these remarkable effects, was 
persuaded that of all the actions of which the practice 
of these men consisted, one alone had any efficacy in 
producing sleep (if one might use such an expression). 
Wishing to verify this suspicion, he tried to induce 
a juggler to confine himself to touching merely the 
upper part of the serpent’s head. The man, however, 
received the proposal as one full of horrible sacrilege, 
and refused to comply with the request, in spite of all 
the offers that could be made. The conjecture of my 
father, however, was well founded ; for Iiaving pressed 
his finger rather strongly upon the head of the Haje, 
he saw it immediately manifest all the phenomena which 
usually attended the mysterious practice of the juggler. 
The man, at the sight of such an effect, believed that he 
was the witness of a prodigy, as well as at the same time 
a frightful profanation, and he fled struck with terror.” 
THE BANDED BUNGARUS {Bungarus fasciatus ) — 
another venomous species of this group, represented in 
Plate 5, fig. 4 — is a native of India, China, Java, and 
Ceylon, and is known on the coast of Coromandel by 
the name of Bung arum Pamah. It attains a length of 
six feet, and is considered by the natives of India as 
very deadly. The body is nearly of equal size through- 
out, the head being rather small, and scarcely distinct 
from it. Its tail is short, keeled above, nearly of equal 
size as the body, and terminating in a conical top or 
round blunt point. It is only about five inches in 
length. Its body is encircled by large black bands, 
and generally, either in an adult or young state, there 
is a large white spot on each side of the neck, sending 
off a white streak to the crown, the two meeting there 
and forming an arrow-shaped mark. Ur. Russell tells^ 
us that he had a live specimen sent to him from Manoor 
Cottah, but in a very languid state. Being set at 
liberty, it remained for some time without moving, but 
soon began to crawl slowly towards a dark corner. A 
chicken was presented to him, but he took no notice 
of it, though when placed on his back the claws of the 
bird were so fast that he dragged the snake a little 
way. After the lapse of an hour it was forced to bite 
the chicken on the naked thigh, and the poor bird died 
within twenty-six minutes after being bitten. 
Of the third group of Colubriform serpents, viz., 
those which have venomous fangs permanently erect, 
the species are few and little known. We must there- 
fore pass them over, and hasten to the consideration of 
the remaining orders of reptiles, the Tortoises and the 
Crocodiles. 
SHIELDED REPTILES (Catapheacta). 
In the synopsis of the orders and families of Reptiles, 
pp. 5, 6, we have already mentioned that the Shielded 
Reptiles {Cataphracta) are divided into three Orders — 
the Tortoises and Turtles {Chelonia), the Crocodiles 
and Alligators {Eniydosauria), and the Amphisbae- 
nians or Double-walkers {Amphisbosnia) . 
The number of species contained in these three 
orders of reptiles are very few compared with the 
Lizards and Serpents, and as we have devoted so 
much space to the consideration of these latter and 
more typical forms, we must now limit ourselves to a 
more brief description of the present group. 
Order L— TORTOISES and TURTLES (Chelonia). 
The form and structure of Tortoises are such that 
they cannot be confounded with any other order of 
animals in existence. They appear, in fact, to be 
animals turned inside out, for their skeleton is exter- 
nal, and the muscular and vascular systems are inter- 
nal. They may be all arranged in three large groups, 
according to their habits of life, viz.. Land tortoises. 
Fresh-water tortoises, and Marine tortoises or turtles. 
The same general structure, however, is found in 
them all, as the body is inclosed within a case or 
double buckler, which only allows the head and neck, 
the tail, and the four limbs to be piotruded or with- 
drawn (in the greater number) when the animal 
requires to do so in order to protect these parts. 
This case or double buckler acts the part of a solid 
armour. Invested with it, they can shelter themselves 
very effectually from the attacks of all their adversaries 
except man, and some few animals of great strength 
and power. The upper portion of this case, which 
has always a more or less rounded and vaulted form, 
is called the carapace, and the under part is called the 
plastron, and is usually of a flattened form. These 
two parts are united by their margins. The carapace, 
which is equivalent to the thorax or chest in the higher 
classes of animals, is formed by the soldering and weld- 
ing together into a compact vaulted plate, of the ribs 
and back-bone, the former being broad, and consisting 
of eight pairs, and the latter retaining motion only at 
