176 
THE LIVING WORLD. 
have done, and as St. George is said to have accomplished. Such was the 
original occupation of heroes: and those who first obtained that name, from 
their destroying the ravagers of the earth, gained it much more deservedly than 
their successors, who acquired their reputation only for their skill in destroying 
each other. But as we descend into more enlightened antiquity, we find these 
animals less formidable, as being attacked in a more successful manner. We 
are told, that while Regulus led his army along the banks of the river Bagrada, 
in Africa, an enormous serpent disputed his passage over. We are assured by 
Pliny, who says, that he himself saw the skin, that it was a hundred and twenty 
feet long, and that it had destroyed many of the army. At last, however, the 
battering engines were brought out against it; and these assailing it at a dis¬ 
tance, the reptile was soon destroyed. Its spoils were carried to Rome, and the 
general was decreed an ovation for his success. There are, perhaps, few facts 
better ascertained in history than this. An ovation was the most distinguished 
honor conferred by the Romans, and was only given for some signal exploit, 
therefore it is scarcely possible that any historian could invent a story of such 
ovation being given without being exposed. The skin of the serpent destroyed 
by the army of Regulus was taken to Rome and kept on exhibition in the 
capitol for at least fifteen years, where Pliny affirms that he frequently saw it. 
HOW SERPENTS SWALLOW CREATURES LARGER THAN THEMSELVES. 
Among the most singular characteristics peculiar to serpents is the power 
which they alone possess of swallowing a prey the diameter of whose body ex¬ 
ceeds many fold that of their own. This wonderful ability is due to the fact 
that their jaws are not fitted with sockets so as to work on a hinge as are those 
of other creatures; on the contrary their union is by elastic muscles capable 
of very great expansion, while the throat and gullet are capable of like dila¬ 
tation. 
All species are provided with teeth, the non-venomous having a row on 
either side of re-curved, hollow and immovable grasping teeth, while the 
venomous have two fangs in a movable palate by which, like the shark, they 
can erect or depress them flat upon the roof of the mouth at will. At the 
base of the fang is a sac in which the virus is secreted. When the creature 
bites, a pressure on this sac forces the virus out and it flows down through a 
duct, which is concealed in a groove, along the inner side of the fang and 
into the Wound. If the fangs be extracted, which is a simple operation to 
perform, the reptile remains harmless forever after, though when the non- 
venomous lose their teeth they are very soon replaced by others. 
The eyes of all snakes are small and malignant in expression, and, owing 
to the crystalline humor within the globe, are hard as horn. Some few possess 
upper lids and wink naturally, while in others there is only an under lid, and 
in yet others both lids are wanting. 
The aural vents are scarcely distinguishable and the conduits for smelling 
are entirely absent, by which it is supposed that serpents do not possess the 
sense of smell and that their hearing is doubtful, 'foiey probably have to 
trust to a keen vision and their extreme sensibility to vibrations, as do the 
fishes. 
The tongue is generally long and bifurcated (forked), most sensitive to 
touch, and may be projected by a provision of two extensible tendons at the 
