190 
On the Teeth and Poison 
Art. VII. Notes on the Teeth and Poison Apparatus of 
the Snakes of Tasman's Peninsula . By Dr. James W. 
Agnew, M. D. 
Haying from time to time made a number of dissections in 
relation to the dental arrangement of the Snakes of the 
colony, and finding, at least in the books to which I have 
access, some anatomical points connected therewith, either 
mistated, omitted altogether, or not strictly applicable, I 
have been induced to throw a few notes on the subject, into 
a connected and continuous description of the entire dental 
apparatus. 
Important as the part is which these animals play in the 
zoology of Tasmania, their habits are still involved in a con¬ 
siderable degree of obscurity, and their nature is but little 
understood. I have even indeed heard their poisonous 
qualities made the subject of doubt, and it has been during 
an investigation of this interesting, though perhaps in its de¬ 
tails dry subject, that the following notes have been taken. 
These I shall arrange under three heads. 1st.—The bones 
and teeth of the lower jaw. 2nd.—Those of the palate. 
And 3rd.—The poison gland and duct. 
1st. The lower jaw consists of two lateral portions or 
maxillary bones, which do not meet in front, but are entirely 
separate and detached. Each of these presents in its whole 
length a slight curve, the concavity of which looks upwards, 
and on close examination is found to consist of two portions 
united by ligament. Of these, the posterior or articulating 
is the longer; it is unprovided with teeth and probably cor¬ 
responds to the ascending ramus of the human jaw. The 
anterior portion supports the teeth, which are about sixteen 
in number ; slender, conical and recurved in shape, and 
therefore of a simply prehensile character. In dissections, a 
few are generally found broken or detached, but ample pro¬ 
vision is made for such accidents by a supply of reserve 
teeth, which are found lying at their base and on their inter- 
