INTRODUCTION.

THE term ophiology is composed of two Greek words, namely φίς, a serpent, and οφις, a discourse, and consequently denotes that branch of zoology which treats of serpents. The latter constitute an order in the class of amphibious animals. They are covered with scales, breathe by means of lungs, and are destitute of feet and fins.

The hideous aspect of some of the species, and the poisonous properties of others, long contributed to prevent any deliberate investigation of their structure, constitution, and modes of existence. Hence the ancients, who at best had very imperfect notions of classification, sometimes indicate different species under the same name, or bestow different appellations on the same species, and moreover blend their vague descriptions with the embellishments or absurdities of fable.

Among the moderns, few naturalists have directed their researches to the history of serpents. "It must be acknowledged," observes Dr Ruffel, "that it offers no attractive allurements; and that those who, from other avocations, can only spare transient attention to subjects of natural history, are more likely to prefer objects less disgusting, and experiments accompanied with less cruelty and personal danger. Even the eager and resolute naturalist has to contend with many difficulties in this path of research. He cannot at once divest himself of the abhorrence, next to innate, of these reptiles; nor can he soon acquire a dexterity in handling them, with that calmness requisite for his own safety. The search for plants, for birds, or even insects, is comparatively pastime, or pleasurable occupation; but in the actual pursuit of the disgusting race of serpents, he stands in need of assistants, who are not at all times to be procured; and if he rely solely on the diligence of such as he may employ, he will find himself exposed to the chagrin of incessant disappointment."

Seba has indeed presented us with a numerous catalogue; but his species are too multiplied, and his descriptions too concise. Cateby was more solicitous to design and colour his serpents, than to unfold their discriminating characters. The descriptions of Gronovius are for the most part well and accurately detailed; but they are unprovided with the specific names.

Linnaeus, availing himself of the works to which we Linnaeus have just alluded, of the discoveries of Garden, and of his own discernment, published his method of distinguishing the species by the number of scaly plates on the abdomen, and beneath the tail. Experience has indeed proved, that these do not always constitute an infallible criterion, and that more obvious marks, such as the relative size of the head, the length of the body and tail, &c. must sometimes be referred to: it must, however, be allowed, that the celebrated Swedish naturalist paved the way to a far more accurate nomenclature of serpents than had yet appeared, and that the value of his scientific definitions is greatly enhanced by the interesting notices on the same subject, which are inserted in his Amaranthae Academiae, and in the first and second volumes of his Adolphian Museum.

The count de la Cépeda has in some respects improved La Cépeda the Linnean arrangement, and exhibited a more complete catalogue than any of his predecessors. Dr Shaw has likewise displayed his usual facility in the second part of the third volume of his General Zoology, which is allotted to his exposition of the serpent tribes. To these we may add, Owen on the natural history of Owen, serpents, Klein's Tentamen Herpetologiae, Blumenbach & Klein, &c. Beyträge zur Naturgeschichte der Schlangen, Schneider's Allgemeine Betrachtungen über die Eintheilung und Kennzeichen der Schlangen, Merian's Beyträge zur geschichte der Amphibien, Laurenti's Specimen Medicum, contimens Synopsin Reptilium, Bonaterre's Ophiologie, in the Encyclopédie Méthodique, Latrille's Histoire Naturelle des Reptiles, Ruffel's Account of Indian Serpents, &c. &c.

Anatomy and Physiology of Serpents.

The body of serpents is very long when compared with its thickness; and is sometimes quite cylindrical, or rounded, sometimes compressed on the sides, sometimes flat on the under surface, and sometimes attenuated towards the tail. It is usually covered with scales; but sometimes naked, either rough, or slippery to the touch, and banded, spotted, or reticulated; the skin exhibiting great varieties in the tints and distribution of the colours.

The head is either distinct from the trunk, or confounded with it, and is convex, or flattened, oval, triangular, or heart-shaped, and furnished with plates, or imbricated scales. It includes the mouth, snout, jaws, lips, teeth, tongue, eyes, and nostrils. There is no visible external ear; though animals of this order doubtless possess the faculty of hearing.

The mouth is that cavity which is situated between the jaws. It is very large in proportion to the size of the head, and is capable of being widely extended. The snout is the anterior part of the head: it is flatting, elongated, obtuse, truncated, or reflexed. The jaws, which are either of equal or unequal length, are composed of two bones, which do not, as ours, open in the manner of a pair of hinges, but are held together at the roots, by a fretting muscular skin, so as to open as widely as the animal chooses to stretch them. By this contrivance serpents are enabled to swallow animals thicker than themselves. The lips are entire, notched, or reflexed. The teeth, in the jaws, are generally sharp-pointed, and, in serpents not poisonous, are disposed in three rows in the upper jaw, one row exterior and two interior. The under jaw is sometimes provided with a single row. The noxious species are furnished with canine teeth, or fangs, of a tubular structure, situated in the projecting part of the upper jaw, commonly of a much larger size than the other teeth, and frequently accompanied by smaller or subsidiary fangs, apparently destined to supply the principal ones, when lost either by age or accident. The fangs are situated in a peculiar bone, fo articulated with the rest of the jaw, as to elevate or depress them at the pleasure of the animal. In a quiescent state they are recumbent, with their points directed inwards or backwards; but, in the moment of irritation, their position is altered by the mechanism of the above-mentioned bone, in which they are rooted, and they become almost perpendicular. The tongue is usually straight and slender, composed of two long and rounded fleshy substances, which terminate in sharp points, and are very pliable. They unite at about two thirds length, and the root is connected to the neck by two tendons, which give the whole organ a great variety and facility of motion. In most species, the tongue is almost wholly inclosed in a sheath, or integument, from which the animal can dart it out of its mouth, without opening its jaws; the upper mandible having a small notch, through which it can pass. Some of the viper kinds have tongues a fifth part of the length of their bodies, and, as they are constantly darting them out, terrify those who are ignorant of the real situation of the poison. The eyes are small, when compared with the length of the body, and greatly vary in respect of liveliness and colour. In some species the upper eyelid is wanting, while others have a nictitating membrane, or skin, which keeps the organ clean, and preserves the sight. In all, the substance of the eye is hard and horny, the crystalline humour occupying a great part of the globe. The pupil is susceptible of considerable contraction and dilatation, and the iris is often of a golden or fine red colour. The nostrils are two openings at the extremity of the snout, for receiving the sensation of smell.

The trunk is that part of the body which reaches Anatomy from the nape to the vent. It is scaly, annulated, tuberculated, or wrinkled; and comprehends the back, sides, belly, anus, organs of generation, and faeces. The back is the upper part of the trunk, commencing at the nape and terminating immediately above the vent. In Backmost species it is rounded, but in some carinated or furrowed. The sides are the lateral portions of the trunk, from the extremity of the jaws to the vent. The belly, Belly, or abdomen, is the lower part of the body, from the head to the tail, the want of a diaphragm precluding a breast. The anus is an opening, usually transverse, placed at the extremity of the lower surface of the trunk, forming the line of demarcation between the latter and the tail, and affording a passage to the liquid and solid excrements. The penis of the male, and the ovary of the female, are also situated in this common vent, from which they are extended only during the season of pairing. The scales, properly so called, are Scales. round, oval, oblong, and attenuated at the extremities, rhomboidal, smooth, or carinated. The broad undivided plates on the belly and head, are termed scute, and the smaller or divided plates beneath the tail, are called squamae subcaudales or scutella, subcaudal scales or platelets.

The tail is attenuated, obtuse, square, in the form of a triangular pyramid, flattened or compressed at the fides.

As serpents have neither limbs nor breast, the structure of their skeleton is much less complex than that of quadrupeds. The bones of the head are from eight to ten. The skull, which is sometimes flat and sometimes convex, is very hard and compact, and exhibits four principal sutures, which are with difficulty separated. The bones of the trunk consist of a series of vertebrae, imbedded in one another, and articulated with the ribs. The caudal vertebrae are disposed in the same manner, and provided with similar processes; but they are unconnected with ribs, and gradually diminish in size as they approach to the end of the tail. In most quadrupeds, the joints in the back-bone seldom exceed thirty or forty; whereas in serpents they often amount to 145, from the head to the vent, and 25 more from that to the tail. The number of these joints must give the back-bone a surprising degree of pliancy, which is still increased by the manner in which one is locked into the other. In man and quadrupeds, the flat surfaces of the bones are laid one against the other, and bound tight by sinews; but in serpents the bones play one within the other, like ball and socket, so that they have free motion in every direction.

The remarkable strength and agility, manifested by serpents, depend on the vigorous muscles with which they are provided. Several of these are inserted along and beneath the skull, and about the upper and lower jaws. Four, which are denominated lateral, have their origin behind the head, and extend, by each side, to the extremity of the tail. Each vertebra has also its corresponding intercoffal muscle, which serves the same purposes as in other animals.

The internal organs, or viscera of individuals of this order of animals, nearly correspond to those of others, and, consequently, need not long detain us.

The brain is divided into five small portions, which are round, and somewhat elongated. The two first are placed placed between the eyes, and give origin to the olfactory nerves; other two are situated in the middle region of the skull; and the last, which is a little farther back, appears to be the commencement of the spinal marrow.

The tracheal artery, composed of distinct and cartilaginous rings, has its origin at the top of the gullet, and communicates with the lungs, under the heart. The lungs are not lobed, but consist of a cellular and membranous substance, abundantly furnished with blood vessels.

The oesophagus is formed of a single membrane, extends to the orifice of the stomach, is of an equal diameter throughout, and susceptible of an extraordinary degree of dilatation. The stomach, which is of a larger capacity, is formed of two concentric tunics, which closely adhere, and which are internally covered with folds or wrinkles. The heart has two ventricles, and is small in proportion to the size of the body. As the circulation of the blood is independent of the lungs, the animal is enabled to remain for a considerable time under water. It cannot, however, make this element its constant residence; because occasional supplies of fresh air are necessary to preserve in its blood those qualities which are necessary to motion and vitality. In serpents, therefore, as well as in viviparous quadrupeds, respiration is essential to life. This function they do not perform by a rapid succession of alternate dilatations and contractions of the lungs; but, having this viscus remarkably large in proportion to their bodies, they are able to fill it with a considerable provision of air; and as they expire very slowly, some time will elapse before they are obliged to inspire again. The intestinal canal is narrow, finuous, and internally divided by many transverse partitions. The kidneys are particularly large, and composed of small continuous glands, blended with excretory vessels.

That animals of the serpent kind possess the use of the five external senses, can scarcely admit of dispute. We have indeed remarked, that most of the species appear to want an external auditory passage; but it is certain that they are often directed to birds, by listening to their notes; and many indicate a degree of sensibility to the sounds of musical instruments. Their sense of smell, with a few remarkable exceptions, is neither very active nor acute; but, in most, that of sight is quick and penetrating. The soft and nervous texture of the tongue and palate would induce a suspicion, that they enjoy the sense of taste in a pre-eminent degree; yet, as they generally swallow their food in large portions, they seldom avail themselves of the delicacy of these organs. Being unprovided with feet, hands, or feelers, their sense of touch is probably very imperfect; and even when they twine very closely round an object, the interposition of their scales will render their feeling of its surface vague and obtuse.

The sexual union of serpents usually takes place in the funny days of spring, is very close and ardent, and varies in duration from an hour to several days, according to the species, but terminates without any permanent attachment. The females of some are viviparous, and of others viviparous. The eggs of the former vary in respect of size, colour, and number, according to the species and constitution of the individual; and they are deposited, not in continuous succession, but at intervals, and sometimes with the appearance of much suffering on the part of the female. Sergerus relates, that he saw a female snake, after twisting herself, and rolling on the ground in an unusual manner, bring forth an egg. He immediately took her up, and facilitated the extrusion of thirteen more, the laying of all which consumed an hour and a half; for, after depositing each, she rested for some time. When he remitted his affluence, the process was more slow and difficult; and the poor animal seemed to receive his good offices with gratitude, which she expressed by gently rubbing her head against his hands. The mother never hatches these eggs, but leaves them exposed in some warm situation, as in holes with a southern aspect, on dry sand, under moss or foliage, on a dunghill, near an oven, &c. The outer covering of the egg is a thin compact membrane, and the young serpent is spirally rolled in its albuminous liquid. The viviparous Viviparous species differ considerably, both with respect to their periods of gestation, and the number of their offspring. Thus, vipers which go about three months with young, generally breed twice a-year, and produce from twenty to twenty-four, while the blind-worm, which is pregnant about a month, brings forth sometimes seven, and sometimes ten at a birth. When young serpents are hatched or produced, they are abandoned to the resources of their own instinct, and often perish before they have acquired sufficient experience to flun the fishes which are laid for them by quadrupeds, birds, and reptiles.

In regard to the different stages of growth of the different species, little precise information seems to have been obtained: and, though some arrive at a very large size, their dimensions have, no doubt, been much exaggerated. The young of the viper, at the moment of parturition, measures from twelve to fifteen lines; and two or three years elapse before they are capable of reproducing their kind. Adanson however concludes, from ocular observation, that the largest serpent in Senegal may measure from forty to fifty feet in length, and from a foot to a foot and a half in breadth. Leguat assures us, that he saw one in Java, that was fifty feet long. Carlis asserts, that they grow to upwards of forty feet. Mr Wentworth, a gentleman who had large concerns in the Berbices, informs us, that he one day sent out a soldier, with an Indian, to kill wild fowl for the table; and they accordingly went some miles from the fort. In pursuing their game, the Indian, who generally marched before, beginning to tire, went to rest himself on the fallen trunk of a tree, as he supposed it to be; but, when he was just going to sit down, the huge monster began to move, and the poor savage, perceiving that he had approached a Boa, dropped down in an agony. The soldier perceiving what had happened, levelled at the serpent's head, and by a lucky aim shot it dead. He continued his fire, however, until he was assured that the animal was killed; and then going up to rescue his companion, he found him killed by the fright. The animal was brought to the fort, and was found to measure thirty-fix feet. Mr W. caused the skin to be stuffed, and lent it as a present to the Prince of Orange. We are told, that when Regulus led his army along the banks of the Bagrada, in Africa, an enormous serpent disputed his passage across the river. If we can give credit to Pliny, this reptile was 120 feet long, and had destroyed many of the soldiers, when it was overcome in turn by the battering engines. Its spoils were carried Physiology to Rome, and the general was decreed an ovation for his serpents' success. The skin was preserved for years after in the capitol, where Pliny says that he saw it.

In regard to voice, some serpents are apparently silent, and others have a peculiar cry; but hissing is the sound which they most commonly utter, either as a call to their kind, or a threat to their enemies. In countries where they abound, they are generally silent in the middle of the day; but, in the cool of the evening, they issue from their retreats with continued hissings.

The masses of food which serpents are enabled to swallow, would appear quite miraculous, did we not reflect on the lax structure of their jaws, their power of crushing their victims, and the viscid humour, or saliva, which lubricates the crude morsel in its passage down an extensible oesophagus. In spite of all these circumstances, the quantity of aliment is sometimes so voluminous, that it sticks in the gullet, when only partly immersed in the stomach, and the animal lies stretched and nearly motionless, in its retreat, till the swallowed portion be digested, and the extruded half introduced, to undergo the same process. But, though serpents thus occasionally gorge themselves with food, as their blood is colder than that of most other terrestrial animals, and circulates slowly, their powers of digestion are feeble and tardy, so that they can endure weeks, and even months of abstinence. Nay, so tenacious are they of the vital principle, that they exist and grow in mephitic marshes, continue to breathe, for a considerable time, in the exhausted receiver of an air-pump, and frequently exhibit symptoms of life after one part of the body has been severed from the other. Vipers are often kept in boxes, for fix or eight months, without any food whatever; and there are little serpents sometimes sent to Europe from Cairo, which live for several years in glass, and never eat at all.

The natural term of the existence of serpents, is not accurately known; but it has been conjectured, that some of the larger kinds may complete a century. The first failure of their strength is the almost immediate forerunner of their dissolution; for, when deprived of the requisite elasticity of frame to spring on their prey, and of the requisite force to combat their enemies, they shrink into their recesses, and die of hunger, or are easily devoured by the ichneumon, stork, and other powerful assailants.

In the more northerly and temperate regions of the globe, the serpent tribes, towards the end of autumn, fall into a state of torpor, more or less profound, according to the greater or less intensity of the cold; and in this condition they remain, nearly lifeless, till the approach of spring reanimates their stiffened frame.

Soon after its resuscitation, the serpent works itself out of its old epidermis, by rubbing itself against the ground, or by wedging itself between any two substances that are sufficiently close to each other. The exuviae come off entire, being loosed first about the head; and are always found turned inside out. It is some time before the scales acquire a sufficient degree of hardness to defend the animal against external injury; and, during this interval, it generally confines itself to its retreat.

Generic and Specific Exposition of the Order.

Gen. I. Crotalus. Rattle-Snake.

Scuta on the abdomen, scuta and squamae beneath the tail, rattle terminating the tail.

The animals of this genus inhabit America, where they prey on the smaller birds, lizards, and insects. They are furnished with poisonous fangs, and have a broad head, covered with large scales. Their snout is obtusely rounded.

Banded Rattle-Snake, Common Rattle-Snake, or Boi-quirá.—The characters are, 167 abdominal, and 23 sub-caudal scuta. The ordinary length of this species is from three to four or five feet, and the greatest thickness that of a man's arm. The prevailing colour is a yellowish brown, marked with cross and irregular bands of a deeper shade, and two or three longitudinal stripes from the head down the neck; the under parts are of a dingy brown, with many dusky variegations and freckles. The mouth is capable of great dilatation. The tongue is black, slender, bipartite, and inclosed in a kind of sheath, from which the snake darts forth the double point, and vibrates it with great velocity. The rattlesnake is viviparous, producing in June about twelve young, which, by September, acquire the length of about twelve inches. These, it is said to preserve from danger, like the viper in Europe, by receiving them into its mouth, and swallowing them. In confirmation of this assertion, we shall quote the words of M. de Beausvois, who, during his residence in America, bestowed particular attention on the history of amphibious reptiles.

"Among the information which I endeavoured to obtain in my travels with respect to serpents in general, there was one point which greatly excited my curiosity. Several persons, and one among the rest to whom I owe a debt of gratitude for civilities and marks of friendship, which will for ever rest engraven on my heart, had informed me, that the female rattle-snake concealed its young ones in its body; that when they were alarmed by any noise, or by the approach of man, they took refuge in the body of their mother, into which they entered by her mouth. This fact had been already ascertained with respect to the viper of Europe; but in consequence of the unfavourable and repulsive dispositions inspired by this kind of reptile, and in order to render it still more hideous, an absurd interpretation was given to this fact. It was pretended, that this serpent eats its little ones after having given them birth. Curious to verify this fact related of the boiquirá, I was constantly occupied with this idea, and began to despair of ever making the observation, when, at a moment in which I thought the least of it, accident furnished me the means. Having fallen sick among the Indians, I found myself obliged to remain a few days with one of them in the neighbourhood of Pine-log. During my convalescence, I took a walk every morning in the neighbourhood, and one day when I was following a pretty broad path, I perceived, at a distance, a serpent lying across the road in the sun. I had a stick in my hand, and drew near to kill it; but what was my surprise, when, in the moment that I was about to give the blow, the reptile perceived me, coiled up itself, and opened its large mouth, into which five serpents, which I had not till then observed, because they were lying along its body, rushed into the gulf which I had conceived opened for myself. I retired to one side, and hid myself behind a tree. The reptile had crawled a few paces, but hearing no further noise, and not perceiving me, stretched itself out afresh. In a quarter of an hour the young ones came out again. Satisfied with this observation, I advanced anew towards the animal, with intention to kill it and examine the interior of its stomach: but it did not permit me to approach so near as it did the first time, the young ones entered with still greater precipitation into their retreat, and the boioura fled into the grass. My satisfaction and astonishment were so great, that I did not think of following it."

The rattle consists of a number of pieces, inserted into each other, all alike in shape and size, hollow, and of a thin, elastic, brittle substance, similar to the exterior part of the scuta. Their form is nearly that of an inverted quadrilateral pyramid, with the corners rounded off. The first piece, or that nearest the body, may be considered as a kind of cafe, which contains the three last vertebrae of the tail, on which it appears to be moulded, and has three convex, circular elevations corresponding with them; the two last of these elevations are fitted into the two first of the next piece; so that of every piece except the last, the first only of the elevations is exposed to view, the two others being inclosed in those of the following, in which they have room to play from side to side. These several pieces have no muscles, nerves, nor ligaments, nor are they connected, either with each other, or with the body of the serpent any otherwise than by the mode of insertion already described. Thus they derive no nourishment from the animal, and are merely an appendage which can have no other motion than what is communicated to it by that of the tail. These several pieces of which the rattle consists, appear to have been separately formed. Dr Van Meurs imagines them to be no other than the old epidermis of the tail, which, when its nourishment is intercepted by the new skin formed beneath it, grows hard and brittle. Hence, he supposes, that whenever this part acquires a new skin, a new piece of the rattle is added to the former, which is thus detached from the vertebrae, and flowed farther from the tail. The number of these pieces, however, affords no certain criterion of the animal's age, because those which are most remote from the tail, become so dry and brittle, that they are very liable to be broken off and lost.

The two principal fangs are placed without the jaws, on a separate bone, and the smaller ones attached to muscles and tendons. These fangs may be couched, or raised, at the pleasure of the animal, and are furnished with an opening near the root, and a slit towards the point, so that on pricking gently with the finger on the side of the gum, the poison, which is yellowish, is perceived to issue from the hollow of the tooth, through the slit. The vehicle which contains the poison, is externally of a triangular form, and of a tendinous texture; internally, it is cellular; and its interior part terminates in a small duct, communicating with the faeculus which covers the perforated teeth. It is furnished with a constrictor muscle, for the purpose of expressing its contents. The virulence of the latter may be inferred from various experiments reported in the Philosophical Transactions, and other publications. A rattle-snake of about four feet long, being fastened to a flake, bit three dogs, the first of which died in less than a quarter of a minute; the second, which was bitten a short time afterwards, in about two hours, and the third, which was bitten about half an hour afterwards, showed the visible effects of the poison in three hours, and likewise died. Other experiments were instituted; and lastly, in order to try if the snake could poison itself, it was provoked to bite a part of its own body, and actually expired in less than twelve minutes. Our limits will not permit us to enumerate various other instances of the almost instantaneous effects of this poison, which is most to be dreaded in hot weather, and when the animal is much irritated. The rattle-snake, however, is rather afraid of man, and will not venture to attack him unless provoked. It moves slowly, for the most part with its head on the ground, but if alarmed, it throws its body into a circle, coiling itself, with the head erect in the centre, and with its eyes flaming in a terrific manner. In cases of flight bites, the Indians usually suck the wound. They have likewise recourse to the juices of various herbs, and to the root of polygonia feneka; but these applications produce little effect, without scarification and ligatures. According to Dr Barton, the rude and simple practice of the western settlers, is, first, to throw a tight ligature above the part into which the poison has been introduced, at least as often as the circumflances of the case admit of such an application. The wound is next scarified, and a mixture of salt and gunpowder, or either of these articles, separately, laid on the part. Over the whole is put a piece of the bark of juglans alba, or white walnut-tree, which acts as a blister. At the same time, a decoction or infusion of one or more stimulant vegetables, with large quantities of milk, are administered internally: the doctor is, nevertheless, of opinion, that the beneficial effects of this mode of treatment are chiefly to be ascribed to the external applications. If the fang has penetrated a vein or artery, or attacked the region of the throat, the bite commonly proves fatal, and the patient expires in dreadful agony. "Where a rattle-snake, (lays Catesby,) with full force, penetrates with his deadly fangs, and pricks a vein, or artery, inevitable death ensues; and that, as I have often seen, in less than two minutes." "The Indians, (he continues,) know their destiny the minute they are bit; and, when they perceive it mortal, apply no remedy, concluding all efforts in vain." Dr Barton, however, inclines to think, that this attention should be received with considerable limitation, and that the application of ligatures, &c. even in cases apparently the most desperate, should not be neglected. According to Clavigero, the most effectual method is thought to be, the holding of the wounded part some time in the earth. But if the poison be once received into the general mass of the blood, it is almost needless to have recourse to medicines. A considerable degree of nausea is usually the first alarming symptom; the pulse becomes full, strong, and greatly agitated; the whole body swells; the eyes are suffused with blood; a hemorrhage frequently proceeds from the eyes, nose, and ears; large quantities of blood are sometimes thrown out on the surface of the body, in the form of sweat; the teeth vacillate in their sockets; and the pains and groans of of the unhappy sufferer too plainly indicate, that the moment of dissolution is near at hand.

The following remarkable case is related by Mr Helector St John. A farmer was one day mowing with his negroes, when he accidentally trod on a rattle-snake, which immediately turned on him, and bit his boot. At night, when he went to bed, he was attacked with sickness, his body swelled, and before a physician could be called in, he died. All his neighbours were surprised at his sudden death; but the body was interred without examination. A few days after one of the sons put on the father's boots, and, at night, when he pulled them off, he was seized with the same symptoms, and died on the following morning. The physician arrived, and, unable to divine the cause of so singular a disorder, seriously pronounced both the father and son to have been bewitched. At the tale of the effects a neighbour purchased the boots, and on putting them on, experienced the like dreadful symptoms with the father and son. A skillful physician, however, being sent for, who had heard of the foregoing accidents, suspected the cause, and by applying proper remedies, recovered the patient. The fatal boots were now carefully examined, and the two fangs of the snake were discovered to have been left in the leather, with the poison-bladders adhering to them. They had penetrated entirely through, and both the father and son had imperceptibly scratched themselves with their point in pulling off the boots.

We are informed by Dr Barton, that a gentleman of Philadelphia had a large rattle-snake brought to him alive, which he so managed by a string, that he could easily lead it into, or out of a cloe cage. On the first day, he suffered this snake to bite a chicken, which had been allured to the mouth of the cage by crumbs of bread. In a few hours, the bird mortified, and died. On the second day, another chicken was bitten in the same manner, and survived the injury much longer than the first. On the third day, the experiment was made on a third chicken, which swelled much, but, nevertheless, recovered. On the fourth day several chickens were suffered to be bitten, without receiving any injury. These simple experiments enable us to assign a reason, why persons who have actually been bitten by the rattle-snake, have sometimes experienced very inconsiderable, or no bad consequences from the wound; they flew in what manner many vegetables have acquired a reputation for curing the bites of serpents, without our being obliged to impeach the veracity of those from whom our information is derived; and lastly, they teach us the physiological fact, that the poison of this reptile is secreted very slowly.

It has been observed by M. Gauthier, that the poison stains linen with a green hue, which is deeper in proportion as the linen has been impregnated with llixivium.

The pretended fascinating power of the rattle-snake is now generally discredited; and Dr Barton, professor of natural history in the university of Pennsylvania, reduces the whole to the fluttering of old birds in defence of their young, and too near an approach to the formidable enemy. In confirmation of this opinion, he observes, that he can trace no allusion to the alleged fascinating faculty, in the ancient writers of Greece and Rome; that he doubts if it is credited by the American Indians; that Linnaeus was extremely credulous; that the enchanting power of the rattle-snake is questioned by some eminent European naturalists; that the breath of this reptile is not remarkably infectious or pestiferous; that it often fails in catching birds; that the latter, and squirrels, are not its principal food; and that it is even devoured by some of the larger kinds of birds.

Mr Peale, an intelligent and zealous naturalist, kept a rattle-snake alive for five years and a half. "Curious to enquire," (says M. Beauvois), "how this animal seizes his prey, he (Mr Peale) has confined several birds in the same cage with him, and the hungry reptile has made many attempts to take hold of the bird. This experiment has been repeated many times, and every time with the same effect. I have seen, myself, one of these birds in the cage; but whether the reptile was not hungry, or was sensible of its want of power, it remained perfectly tranquil, while the bird was perfectly at ease. It gave no indication which could make it be believed that it was either enchanted or affrighted; and the air did not appear different, if we might judge from its behaviour from that which is found in an ordinary cloe cage. The bird remained two days in the same situation, without the least attention paid to it by the reptile, who, in the mean time, ate a dead one which was presented to him.

"Another living bird was put into the cage with the serpent: far from being alarmed, it amused itself with pecking in the bottom, and picking up a few grains which it found there: often changing place in its accustomed manner, and even resting itself on the back of the boioura, which made no extraordinary movements. This experiment was made several times.

"Mr Peale, his children, and myself, have often examined the reptile. We never perceived it to send out the slightest suffocating odour. It is in vain to object, that the living birds thus given it were not of the kind fitted for its nourishment; for it has eaten the same birds, when presented to it dead, and it is not useless to remark, that it never refused one of them."

Catesby mentions an individual of this species, which was about eight feet long, and weighed from eight to nine pounds. It was seen gliding into a gentleman's house, and terrified all the domestic animals.

Mr St John, whom we have quoted above, once saw a tamed rattle-snake, as gentle as it is possible to conceive a reptile to be. It went to the water, and swam wherever it pleased; and when the boys to whom it belonged called it back, their summons was readily obeyed. They often stroked it with a soft brush: and this friction seemed to cause the most pleasing sensations; for it would turn on its back to enjoy it, as a cat does before the fire. We need scarcely add, that it had been deprived of its fangs.

Rattle-snakes abound in America, from Brazil to near Lake Champlain: but they are gradually disappearing in the more populous districts. According to Pennant, they affect woods and lofty hills, especially where the strata are rocky or chalky, as at the pals near Niagara. They particularly frequent the sides of rills, to prey on such small animals as resort thither to quench their thirst. In summer, they are generally found in pairs; in winter, they collect in multitudes, and retire under ground, beyond the reach of frost. Tempted by the warmth of a spring day, they often creep out, weak and languid. A person has seen a piece of ground covered with them, and killed with a rod between sixty and seventy, till, overpowered with the flesh, he was obliged to retire. They are most easily dispatched by a blow with a stick on the spine.

The American Indians often regale on the rattle-snake. When they find it asleep, they put a small forked stick over its neck, which they keep immovably fixed to the ground, giving the snake a piece of leather to bite; and this they pull back several times with great force, until they perceive that the poison fangs are torn out. They then cut off the head, skin the body, and cook it, as we do eels. The flesh is said to be white and excellent. Hogs also sometimes devour the rattle-snake; but horses, dogs, and most other animals, regard it with antipathy and horror.

Striped Rattle-snake, or White Rattle-snake.—172 abdominal, and 21 subcaudal scuta. From a foot and a half, to four feet and a half long. Distinguished from the preceding by a pattern of pale yellow streaks, forming a series of large rhombs, or lozenges, down the back. Has often been confounded with the former, on account of the same general aspect, constitution, and habits.

Wood Rattle-snake.—165 abdominal, and 30 subcaudal scuta. Of a lighter tinge than the two preceding, and marked with yellowish variegations on the back.—This species has been hitherto very imperfectly described; and Seba erroneously quotes it as a native of Ceylon.

Miliary, or Small Rattle-snake.—132 abdominal, and 32 subcaudal scuta. Gray, with a triple row of black spots, and a red spot between each of the dorsal ones. The smallest of the genus; its ordinary length being about eighteen inches. From this circumstance, and the faint sound of its rattle, it is more dangerous than the larger species. It is also alleged that its bite is more active. Its poison, according to Lebeau, is most successfully combated by the volatile alkali. It is confined to the temperate regions of North America, particularly to Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida.

Black-tailed Rattle-snake.—170 abdominal, and 26 subcaudal scuta. The head greenish-gray, with two brown and oblong spots on the hinder part. The body of a reddish gray, speckled with brown points, and crossed by 24 lengthened patches, or bands, brown, and irregular, and accompanied, on each side, by two spots of a brighter colour. The back is marked by a longitudinal, fawn-coloured stripe. Scales very numerous, rhomboidal, and carinated.—From three to four feet long; a very venomous species: discovered by Boie, in Carolina, and described in Daudin's Natural History of Reptiles.

Gen. 2. Boa.

Characters. Scuta on the abdomen, and under the tail; but no rattle.

The boa tribe of serpents is very numerous, and contains some species which are remarkable for their huge dimensions. Their head is covered, like that of the crotal; but their tail terminates in a point. Their immense size has rendered them the objects of terror rather than of observation to mankind; while the quantity of food requisite for their sustenance, has precluded their multiplication within a limited range of country. Hence a considerable degree of confusion attaches to their history; and a rational suspicion arises, that, with the progress of culture and population, some of the more formidable forts have either been exterminated, or driven from the haunts of men. Some naturalists have affected, that individuals belonging to this genus have been found in Spain, Italy, and the south of France; but they appear to have mistaken some of the larger forts of coluber for the boa, which last is a native of Asia, Africa, and America.

Great or Constrictor Boa.—240 abdominal, and 60 constrictor. subcaudal scuta. The more ordinary disposition of its colouring is yellowish gray with a large, chilcuit-coloured, chain-like pattern down the back, and triangular spots on the sides. A considerable degree of variety, however, is occasioned by the circumstances of age, sex, and climate; and even the number of scuta is by no means constant. Nature has bestowed on this celebrated reptile, uncommon strength and beauty, but has wisely withheld from it the poisonous properties of some of the smaller species. It frequently attains to twenty, or even thirty feet in length. Except, however, when stimulated by the calls of hunger, it is a sluggish and harmless animal, affecting moist and shady situations, and, occasionally, devouring large animals, which it crushes in its contorted folds. In the German Ephemerides, we have an account of a combat between one of these huge serpents and a buffalo, by a person who assures us, that he was himself a spectator. The serpent had for some time, been waiting near the brink of a pool, in expectation of prey, when a buffalo was the first animal that appeared. Having darted on the affrighted beast, it instantly began to wrap him round in its voluminous twistings, and, at every twist, the bones of the buffalo were heard to crack almost as loud as the report of a gun. It was in vain that the quadruped struggled and bellowed; its enormous enemy twined it so closely, that at length all its bones were crushed to pieces, like those of a malefactor on the wheel, and the whole body reduced to one uniform mass. The serpent then untwined its folds, to swallow its prey at leisure. To prepare for this, and also to make it slip down more smoothly, it licked the whole body over, and smeared it with a mucilaginous matter. It then began to swallow it at the end that offered the least resistance, the throat dilating to such an extraordinary degree, as to admit a substance which was thrice its own thickness.

In the Bombay Courier, of August 31, 1799, it is related, that as a Malay prow anchored for the night, close under the island of Celebes, one of the crew went on shore, in quest of betel nut in the woods, and on his return, lay down to sleep, as it is supposed, on the beach. In the course of the night, he was heard by his comrades, to scream out for assistance. They immediately went on shore; but an immense snake of this species had already crushed him to death. The attention of the monster being entirely occupied with his prey, the people went boldly up to it, cut off its head, and took both it and the body of the man on board their boat. The snake had seized the poor fellow by the right wrist, where the marks of the teeth were very distinct; and the mangled corpse bore evident signs of being crushed. The length of the snake was about thirty feet, its thickness equal to that of a moderately sized man; and, on extending its jaws, the gape was found found wide enough to admit a body of the size of a man's head.

The female deposits a considerable number of eggs, which seldom exceed three inches in their greatest diameter, on the sand, or under leaves exposed to the sun's rays.

In some districts of Africa, the great boa is regarded as an object of veneration, and on the coast of Mozambique, is worshipped as a god.

In a very interesting notice of this species, communicated to us by John Corfe Scott, Esq. mention is made of a live individual, which was discovered in a field, near the cattle, by some labourers, in the province of Tipperah in Bengal. This snake, which measured fifteen feet and three inches in length, and eighteen inches in circumference, was stunned by repeated blows; before it could be secured, and tied with cords to a long bamboo. It was pretty active after it was untied, and made frequent darts at any person coming near it. On presenting a long stick, it repeatedly seized and bit it with great fierceness. On dissection, the heart was found to be of the size of a sheep's, with the communication open between the two ventricles. The liver was small in proportion, being about the size of the human pancreas, and, like it, divided into several lobes. The oesophagus, from the mouth to the pylorus, measured nine feet three inches, and its width was sufficient to admit a man's head with ease. The head was small, in proportion to the size of the animal, the eyes were dark and heavy, and the nostrils large; but there was no perceptible organ of hearing. From the mechanism of the jaws, they were capable of being distended so as to admit a substance or animal much thicker than the snake itself. This mechanism, and the absence of grinders, obviously prove, that the food is swallowed entire, without mastication. In a gorged individual of this species, Mr S. found an entire guana, and in another, a fawn, of a year old; but the bones of these quadrupeds were unbroken.

Spotted Boa.—250 abdominal, and 70 subcaudal scuta. Cinereous, with large, round, black spots on the back, and smaller ones, with white centres, on the sides, and oblong markings, interspersed with smaller variegations on the abdomen. Of a size scarcely inferior to the preceding, and of similar manners. It is a native of several parts of South America, and, like other snakes, occasionally eaten by the Indians.

Ringed Boa.—265 abdominal, and 57 subcaudal scuta. General cast ferruginous, with large dark rings on the back, and blackish kidney-shaped spots, with white centres on the sides. The aboma of several writers. Grows to a large size, and is a native of South America, where it is treated with divine honours.

Canine or Green Boa.—203 abdominal, and 77 subcaudal scuta. Green, with cros, waving, and white dorsal bands. It has its specific name from the form of its head, which resembles that of a dog. Though destitute of poison fangs, it inflicts a severe bite, when provoked. It measures from four to twelve feet in length, inhabits South America, and is celebrated for its beauty.

Embroidered Boa.—A remarkably elegant species, native of the East Indies, and omitted by Linnaeus. White, with a cinereous tinge on the back, and the body marked with black lace-like variegations.

Garden Boa.—290 abdominal, and 123 subcaudal Hortulana. Scuta. Yellowish gray, with brown variegations, resembling in form the parterres of an old-fashioned garden, the body somewhat compressed, and the sides marked with cuneiform spots. From two to three or four feet long, and native of South America.

Fasciated Boa.—233 abdominal, and 36 subcaudal Fasciata. Scuta. Yellow, with dusky blue transverse bands. The body somewhat triangular, upwards of five feet in length, and five inches in the thickest part. Native of India, and very poisonous.

An individual of this species was sent to Dr Ruffel, in a very languid and exhausted state. Being set at liberty, it remained for some time without moving, but soon began to crawl slowly towards a dark corner. A chicken being presented, it seemed not to regard it, though the bird fluttered about it, and even rested a toe on its head. The chicken was then put on the snake's back, and clung so fast with its toes, that, when attempted to be separated, the snake was dragged a little way, without offering to resent the insult. An hour after, the chicken was again presented; but the snake shewing no disposition to bite, its jaws were forced aunder, and the naked thigh of the chicken so placed, that the jaws closed on part of it. The chicken, when disengaged, shewed immediate symptoms of poison: it coughed, purged once or twice, and was not able to stand. In the course of the first ten minutes, after several ineffectual efforts to rise, it rested its beak on the ground; and the head was feized with paralysis. After 15 minutes, it shewed a frequent disposition to lie down; but remained couched some minutes longer. In 20 minutes, it lay down on one side, and, convulsions supervening soon after, it expired within 26 minutes.

Viperine Boa.—209 abdominal, and 19 subcaudal Viperina. Scuta. Gray, with a black waving dorsal band, edged with white; the sides spotted with black. About a foot and a half in length, including the tail, which is only one inch and a half long. Native of India, where its bite is said to produce a flow wanting of the fingers and toes. As, however, it has no fangs, and produces no deleterious effects on brute animals: the truth of the report seems to be very questionable.

Lineated Boa.—209 abdominal, and 47 subcaudal Lineata. Scuta. Blackish line, with white dotted, transverse, arched lines, and whitish abdomen. Slender, native of India, and highly poisonous.

Annulated Boa.—About two feet in length, somewhat ferruginous, with black rounded spots, included in rings, on the back, reniform ocellated spots on the sides, and waving dusky variegations on the abdomen. Native of South America, figured by Madame Merian, and preserved in the Hunterian Museum, at Glasgow.

The other species belonging to this genus are, enydris, ophryas, regia, murina, horatta, hipnula, contortrix, and palpebrosa.

Gen. 3. COLUBER, Snake (properly so called).

Scuta, or undivided plates, under the abdomen; squamae, or broad alternate scales, under the tail. The latter ter, although alternate, are reckoned by pairs; but, in many instances, the number is still undetermined, and it sometimes varies in the same species.

This tribe contains about 200 species, which greatly differ from one another in size and habit. The poisonous sorts, which constitute about one-fifth of the whole, are generally distinguished from the rest by their large, flattish, subcrotate heads, and rather short bodies and tails; whereas most of the harmless species have small heads, with longer bodies and tails in proportion. Laurenti and Latreille have ranged the former under the genus Vipera, and the latter under that of Coluber: but Linnaeus, Daubenton, La Cépède, &c. include both sorts under Coluber. This family of serpents is widely diffused over various quarters of the world.

Common Viper.—146 abdominal scuta, 39 subcaudal scales. Attains to the length of two, or even of three feet. The ground colour of the body is a dingy yellow, deeper in the female than in the male. The back is marked with rhomboidal, as the sides are with triangular, black spots. Its black belly, the greater thickness of the head, and the more abrupt termination of the tail, sufficiently distinguish it from the common snake, with which it has been often confounded.

The viper arrives at maturity in fix or seven years, and produces 10 or 12 live young at the end of the second or third. Mr White of Selborne killed and cut up a pregnant female, and found in the abdomen 15 young ones, about the size of full grown earth-worms. No sooner were they freed from confinement, than they twisted and wriggled about, set themselves up, and gaped very wide when touched with a stick, exhibiting manifest tokens of menace and defiance, though as yet no fangs were visible, even with the help of glases.—That the young, for some time after birth, retreat, when alarmed, into the mouth of the mother, seems to be a fact satisfactorily ascertained.

Vipers are capable of supporting long abstinence, feed on reptiles, worms, and young birds, and become torpid in winter. Their poison rarely proves fatal to man, and is most successfully counteracted by olive oil, thoroughly rubbed on the wounded part. They are usually caught by wooden tongs, at the end of the tail, as, in that position, they cannot wind themselves up to injure their enemy. Their flesh was formerly in high esteem, as a remedy for various diseases, particularly as a restorative. Of late years, however, it has lost much of its ancient credit, and is rarely prescribed by modern practitioners.

The common viper inhabits Europe and Siberia, and is by no means uncommon in Great Britain, being the only poisonous animal in the island, frequenting dry and stony districts, and especially the chalky countries. It abounds in some of the Hebrides, and is called adder by the Scots.

This species is subject to several varieties, which we cannot stop to enumerate. The prefier, or black viper, resembles the berus, in almost every particular but colour; though Linnaeus, and other eminent naturalists, rank it as a distinct species.

American Black Viper.—About the length of the preceding, but much thicker, black, and remarkable for the largeness of its head, which it defends, with a horrid hiss, when irritated. Its bite is reckoned as dangerous as that of the rattlesnake. It is a native of Carolina, chiefly frequenting higher grounds.

Egyptian Viper.—118 abdominal scuta, and 22 subcaudal scales. Somewhat ferruginous, spotted with brown; whitish beneath, with a short mucronated tail. Rather smaller than the common species. Imported in considerable quantities to Venice, for the use of the apothecaries in the composition of theriacs, &c. Native of Egypt, and supposed by some to be the asp of Cleopatra; but it is very difficult to ascertain the true asp of the ancients.

Charasian Viper.—Rufous, with the snout acuminated above, and the body marked with short, subconfluent, dusky, and transverse streaks. Nearly allied to the common species, and described by Charas, a celebrated anatomist of serpents in his day, but who contended, in opposition to Redi, that the symptoms caused by the vipernine bite, proceeded from what he termed the enraged spirits of the creature, and not from the supposed poisonous fluid.

Redi's Viper.—152 abdominal scuta, and 32 subcaudal scales. Of an iron brown colour with a quadruple transverse series of short, subconfluent, brown streaks on the back. In other respects nearly allied to the common viper, but said to be more poisonous. It occurs in Austria and Italy, and is the sort which Redi chiefly employed in his experiments relative to animal poison.

Aps.—155 abdominal scuta, and 37 subcaudal scales. Apsu. Somewhat rufous, with roundish, alternate, dusky spots on the back, and subconfluent ones near the tail. About three feet long, the head rather large, and covered with small carinate scales. Native of France, particularly of the northern provinces of that country. It is very doubtful if this be the genuine coluber apsis (Lin.); and still more so if it be the asp of the ancients.

Greek Viper.—155 abdominal scuta, and 46 subcaudal scales. Gray, with a fourfold series of transverse spots, those on the middle yellowish, and those on the sides dusky. Nearly a cubit in length, very thick towards the middle, and the head large and depressed. Inhabits Greece and the Grecian islands. According to Forkfäl, its bite proves fatal by inducing insuperable sleep.

Cerastes, or Horned Viper.—150 abdominal plates, Cerastes. and 25 subcaudal scales. Pale yellowish, or reddish brown, with a few round, distant, or oblong spots, of a deeper tinge, scattered along the upper parts of the body, and the belly of a pale leaden hue. The two curved processes, situated above the eyes, give the animal a more than ordinary appearance of malignity. Its length varies from about 15 inches to two feet. It is found in many parts of Africa, especially affecting dry places, and sandy deserts, and inflicting a dangerous wound on those who happen to approach it.

Horn-nose Snake.—127 abdominal plates, 32 subcaudal scales. Olive brown, with blackish variegations, a row of pale dorsal spots, surrouned by black, and a waving pale band on the sides. This fierce and forbidding species, which has its denomination from two large and pointed processes on the tip of the nose, is supposed to inhabit the interior parts of Africa.

Megera, or Spear-headed Snake.—224 abdominal Megera. plates, plates, and 68 subcaudal scales. Brown, with yellow variegations, flat cordate head, and a large orifice on each side, between the eyes and nostrils. Native of Martinico, whence it is frequently called yellow Martinico snake. Measures, when full grown, five or six feet, has very large fangs, and inflicts a dangerous wound.

Speciacle Snake, or Cobra de Capello.—193 abdominal plates, 60 subcaudal scales. "Its general length (says Dr Shaw), seems to be three or four feet, and the diameter of the body about an inch and a quarter: the head is rather small than large, and is covered on the fore part with large smooth scales; resembling, in this respect, the majority of innoxious serpents: the back part, sides, and neck, with smaller ovate scales; and the remainder of the animal, on the upper parts, with small, distinct, oval scales, not ill resembling the general form of a grain of rice. At a small distance beyond the head is a lateral swelling or dilatation of the skin, which is continued to the distance of about four inches downwards, where the outline gradually sinks, into the cylindric form of the rest of the body. This part is extensible at the pleasure of the animal; and, when viewed from above, while in its most extended state, is of a somewhat cordated form, or wider at the upper than at the lower part: it is marked above by a very large and conspicuous patch or spot, greatly resembling the figure of a pair of spectacles; the mark itself being white, with black edges, and the middle of each of the rounded parts black. This mark is more or less distinct in different individuals, and also varies occasionally in size and form, and in some is even altogether wanting. The usual colour of the animal is a pale ferruginous brown above, the under parts being of a bluish white, sometimes slightly tinged with pale brown or yellow: the tail, which is of a moderate length, tapers gradually, and terminates in a slender sharp-pointed extremity.

"This formidable reptile has obtained its Portuguese title of cobra de capello, or hooded snake, from the appearance which it presents when viewed in front in an irritated state, or when prepared to bite; at which time it bends the head rather downwards, and seems hooded, as it were, in some degree, by the expanded skin of the neck. In India it is everywhere exhibited publicly as a show, and is, of course, more universally known in that country than almost any other of the race of reptiles. It is carried about in a covered basket, and so managed by its proprietors as to assume, when exhibited, a kind of dancing motion; raising itself up on its lower part, and alternately moving its head and body from side to side for some minutes, to the sound of some musical instrument which is played during the time. The Indian jugglers, who thus exhibit the animal, first deprive it of its fangs, by which means they are secured from the danger of its bite."

The cobra de capello is one of the most formidable, and dangerous of the serpent tribe, though it is devoured with impunity by the viverra ichneumon. Dr Ruffel describes ten varieties of this species, and enters into many curious details relative to the effects of its poison on dogs and other animals. He never knew it prove mortal to a dog in less than 27 minutes, nor to a chicken in less than half a minute. Hence its poison, fatal as it is, seems to be less speedy in its operation than that of the rattlesnake.

Ruffelian Snake.—168 abdominal plates, 59 subcaudal scales. Brownish yellow; spots on the back acutely ovate, blackish, and edged with white; those on the sides smaller. About four feet long; native of India, and very poisonous. A chicken bitten in the pinion, by an individual of this species, was instantly infected, seized with convulsions, and expired in 38 seconds. Immediately after the chicken, a stout dog was bitten in the thigh. Within less than five minutes he appeared stupified; the thigh was drawn up, and he frequently moved it, as if in pain. He remained, however, standing, and ate some bread that was offered to him. In about 10 minutes the thigh became paralytic; in 15 minutes he entirely lost the use of it, and lay down howling in a dismal manner, frequently licking the wound, and making, at intervals, ineffectual attempts to rise. In 19 minutes, after a short cessation, he again began to howl, moaned often, and breathed laboriously, till his jaws closed. The few succeeding minutes were passed, alternately, in agony and stupor; and, in 26 minutes after the bite, he expired. A second dog, of much smaller size, was next bitten, and expired in the space of fix hours. A rabbit was next exposed to the bite, and died in less than an hour. After this, another chicken was bitten in the pinion, and expired in less than fix minutes. These experiments were all made with the same snake, in the course of the same morning.

Crimson-sided Snake.—188 abdominal, and 7 anal Porphyr-plates, 45 subcaudal scales. Violet black, with the abdomen and sides of a beautiful crimson, the plates margined with black. A singular and elegant species, with the proportions nearly those of the common English snake; poisonous; and a native of New Holland.

Hemachate Snake.—132 abdominal plates, 43 sub-Hem- caudal scales. Red, clouded with white above, yellow, chates. ith white beneath. Two feet or more in length; tail extremely short, and tapering to a point. Native of India; elegant, and poisonous.

Water Viper.—Brown above, banded with black and Aquaticus, yellow beneath. "This serpent (says Catesby) is called, in Carolina, the water rattlefaile; not that it hath a rattle, but is a large snake, and coloured not much unlike the rattlesnake, and the bite said to be as mortal. This snake frequents the water, and is never seen at any great distance from it: the back and head are brown; the belly tranversely marked with black and yellow alternately, as are the sides of the neck; the neck is small, the head large, and armed with the like destructive weapons as the rattlesnake. It is very nimble, and particularly dexterous in catching fish. In summer great numbers are seen lying on the branches of trees hanging over rivers, from which, at the approach of a boat, they drop down into the water, and often into the boat, on the men's heads. They lie in this manner to surprize either birds or fish, after which last they plunge, and pursue them with great swiftness, and catch some of a large size, which they carry on shore, and swallow whole. One of these I surprized swimming afloat, with a large catfish in its mouth. The tail is small towards the end, and terminates in a blunt horny point, about half an inch in length, and which, though harmles, harmless, is considered as of dreadful efficacy by the credulous vulgar, who believe, that the animal is able, with this weapon, not only to kill men and other animals, but even to destroy a tree by wounding it with it; the tree withering, turning black, and dying."

Superb Snake.—White, the head variegated with black, and the body marked above by a quintuple series of ocellated red spots. About two feet long, and poisonous.

Argus Snake.—Chesnut brown, yellow beneath, and banded above, by transverse rows of ocellated red spots. Above five feet in length; native of Arabia and Brazil, and very poisonous.

Java Snake.—312 abdominal plates, 93 subcaudal scales. Gray, the head striped with blue, and the body crossed by blue stripes, with gold-coloured edges. Frequent in the rice fields of Java, where it grows to the length of nine feet; but, in the more elevated and wooded situations, it attains to a still greater size, and is capable of devouring some of the larger animals. Splendid and innocuous.

Common, or Ringed Snake.—170 abdominal plates, 60 subcaudal scales. Olive brown, with a black patch, accompanied by a yellow one, on each side of the neck, a row of narrow black spots down each side, and dusky abdomen.

This species is pretty generally diffused over Europe, and is not uncommon in our own island, affecting moist and warm woods, basking or sleeping in the sunshine, and becoming torpid in winter. The female deposits a chain of from 12 to 20 eggs, about the size of those of the blackbird, connected by bunches of a gluey matter, in dunghills, or warm recesses, near stagnant waters. The young come forth in the following spring. The common snake reappears in March or April, when it casts its skin so completely, that the spoil exhibits even the exterior pellicle of the eye. To adopt the language of Mr White, in his Naturalist's Calendar, "It would be a most entertaining sight, could a person be an eyewitness to such a feat, and see the snake in the act of changing his garment. As the convexity of the eyes in the slough is now inward, that circumstance alone is a proof that the skin has been turned; not to mention that now, the present inside is much darker than the outer. If you look through the scales of the snake's eye from the concave side, viz. as the reptile used them, they lessen objects much. Thus it appears, that snakes crawl out of the mouth of their own sloughs, and quit the tail part last, just as eels are skinned by a cookmaid. While the scales of the eyes are growing loofe, and a new skin is forming, the creature, in appearance, must be blind, and find itself in a very awkward and uneasy situation."

This species occasionally frequents the water, and preys chiefly on frogs, mice, small birds, insects, worms, &c. It is not only perfectly harmless, but even capable of being domesticated. Mr White mentions, that he knew a gentleman who had one in his house quite tame. Though usually as sweet as any other animal, yet, whenever a stranger, or a dog or cat entered, it would begin to hiss, and soon filled the room with an almost inoffensive odour. Mr Revett Shephard of Caius college, Cambridge, had a common snake in his rooms near three months. "He kept it (says Mr Bingley) in a box of bran; and, during all that time, he never could discover that it ate any thing, although he frequently put both eggs and frogs, the favourite food of this species, into the box. Whenever he was in the room he used to let the animal out of its prison; it would first crawl several times round the floor, apparently with a desire to escape; and when it found its attempts fruitless, it would climb up the tables and chairs, and not unfrequently even up the chair of its owner as he sat at his table. At length it became so familiar as to lie in a serpentine form on the upper bar of his chair: 't would crawl through his fingers, if held at a little distance before its head, or lie at full length upon his table, while he was writing or reading, for an hour or more at a time. When first brought into the room, it used to hiss and dart out its forked tongue; but in no instance emitted any unpleasant vapour. It was, in all its actions, remarkably cleanly. Sometimes it was indulged with a run upon the grats, in the court of the college; and sometimes with a swim in a large basin of water, which it seemed to enjoy very much. When this gentleman left the university, he gave his bedmaker orders to turn it out into the fields, which, he believes, was done."

Black Snake.—186 abdominal plates, 92 subcaudal scales. Glossy black, with a very long slender body. Five or fix feet long, and not venomous, though often confounded by the ignorant and the timid with the rat-tailed snake. Native of North America. Its speed and activity, according to Brickell, are astonishing. Sometimes it will climb trees in quest of the tree-frog, or, for other prey, glide at full length along the ground: on other occasions it presents itself half erect, and appears to great advantage. It is so fond of milk, that it has been seen eating it out of the same dish with children, though they often gave it blows with their spoons on the head when it was too greedy. It persecutes rats with wonderful agility, pursuing them even to the roofs of barns and outhouses, and is therefore a great favourite among the Americans.

Fasciated or Wampum Snake.—Blue above, paler, and variegated with brighter blue beneath. Its colours resemble those of the strings of Indian money, called wampum, composed of shells cut into regular pieces, and strung with a mixture of blue and white. Native of Carolina and Virginia, sometimes growing to the length of five feet, and perfectly innocent.

Blue Green Snake.—217 abdominal plates, 122 sub-caudal scales. Bright blue green, with a purple tinge on the back, and whitish abdomen. A very beautiful species, about three feet long, harmless, and a native of Surinam.

Coach-whip Snake.—Brown, with pale abdomen; very long and slender, inoffensive, and native of North America. It runs with extreme swiftness, in pursuit of flies, &c. and is very easily tamed.

Ornamented Snake.—Habit long, and very slender; colour jet black, with white flower-shaped spots, and white abdomen. This very elegant species inhabits some of the West India islands, and, according to Seba, is also found in Java and Ceylon.

Domicella Snake.—118 abdominal plates, 60 subcaudal scales. A very elegant and harmless species, of a slender habit, with many jet-black cross bands, and a blackish line on the abdomen. It is alleged that the Indian ladies sometimes carry it in their boloms. Coluber. Boaform Snake.—252 abdominal plates, 62 subcaudal scales. Whitish, with brown variegations; white beneath, with very short scuta, the under part of the tail variegated with black and white. Native of India, and so strong, that it can numb the hand by wreathing round the arm. Its bite, however, is not poisonous.

Domesticus. Domestic Snake.—245 abdominal plates, 94 subcaudal scales. Gray, spotted with brown, and a double black spot between the eyes. Native of Barbary, where it is domesticated for the purpose of destroying the smaller noxious animals.

Fasciolatus. Fasciolated Snake.—192 abdominal plates, 62 subcaudal scales. Cinereous, with whitish cross bands, and glaucous abdomen. Native of India, and not poisonous, as vulgarly believed.

Lineatus. Lined Snake.—160 abdominal plates, 84 subcaudal scales. This beautiful and inoffensive species, though subject to considerable variety of aspect, may be generally distinguished by its bluish green ground, and three or five brown linear stripes, of which that in the middle is broadest. It inhabits several parts of India, and is from two to three feet long.

Elegant. Elegant Snake.—202 abdominal plates, 146 subcaudal scales. Yellowish gray, with three broad reticulated blackish bands, a broad fillet on the abdomen, and the head freckled with brown. Length about two feet; tail very long and narrow. Native of South America. Well figured by Seba.

Myteri- Long-finned Snake.—192 abdominal plates, 167 subcaudal scales. Slender, with a sharp-pointed snout; colour grays green, with a yellow line on each side of the abdomen. About three feet and a half in length, and half an inch in diameter. Native of North America, where it is often seen on trees, running very quickly in pursuit of insects.

Abutila. Iridescent Snake.—163 abdominal plates, 150 subcaudal scales. Tinge blue green, and gilded, accompanied with iridescent hues, with pale abdomen, and black streak across the eyes. From three to four feet long. Native of India. One of the most beautiful of the serpent tribe, and perfectly innocent.

To exhibit even short definitions of the other species included in the genus Coluber, would extend this article to a disproportionate length. Of most of the omitted forts, however, we may observe, that the history is either not particularly interesting, or too little known.

Gen. 4. HYDRUS, Water-snake.

Body slender in front, gradually thickening, scaled; tail compressed.—This is a genus, of recent institution, comprising those species of serpents which naturally inhabit the water.

Colubrinus. Colubrine Hydrus.—Lead-coloured, with black surrounding bands. Ordinary length about two feet and a half. The fangs are very small in proportion to the size of the animal. It is the coluber laticaudatus (Lin.), and inhabits the American and Indian seas.

Fasciolatus. Fasciolated Hydrus.—Long and slender; black, longitudinally marked by yellowish white pointed bands; upwards of two feet in length, poisonous, and native of the Indian seas.

Spiral Hydrus.—Yellowish, with brown bands; body spirally twisted. A rare and elegant species, thus described by Dr Shaw.

" Its length is about two feet, and its habit slender; the body much compressed throughout; the back rising into a very sharp carina; the abdomen being also carinated, but having a flattened edge of scales somewhat wider than the rest, and measuring about the fifteenth of an inch in diameter; the head is small, and covered with large scales; the mouth wide; the scales on the whole animal moderately small, ovate, and slightly carinated; the ground colour is yellow, barred in a beautiful manner from head to tail with deep chestnut brown or blackish fasciae, each widening on the abdomen, and thus forming a highly distinct and handsome pattern when viewed on each side, seeming to constitute so many large, round, yellow spots on a blackish ground: the back, at about the middle, is marked along its upper part with a row of rather large, round, blackish spots, situated between the fasciae, and so placed as to be in some parts on one side, and in others on the opposite side of the dorsal carina, while some few are seated on the middle of the ridge itself: this variegation is continued to the tail, which is about an inch and three quarters long, black or deep brown, with a few yellow patches towards its beginning; it is remarkably broad for the size of the animal, and very thin on the edges, so as to be semi-transparent on those parts. The most remarkable circumstance in this snake is the singular obliquity of its form, the body in different parts being alternately flatter on one side than the other, and the pattern completely expressed on the flattened side only; the other, or more convex side, being unmarked by the round spots, and lying as it were beneath, thus constituting several alternately spiral curves: this snake seems of an unusually stiff and elastic nature, and the carina on the back is so sharp as to surpass in this respect every other species of serpent. The specimen is in the British Museum; but its particular history seems to be unknown."

Black-backed Hydrus.—Head oblong, body black a-Bicolor, above, and yellowish beneath; tail spotted. Anguis platanus, Lin. Native of the Indian seas, and common about the coasts of Otaheite, where it is used as an article of food.

Great Hydrus.—Livid, with brown bands, and hexagonal scales abruptly carinated. Upwards of three feet long. Native of the Indian seas. Its habits little known.

The other hydris are, caspius, gracilis, carulescens, curtus, atrocaruleus, cinereus, pifator, and palustris.

Gen. 5. LANGAYA.

Abdominal plates, caudal rings, and terminal scales.

There is only one species known, viz.

Snouted-Langaya.—184 abdominal plates, 42 caudal Nafuta. rings; but these numbers are subject to vary. Length between two and three feet, and diameter about seven lines, in the thickest part of the body. Colour of the upper parts reddish, or violet, of the under parts pale or whitish. Teeth like those of the viper. Native of Madagascar, where it is much dreaded.

Gen. 6. ACROCHORDUS.

Body completely covered with warts.

Javan Acrochordus.—This reptile was discovered in Javanicus. a pepper field, in the island of Java, in 1784. It measured eight feet in length, and 10 inches in diameter, in the thickest part of the body. It was blackish above, whitish beneath, and marked by dusky spots on the sides. Five young ones, full formed, and each nine inches long, were found in the belly. The Chinese esteem it as a food.

The dubius and fasciatus are so nearly allied to the preceding, that they may be regarded only as varieties.

Gen. 7. Anguis, Slow-worm.

Characters. Furnished with abdominal and subcaudal scales. Conformation resembling that of some of the lizard tribes, the body being composed of a series of moveable rings, which are easily broken and easily reproduced. A very harmless, and rather sluggish genus.

Common Slow-worm, Blind-worm, or Long Cripple.—135 abdominal, and the same number of subcaudal scales. Black, yellowish ochre, or rufous gray; belly black, sides streaked with black and white, tail long and obtuse, scales small, soft, and compact. The colouring is subject to considerable variety. Length, from 10 to 12 inches, or more. Common in Europe and Siberia, frequenting hollow ways, woods, paths, rubbish, &c. Viviparous, subject to hibernation, living on worms and insects, and perfectly innocuous. It is observed of this species, as well as of some others, that, if struck with any degree of violence, the body not only breaks abruptly on the struck part, but even sometimes, at different places, and that the fragments will live a long while afterwards. Though of very gentle dispositions, the blind worm, like many of the family of serpents, refuses to eat in captivity, unless it is tamed. M. Daudin mentions that he kept one two months and a half, during all which time it constantly refused nourishment of every kind.—It is preyed on by various birds, hedgehogs, snakes, frogs and toads.

According to Dr Shaw, the Blue-bellied Snake, or Aberdeen Slow-worm (A. Eryx Lin.) is only a variety of the Fragilis. It occurs in Scotland and North America.

Painted Slow-worm.—240 abdominal, and 13 subcaudal scales. Varies much in colour, but is generally orange, with black blotches; sometimes black and white, sometimes pale rose and black, paler beneath, and elegantly fasciated with bars of deep black. Native of South America, particularly of Cayenne and Surinam. In preserved specimens, the orange hue is very apt to fade into white.

Coral Slow-worm.—Ground colour pale red, with coral red variegations. A very beautiful species, native of Brazil.

Glaes Slow-worm.—127 abdominal, 222 subcaudal scales. Blackish green, speckled with yellow, with a very short yellow abdomen, a deep furrow on each side of the body, from the corners of the mouth to the vent, and a tail more than twice the length of the abdomen. Native of North America, and not uncommon in Carolina, where it is called the Glaes Snake. 'A small blow of a stick,' says Catesby, 'causes the body to separate, not only at the place struck, but at two or three other places, the muscles being articulated quite through the vertebræ.'

Snouted Slow-worm.—218 abdominal, and 12 subcaudal scales. Greenish black above, yellow beneath, front elongated, tail terminating in a horny tip. Length about a foot. Native of Surinam.

Jamaica Slow-worm, or Silver Snake.—Pale brown, Jamaican, with a silvery glost on the scales; the body, which rarely exceeds sixteen inches in length, gradually thickening, and the tail abruptly tubacuminate.

The other species are, meleagris, ater, maculata, leucomelas, rufa, reticulata, and clivioca.

Gen. 8. Amphibiana.

Body nearly cylindrical, with annular divisions round the body and tail. The skin divided in a longitudinal direction, by straight lines, forming with the wings to many square or parallelogrammic scales. A harmless and oviparous genus, native of the warmer regions of the new world, and not of Ceylon, as Seba has erroneously asserted.

White Amphibiana.—223 abdominal, and 16 caudal, Alba, scaly rings. Pale white, verging on yellowish, and unspotted. Two feet or more in length, and of a considerable proportionate thickness. Is found in woods, in Surinam, &c. where it preys chiefly on insects and worms.

Fuliginous Amphibiana.—200 abdominal, and 30 Fuliginosa, caudal, scaly rings. Differs from the preceding chiefly by its black and white variegations. Common in Cayenne, Surinam, and Brazil; but Linnaeus, and other naturalists, misled by Seba, have falsely represented it as a native of Libya, the island of Lemnos, &c.

Gen. 9. Caecilia.

Body cylindrical, wrinkles on the sides of the body and tail.

Eel-shaped Caecilia.—Anguilliform, with distant Tentacular wrinkles, and a very small cirrhus beneath each nostril. The skin of the whole body, when closely inspected, is found to be covered with very minute granules. About 18 inches long, native of South America, and destitute of poison fangs.

White-sided Caecilia.—340 wrinkles on the body, 10 Glutinosa, on the tail. Brown, with very close wrinkles, and a whitish lateral line. Native of South America.

Slender Caecilia.—Brown, shaped like an earthworm, Gracilis, nearly 14 inches long, and one fifth of an inch in diameter. The upper jaw is longer than the lower, and the teeth are so small, as not to be distinctly visible.

We cannot close our descriptive catalogue of the serpent tribe, without remarking, that the subject still requires elucidation; that the Linnean characters are not always to be strictly interpreted; and that several species appear to have been overlooked, merely because the number of their scales could not be ascertained.

Miscellaneous Observations.

The formidable aspect of some serpents, and the poisonous qualities of others, have probably inspired mankind, in every age, with sentiments of terror and awe. In the rude periods of society, fear is akin to devotion, and Bartram informs us, that the rattlesnake is worshipped by several of the savage tribes in North America. On. Miscellaneous Observations.

The Gold and Slave coasts, a stranger, on entering the cottages of the natives, is often surprised to see the roof warming with serpents, that cling there without molesting, and unmolested by, the natives. But his surprise will increase as he advances farther southward, to the kingdom of Widah, when he finds that a serpent is the god of the country. This animal, which travellers describe as a huge overgrown creature, has its habitation, its temple, and its priests. These last impress the vulgar with an opinion of its virtues; and numbers are daily seen to offer, not only their goods, provisions, and prayers, but even their wives and daughters at the shrine of their hideous deity. The priests readily accept the proffered females, and after some days of penance, return them to their suppliants, much benefited by the serpent's supposed embraces.

The ancients seem to have been aware, that certain species of serpents were attracted by musical sounds, and have celebrated the Pylili and Marfi,

Ad quorum cantus miles jacere cerae.

At this day, there are jugglers in India, who train snakes to move and gesticulate to the sound of the flute; and we have already mentioned, that they tame the Cobra de Capello, and exhibit it to the populace. When the snake-man first provokes the creature to attack him, he covers his hand with an earthen jar, which he uses as a shield, and thus hurts the animal's mouth, and knocks it backwards whenever it attempts to bite. He continues this exercise for an hour, or longer, taking care, however, not to fatigue the snake too much, nor to hurt it so as to deter it from returning to the attack. Thus, the animal is gradually taught to raise itself, on presenting a jar, a stick, or even the bare hand, the motions of which it follows with its head, without daring to bite, lest it should again wound its mouth. The juggler accompanies this exercise with singing, so that what is really a defensive war on the part of the serpent, has the appearance of a dance. To render this exhibition less dangerous, the fangs are sometimes removed; but more frequently the snake is deprived of its poison, by being daily irritated to bite on a piece of cloth, or any soft fleshy substance; nay, they have the address and courage to press its head, and thus provoke it, while biting, to make it seize the cloth with greater violence, and more effectually express its poison.

The Egyptian enchanters, however, appear to have recourse to more ingenious and mysterious artifices. "They take the most poisonous vipers," says Halfel-quilt, "with their bare hands, play with them, put them in their bosoms, and use a great many more tricks with them, as I have often seen. I have frequently seen them handle those that were three or four feet long, and of the most horrid form. I inquired and examined if they had cut out the viper's poisonous teeth; but I have with my own eyes seen they do not. We may therefore conclude, that there are to this day Pylili in Egypt; but what art they use is not easily known. Some people are very superstitious, and the generality believe this to be done by some supernatural art which they obtain from invisible beings. I do not know whether their power is to be ascribed to good or evil; but I am persuaded that those who undertake it use many superstitions."

"The circumstances relating to the fascination of serpents in Egypt, related to me," he continues, "were principally, 1. That the art is only known to certain families, who propagate it to their offspring. 2. The person who knows how to fascinate serpents, never meddles with other poisonous animals, such as scorpions, lizards, &c. There are different persons who know how to fascinate these animals; and they again never meddle with serpents. 3. Those that fascinate serpents, eat them both raw and boiled, and even make broth of them, which they eat very commonly amongst them; but in particular, they eat such a dish when they go out to catch them. I have been told, that serpents fried or boiled are frequently eaten by the Arabians both in Egypt and Arabia, though they know not how to fascinate them, but catch them either alive or dead. 4. After they have eaten their food, they procure a blessing from their sheik (priest or lawyer), who uses some superstitious ceremonies, and amongst others, spits on them several times with certain gestures. This manner of getting a blessing from the priest is pure superstition, and certainly cannot in the least help to fascinate serpents; but they believe, or at least persuade others, that the power of fascinating serpents depends upon this circumstance."

On this subject, the celebrated Mr Bruce, in his Travels to discover the Source of the Nile, is also minute and explicit. Among other passages, we shall be content to quote the following.

"I will not hesitate to aver, that I have seen at Cairo (and this may be seen daily without trouble or expense) a man who came from above the catacombs, where the pits of the mummy birds are kept, who has taken a cerafie with his naked hand from a number of others lying at the bottom of the tub, has put it upon his bare head, covered it with the common red cap he wears, then taken it out, put it in his breast, and tied it about his neck like a necklace; after which it has been applied to a hen, and bit it, which has died in a few minutes; and to complete the experiment, the man has taken it by the neck and beginning at his tail, has eaten it as one would do a carrot or a fock of celery, without any feeling repugnance."

"I can myself vouch, that all the black people in the kingdom of Sennaar, whether Funge or Nuba, are perfectly armed against the bite of either scorpion or viper. They take the cerafies in their hands at all times, put them in their bosoms, and throw them to one another as children do apples or balls, without having irritated them, by this usage, so much as to bite. The Arabs have not this secret naturally; but from their infancy they acquire an exemption from the mortal consequences attending the bite of these animals, by chewing a certain root, and washing themselves (it is not anointing) with an infusion of certain plants in water."

The testimony of Savary is not less precise. At the feast of Sidi Ibrahim, he saw a troop of people, seemingly possessed, with naked arms and fierce looks, holding in their hands enormous serpents, which twined round their body, and endeavoured to escape. But these enchanters avoided the bite, by grasping the animals strongly by the neck, then tore them with their teeth, and ate them alive, while the blood streamed from their mouth. The circumstance of seizing them fast by the neck, accords with the concluding part of the ensuing relation of Denon.

"Having been always curious to observe the means by which some men command the opinions of others, I regretted that I was not at Rofetta, at the procession of the feast of Ibrahim, in which the convulsions of the Piylli form the most entertaining part, to the populace, of this religious ceremony. To make up for my loss, I addressed myself to the chief of the sect, who was keeper of the Okel or tavern of the Franks; I flattered him; and he promised to make me a spectator of the exaltation of one of the Piylli, as soon as he should have inspired him. From my curiosity he thought I was likely to become a profélyte, and he proposed to initiate me, which I accepted; but when I learned that in the ceremony of initiation, the grand matter spits in the mouth of the neophyte, this circumstance cooled my ardour, and I found that I could not prevail on myself to submit to such a point of probation. I therefore gave my money to the chief, and the high priest promised to let me see one of the inspired.

"They had brought with them some serpents, which they let loose from a large leather sack in which they were kept, and by irritation made them erect their bodies, and lift. I remarked that the light was the principal cause of their anger; for as soon as they were returned into the sack, their passion ceased, and they no longer endeavoured to bite. They had a particular quality, which was that when angry, the neck for six inches below the head was dilated to the size of one's hand. I soon saw, that I had no greater reason to dread the bite of these serpents than their masters had; for having well remarked that the Piylli, while they were threatening the animal with one hand, seized it on the back of the head with the other, I did the same with one of the serpents with equal success, though much to the indignation of these mysterious quacks."

We have likewise heard of people in Europe who allowed themselves to be bitten by vipers, with impunity, to the great astonishment of the spectators. They first made the animal eat of a prepared paste, which closed the apertures in the fangs, and thus precluded the discharge of the poison.

Various and contradictory opinions, conjectures, and fictions, have been advanced relative to the nature, action, and cure of serpentine poison. Among the vulgar errors connected with this subject, we may reckon the sting, fixed in the serpent's tail, and the flowing of venom from the black forked tongue, and from the teeth in general.

Towards the end of the 17th century, Ferdinand II. Grand Duke of Tuscany, invited Steno, Redi, and some other eminent men of science, to his court, with a view to investigate the history of this important phenomenon in the animal economy. Redi, in particular, instituted a great variety of experiments, and arrived at some useful discoveries. When he either cauied a living viper to bite a dog, or wounded the latter with the teeth of one newly dead, the event was the same. If the bite was repeated, its effect became weaker, and, at length was lost, the poison contained in the vehicle being exhausted. He observed, that when the teeth of serpents were extended to bite, they were moistened over with a certain liquor, and that when the vehicle at the base was pressed, a drop of poison flowed to the point of the fang. When the poison thus flowing from the vehicle was received in soft bread, or a sponge, an animal bitten by the serpent received no more harm from the wound than from the pinch of a needle, till after a few days, when the venom was secreted afresh; but when an animal was wounded with the point of a needle dipped in the poison, it was tormented with the same pains as if it had been bitten by the viper itself. Having preserved some of this poison in a glass, and totally evaporated the moisture in the sun, when the residuum was diluted with water, Redi found, to his great surprise, that it had the same effect as when recent. But the boldness of Jacob Sozzi, a viper charmer, excited the astonishment of the learned. As they happened in the prince's presence to talk of the certain death which would attend the swallowing of vipernine poison, Sozzi, confiding in his art, drank a considerable portion of it without hesitation, and with the same safety as if he had drunk so much water. This result, which so much startled the grand duke and his philosophic associates, was not unknown to the ancients, as may be inferred from these lines in Lucan.

Nuxia serpentinum est admissio sanguine pestis: Morbi virus habent et fatum dente manuntur, Pocula morte carent.

The ingenious and indefatigable Fontana made no fewer than 6000 experiments on this interesting subject. Of these, our limits will not permit us to enumerate the results. In consequence, however, of his multiplied and persevering researches, we are enabled to state, that this poison is not fatal to all animals; that it kills neither vipers, snakes, blind-worms, snails, nor leeches; that it acts very slightly on tortoises; that it is neither an acid nor an alkali; that it has no determined favour, and that it leaves in the mouth merely a sensation of astringency and fluor. It long retains its virulence in the cavity of the tooth, whether the latter be separated or not from its socket; but when dried and kept in an exposed situation, it loses its deleterious qualities in less than a year. Hence the propriety of caution in examining vipers that are stuffed or preserved in spirits, and in making use of clothes that have been bitten by them. Fontana has also proved that the poison of the viper is not uniformly fatal except to very small animals, and that it is more dangerous to the larger sorts, according to the quantity of virus secreted, the frequency of the bites, the different parts of the body on which they have been inflicted, and probably also, the higher temperature of the atmosphere. A sparrow dies in five or eight minutes, a pigeon in eight or twelve, a cat sometimes recovers, and a sheep very often; so that a man has little reason to dread the consequences of a single bite in the climate of Italy, and still less so in France or Great Britain. The hundredth part of a grain of poison applied to a muscile will kill a sparrow, whereas fix times that quantity are required to kill a pigeon. According to this estimate, about three grains should prove fatal to a man, and 12 to an ox. But the vehicles of an ordinarily fized viper seldom contain more than two grains of poison, and even that quantity is not exhausted till after repeated bites. The poison is of a gummy consistence, and seems to act by destroying the irritability of the muscular fibre, Miscellaneous fibre, and introducing into the fluids a principle of putrefaction. It may be swallowed with impunity, provided there be no wound in the mouth; but if introduced into the blood, the most violent and convulsive agonies ensue, the sanguiferous system becoming coagulated, and the whole animal frame relaxed. Hence, powerful tondorifics, as the flesh of the viper itself, of snakes and lizards, which contain a large proportion of ammoniacal soap, the volatile alkali, and its various preparations, with numerous plants which excite copious peripiration, have been recommended, and often successfully used as antidotes, especially when their exhibition has been preceded by a tight ligature immediately above the wound, and by scarification and caustics.

On the effects and cure of the poison of snakes, some valuable observations and reflections occur in Dr Ruffell's splendid work on Indian serpents. The judicious author remarks, that when the poison is applied to brute animals, its progress is often so very rapid as hardly to leave time for the operation of medicine, or the application of any means whatever, with a probability of success. When the progress is slower, should the remedy be administered before unequivocal symptoms have removed all doubt of the poison having taken effect, recovery may be ascribed to the medicine given, whilst, in reality, no malady existed; and if deferred till doubts are removed, the remedy which, if applied in time might have proved efficacious, may be unjustly regarded as useless. Besides, it is well known that a bite of the most noxious snake does not constantly prove fatal, and that even some of the more tender animals, without the use of any remedy, recover in cases where the symptoms are apparently very formidable. These symptoms, in the bodies of different animals, are very much alike, and proceed nearly in the same order of progression, though with different degrees of rapidity.

The American Indians either suck the wound, or apply to it chewed tobacco, or make several incisions around it, which they fill with gunpowder, and then fire it off. During the progress of the cure they have likewise recourse to several pounded and bruised plants, as to some of the species of lactuca, the root of prenanthes alba, the stems and leaves of a species of helianthus, and in desperate cases the radical bark of the tulip-tree. In general they are partial to the use of the syringenous plants, and to the bark of the trunk and roots of various trees.

The experiments of Bernard de Jussieu, Lebeau, Sonnini, and Boe, seem to have established that, of all known remedies for the bite of the viper and the rattlesnake, the most efficacious are, the volatile alkali, or eau de lace, with suction and scarification of the recent wound.

In addition to these methods of cure, we shall quote the prescription of Dr Moseley, who spent 12 years in the West Indies.

"The bites and stings of all venomous animals are cured by the same local means, which are very simple if they were always at hand. The injured part must be instantly destroyed or cut out. Destroying it is the most safe, and equally certain; and the best application for that purpose is the lapis infernalis, or butter of antimony. These are preferable to a hot iron which the ancients used, because a hot iron forms a crust, which acts as a defence to the under parts instead of destroying them. The lapis infernalis is much better than any other, as it melts and penetrates during its application. The bitten part must be destroyed to the bottom, and where there is any doubt that the bottom of the wound is not sufficiently exposed, butter of antimony should be introduced to it on the following day, as deep as possible; and incisions should be made to lay every part open to the action of these applications. Besides destroying, burning, or cutting out the part, incisions should be made round the wound, to prevent the communication of the virus. The wound is to be dressed for some time with poultices, to alleviate the inflammation caused by the caustics; and afterwards with acid dressings and hot digestives to drain the injured parts.

"Where the above-mentioned caustics cannot be procured, corrosive sublimate, oil of vitriol, aquafortis, spirit of salt, common caustic, or a plaster made of quicklime and soap, may be applied to the wound. Gunpowder laid on the part and fired, has been used with success. When a person is bitten remote from any assistance, he should make a tight ligature above the part until proper application can be made. The Spanish writers say, that the habilla de Cartagena, or Cartagena bean, is a specific for poisonous bites taken inwardly.

Dr Moseley then proceeds to state the ample testimony of Ulloa in favour of this bean, which is found in great abundance in the West India islands, under the name of antidote or cocoon antidote. "I have been informed (adds he) by some intelligent Indians, that any of the red peppers, such as bird pepper or bell pepper, or what is called Cayenne pepper, powdered, and taken in a glass of rum, as much as the stomach can possibly bear, so as to cause and keep up for some time great heat and inflammation in the body, and a vigorous circulation, will stop the progress of the poison of serpents, even after its effects are visible; and that the bitten part only afterwards mortifies and separates, and that the patient, with bark, wine, and cordials, soon recovers."

The naturalist who collects serpents for the purpose of preserving them in his cabinet, should have recourse to various precautions, which, though several of them are sufficiently obvious, are, at the same time, too often neglected. In general the hurtful sorts are caught with the greatest safety and dexterity by natives of the country in which they abound. The want of the head in many of the larger stuffed specimens from Guiana, &c., renders them of little value in a scientific point of view, and is the result of superfluous trouble to travellers who lend them to Europe in this mutilated condition. Collectors, therefore, should carefully instruct their agents to preserve this part of the animal. As these larger specimens cannot easily be prepared without an incision in the skin, it will be of consequence to make this incision on the side, beginning at the termination of the plates, and not cutting across them, as is too often done, to the great prejudice of distinct classification. When the skin is once stripped, it may be carefully rolled up, and stuffed in the preparation room in the usual manner.

The smaller species of serpents may be kept in prepared spirits. Pure alcohol and spirituous liquors, especially when not reduced by water, frequently affect the most brilliant animal colours. Thus, in the ordinary cabinet liquors, the fine red of the haemachate snake degenerates into a dark brown, scales of a bright green or blue become somewhat pale, yellow always whitens, and orange changes to red or pale. White, brown, black, purple, mother of pearl, and metal-coloured scales are not liable to change. The following is an approved recipe for preserving the various colours of serpents entire.

Take very pure spring water, saturate it with alum, then mix with it about one-fifth of its bulk of very limpid spirit of wine, pass the mixture through a paper strainer, and keep the liquor well corked up in bottles, in some cool and shady situation. Immerse the animal which you wish to preserve in a vessel filled with this liquor, and allow it to remain in it 24 hours. The vessel and its included liquor should be reserved for this preliminary process. Then remove the reptile into a cylindrical vessel of fine glass, filled to three-fourths of its height with the liquor above described, and clost with a glass cover. Lute the latter with mastic and Mifcellaneous hogs grease; put the vessel on a shelf that is sheltered from heat and the solar rays; and at the end of two months, if the mastic be dry, and you with the jar to remain closed, paint the luting with an oil colour; but if you intend to open it frequently, use only the hogs grease.

Reptiles may also be conveniently preserved according to the method indicated by Chaufler, in the Bulletin des Sciences, (for Prairial, year 10, No 63.), without the previous trouble of preparing the skin. All that is required, is to stuff the cavities with cotton, and to immerse the body in distilled water, saturated with super-oxygenated muriate of mercury; and when it has sufficiently imbibed the saline solution in all its parts, to allow it to dry slowly in a well aired situation, screened from the sun and dust. All the parts of the animal harden, and are thus defended from the voracity of insects, and corruption of every kind.

EXPLANATION OF PLATES CCCLXXI, CCCLXXII, CCCLXXIII, AND CCCLXXIV.

Fig. 1. Carinated Scale. — 2. Plain Scale. — 3. Tail of Coluber Snake. — 4. Tail of Boa. — 5. Fang or Tooth through which the poison is conveyed. Fig. 6. The head of poisonous snake furnished with fangs, a a a. Fig. 7. The head of innoxious snake without fangs. — 8. Crotalus Horridus, Banded Rattle-Snake. — 9. Boa Constrictor.

Fig. 10. Coluber Berus, Common Viper. — 11. —— Ceraflers. — 12. —— Laticaudatus, Colubrine Hydrus. — 13. Langaya Nufain, Snouted Langaya. — 14. Acrochordus Javanicus, Javan Acrochordus. Fig. 15. Anguis Corallinus, Coral Slow-worm. — 16. Amphibœna Alba, White Amphibœna. — 17. —— Fuliginosa, Fuliginous Amphibœna. Fig. 18. Caecilia Tentaculata, Eel-shaped Caecilia.

INDEX.

A. ACROCHORDUS, characters and species of, 116 Anatomy of serpents, 12—41 Anguis, characters and species of, 119—126 Amphibœna, characters, &c. 127—130 Asp, 79

B. Banded rattle-snake, history of, 55 Boa, characters, species, and history of, 60—71 Black snake, 93 Black-tailed rattle-snake, 59 Blue and green snake, 95 Canine boa, 65 Ceraflers, 81 Crotalus, characters and species of, 53—59 natural history of, ib. Cobra de Capello, 84 Coluber, characters, species, and history of, 72—101 Constrictor boa, 61 Coach-whip snake, 96 Caecilia, characters, &c. 132—135 Domestic snake, D. Embroidered boa, E. Fasciated boa, F. Garden boa, G. Horn-nose snake, H. Hydrus, characters and species of, 106—112 Iridescent snake I. Langaya, characters and species, 114, 115 Lineated snake, L. Miliary rattle-snake, M. Ophiology, introduction to, O.

N° 96 Ophiology, history of, writers on, 2—11 ib. P. Physiology of serpents, 42—52 Poison of serpents, 138 experiments on by Redi, ib. by Fontana, ib. ib. cure of, R. Rattle-snake, characters, species, and history of, 53—59 Ringed boa, 64 snake, 92 Russelian snake, 85 S. Serpents, anatomy of, 12—41 physiology of, 42—52 worship of, 136 enchantment of, 137 poison of, 138 preservation of, 139 Striped rattle-snake, 56

PLATE CCCLXXI.

Fig. 1. Fig. 2. Fig. 3. Fig. 4. Fig. 5. Fig. 6. Fig. 7. Fig. 8. Fig. 9. Fig. 10.

Fig. 11.

Fig. 12. OPHILOGY.

Fig. 13.

PLATE CCCLXXIII.

Fig. 14.

Fig. 15.

PLATE CCCLXXIV.

Fig. 16.

Fig. 17.

Fig. 18. O P H I O L O G Y.

<table> <tr> <th>Specie</th> <th>No</th> <th>Slow-worm, inouted,</th> <th>No</th> <th>Viper, Greek,</th> <th>No</th> </tr> <tr> <td>snake</td> <td>84</td> <td>Jamaica.</td> <td>125</td> <td>horned,</td> <td>80</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Spotted boa,</td> <td>63</td> <td></td> <td>126</td> <td>water,</td> <td>81</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Slow-worm, characters and species of,</td> <td></td> <td>V.</td> <td></td> <td></td> <td>88</td> </tr> <tr> <td>common,</td> <td>119—126</td> <td>Viper, common,</td> <td>74</td> <td></td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td>painted,</td> <td>121</td> <td>American black,</td> <td>75</td> <td>W.</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td>coral,</td> <td>122</td> <td>Egyptian,</td> <td>76</td> <td>Water-snake, characters and species of,</td> <td>106—112</td> </tr> <tr> <td>glafs,</td> <td>123</td> <td>Charasian,</td> <td>77</td> <td>Wood rattle-snake,</td> <td>57</td> </tr> <tr> <td></td> <td>124</td> <td>Redi's,</td> <td>78</td> <td></td> <td></td> </tr> </table>

O P H