Reptiles and Birds
by Louis Figuier · English · Gutenberg #45873 · 1,212,239 chars · public domain (US)
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Title: Reptiles and Birds
Author: Louis Figuier
Editor: Parker Gillmore
Illustrator: A. Mesnel
Alphonse Marie de Neuville
Edouard Riou
Release date: June 3, 2014 [eBook #45873]
Most recently updated: October 24, 2024
Language: English
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REPTILES AND BIRDS ***
REPTILES AND BIRDS.
[Illustration: HAWKING IN THE MIDDLE AGES.
_Frontispiece._]
REPTILES AND BIRDS.
A POPULAR ACCOUNT OF THEIR VARIOUS ORDERS,
WITH A DESCRIPTION OF
THE HABITS AND ECONOMY OF THE MOST INTERESTING.
BY LOUIS FIGUIER,
AUTHOR OF "THE WORLD BEFORE THE DELUGE," "THE VEGETABLE WORLD,"
"THE INSECT WORLD," ETC. ETC.
ILLUSTRATED WITH 307 WOODCUTS.
BY MM. A. MESNEL, A. DE NEUVILLE, AND E. RIOU.
Edited and Adapted by
PARKER GILLMORE
("UBIQUE").
NEW YORK: D. APPLETON AND CO.
1870.
LONDON:
PRINTED BY VIRTUE AND CO.,
CITY ROAD.
PREFACE.
In presenting to the public this English version of LOUIS FIGUIER'S
interesting work on Reptiles and Birds, I beg to state that where
alterations and additions have been made, my object has been that the
style and matter should be suited to the present state of general
knowledge, and that all classes should be able to obtain useful
information and amusement from the pages which I have now the honour and
pleasure of presenting to them.
On commencing my undertaking I was not aware of the immensity of the
labour to be done, and fear that I must have relinquished my arduous
task but for the kind encouragement of FRANK BUCKLAND, Esq., Inspector
of Salmon Fisheries, and HENRY LEE, Esq., F.L.S., F.G.S., &c., to both
of whom I take this opportunity of returning my sincere thanks.
PARKER GILLMORE
("UBIQUE").
_December, 1869._
CONTENTS.
REPTILES.
PAGE
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER I.
AMPHIBIA, OR BATRACHIANS.
Structural Distinctions 8
Intelligence 13
Characteristics 15
Historical Antiquity 18
Distribution 19
Frogs 19
Habits of Life 21
Development of Young 22
Green 23
Common 23
Green Tree 24
Toads 25
Natterjack 26
Surinam 28
Land Salamanders 31
Spotted 32
Black 33
Aquatic Salamanders 33
Crested 34
Gigantic 34
Transformations and Reproduction 35
CHAPTER II.
OPHIDIAN REPTILES, OR TRUE SNAKES.
Snakes 38
Burrowing 42
Ground 43
Tree 43
Fresh-water 43
Sea 43
Innocuous 46
Blind 46
Shield-tail 47
Black 49
Rat 49
Ringed 49
Green and Yellow 52
Viperine 52
Desert 53
Whip 54
Blunt-heads 56
Boas 56
Diamond 59
Carpet 59
Rock 61
Natal Rock 61
Guinea Rock 61
Royal Rock 61
Aboma 62
Anaconda 65
Cobra 70
Asp 75
Bungarus 76
Pit Vipers 78
Fer-de-lance 79
Jararaca 80
Trimeresurus 80
Rattle 82
Copperhead 82
Tic-polonga 88
Puff Adders 89
Common Adder 92
CHAPTER III.
THE ORDER OF LIZARDS--SAURIANS.
Lizards, Distribution and Division 99
Grey 109
Green 110
Ocellated 110
Ameivas 112
Iguanas 117
Basilisk 127
Anoles 129
Flying 132
Gecko 134
Chameleons 136
Crocodiles 141
Jacares 145
Alligators 145
Caiman 147
True 149
Gavials 153
CHAPTER IV.
CHELONIANS, OR SHIELDED REPTILES.
Formation 155
Distribution and Classification 157
Tortoises 158
Land 158
Margined 159
Moorish 159
Greek 160
Elephantine 160
Genus Pyxis 161
Ditto Kinixys 161
Homopodes 161
_Elodians, or Marsh Tortoises_:
Mud 162
Emydes 163
Pleuroderes 164
_Potamians, or River Tortoises_:
Trionyx 164
_Thalassians, or Sea Tortoises_:
Green 177
Hawk's-bill 177
Loggerhead 178
Leather-back 178
BIRDS.
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.
Anatomy 181
Plumage 184
Beaks 189
Digestive Organs 191
Powers of Sight 193
Vocal Organs 195
Nests 197
Reproduction 201
Longevity 203
Utility 205
Classification 207
CHAPTER I.
THE NATATORES, OR SWIMMING BIRDS.
Divers 212
Great Northern 213
Imbrine 216
Arctic 216
Black-throated 216
Red-throated 217
Penguins 218
Manchots 219
Grebes 221
Castanean 222
Crested 223
Guillemots 224
Chapter II.
DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS, AND PELICANS.
Mallard 232
Golden-eyed Garrot 242
Poachard 243
Shoveller 244
Shieldrake 246
Eider Duck 247
Common Teal 250
Velvet Duck 253
Scoter, Black 253
Great-billed 258
Goosander 259
Smew 260
Goose 261
Wild 262
Bean 266
Domestic 266
Bernicle 269
White-fronted Bernicle 269
Swan 270
Whooping 273
Black 277
Frigate Bird 277
Tropic Bird 279
Darter 281
Gannet 283
Cormorant 285
Shag 289
Pelicans 291
White 294
Crested 295
Brown 296
Spectacled 297
CHAPTER III
THE LARIDÆ.
Tern 299
Little 301
Noddy 302
Silver-winged 302
Arctic 302
Whiskered 303
Gull-billed 303
Roseate 303
Sandwich 303
Caspian 303
Scissors-bills 303
Black 304
Gulls 304
Large White-winged 306
Great Black-backed 306
Herring 306
Sea Mews 304
White, or Senator 307
Brown-masked 307
Laughing 307
Grey 308
Skua 308
Parasite 309
Richardson's 309
Pomerine 309
Common 310
Petrels 310
Giant 311
Chequered 311
Fulmar 311
Stormy 311
Blue 312
Puffins 312
Grey 312
English 312
Brown 312
Albatross 312
Common 314
Black-browed 314
Brown 314
Yellow and Black-beaked 314
CHAPTER IV.
GRALLATORES, OR WADING BIRDS.
_Palmidactyles_:
Flamingo 317
Avocet 320
Stilt Bird 321
_Macrodactyles_:
Water Hens 322
Common 323
Purple, or Sultana Fowl 324
Rails 325
Coots 326
Bald 328
Crested 328
Blue 328
Glareola 328
Jacana 328
Kamichi 330
Horned 332
Faithful 332
_Longirostres_:
Sandpipers 332
Brown 334
Greenshank 334
Redshank 334
Pond 334
Wood 334
Green 334
Common 334
Turnstone 334
Ruff 336
Knot 338
Sanderlings 339
Woodcock 339
Snipe 343
Common 344
Great 345
Jack 345
Wilson's 345
Godwit 345
Curlew 346
Ibis 348
Sacred 348
Green 351
Scarlet 351
_Cultrirostres_:
Spoonbills 352
White 352
Rose-coloured 352
Storks 353
White 353
Black 357
Argala 357
Jabiru 359
Ombrette 359
Bec-ouvert 359
Drome 359
Tantalus 360
Boatbill 360
Herons 361
Common 362
Purple 364
White 364
Bitterns 366
Crane 366
Ash-coloured 366
Demoiselle 371
Crested 371
Hooping 371
Caurale 373
_Pressirostres_:
Cariama 373
Oyster-catchers 373
Runners 376
Lapwings 376
Plovers 378
Great Land 379
Doterel 379
Ringed 379
Kentish 380
Golden 380
Pluvian 381
Bustard 381
Great 381
_Brevipennæ_:
Ostrich 383
Rhea 390
Cassowary 392
Emu 393
Apteryx 395
_Extinct Brevipennæ_:
Dodo 397
Epiornis 397
Dinornis 397
CHAPTER V.
GALLINACEOUS BIRDS.
Habits, origin, &c. 399
_Tetraonidæ_:
Capercailzie 401
Grouse, Black 402
Pinnated 402
Ruffed 403
Cock of the Plains 402
Gelinotte 403
Ptarmigans 404
Common 404
Red Grouse 405
_Perdicides_:
Gangas 405
Pin-tailed Sand Grouse 406
Heteroclites 406
Quails 406
Partridges 410
Grey 415
Partridges, Red-legged 417
Gambra 417
Colin, Virginian 417
Californian 418
Solitary 419
Francolins 419
Chinese 419
European 420
African and Indian 420
Coturnix 420
Turnix tachydroma 420
Tinamides 420
Chionidæ 421
Megapodidæ 421
_Phasianidæ_:
Pheasants 422
Common 422
Golden 425
Silver 425
Ring-necked 427
Reeves's 427
Lady Amherst's 427
Argus 427
Gallus 427
Common 427
Bankiva 429
Jungle-fowl 429
Bronzed 429
Fork-tailed 429
Kulm 429
Negro 429
Tragopans 435
Pintados 435
Turkeys 437
Wild 437
Domestic 440
Ocellated 441
Peacocks 441
Domestic 442
Wild 444
Polyplectrons 444
Impeyan Pheasants 444
Alectors 444
Hocco, or Curassow 444
Pauxis 446
Penelopes, or Guans 446
Hoazins 446
_Columbidæ_:
Colombi-Gallines 447
Pigeons (Colombes) 448
Ring or Wood 450
Wild Rock 450
Common Domestic 450
Pouter 451
Roman 451
Swift 452
Carrier 452
Tumbler 452
Wheeling 452
Nun 452
Fan-tailed 452
Turtle Dove 453
Ring Dove 453
Passenger 453
Columbars 456
CHAPTER VI.
SCANSORES, OR CLIMBERS.
Parrots 457
Macaw 464
Parrakeets 465
Tabuan 465
Parrot, Grey 466
Green 466
Cockatoos 466
Toucans 467
Proper 468
Aracaris 469
Cuckoos 469
Grey 469
Indicators 472
Anis 473
Barbets 474
Trogons 475
Resplendent 476
Mexican 476
Woodpeckers 476
Wry-necks 479
Jacamars 480
CHAPTER VII.
PASSERINES.
_Syndactyles_:
Hornbills 482
Rhinoceros 483
Fly-catchers 483
King-fishers 484
Ceyx Meninting 486
Bee-eaters 486
Common 488
Momots 487
_Tenuirostres_:
Hoopoes 488
Epimachus 490
Promerops 490
Colibri 491
Proper 491
Humming-birds 491
Creepers 495
Picumnus 496
Furnarius 496
Sucriers 497
Soui-mangas 497
Nuthatches 498
_Conirostres_:
Birds of Paradise 499
Great Emerald 500
King Bird 500
Superb 500
Sifilets 501
Crows 502
Raven 502
Carrion 502
Royston 502
Rook 502
Jackdaw 502
Magpies 507
Common 508
Brazilian 509
Chinese 509
Jays 509
Nut-cracker 510
Rollers 511
Starlings 512
Common 513
Sardinian 513
Baltimore Oriole 514
Beef-eater 514
Crossbill 515
Grosbeak 516
Bullfinch 517
Siskin 517
House Sparrow 518
Goldfinch 519
Linnets 519
Chaffinch 520
Canary 521
Widow Bird 523
Java Sparrow 523
Weaver Birds 523
Republican 524
Buntings 524
Reed 525
Cirl 526
Ortolan 526
Snow 527
Tits 527
Great 528
Long-tailed 528
Larks 529
Crested Lark 531
_Fissirostres_:
Swallow 531
Salangane 537
Goatsuckers 538
Night-jar 540
Guacharos 541
_Dentirostres_:
Manakins 542
Cock of the Rock 542
Warblers 542
Nightingale 543
Sedge Warbler 545
Night Warbler 545
La Fauvette Couturière 546
Garden 547
Robin 547
Wrens 547
Golden-crested 548
European 548
Wood 548
Stone Chat 549
Wagtails 550
Pied 551
Quaketail 551
Pipits 552
Lyretail 552
Orioles 553
Golden 553
Mino 554
Honey-sucker 555
Ouzel, Rose-coloured 555
Water 556
Solitary Thrush 556
Blackbird, Common 557
Ringed 559
Solitary 559
Thrush, Polyglot 559
Song 560
Redwing 561
Tanagers 561
Drongos 562
Cotingas 563
Caterpillar-eater 563
Chatterers 564
Fly-catchers 565
Tyrants 567
Cephalopterus ornatus 567
Shrikes 568
Vangas 571
Cassicus 571
CHAPTER VIII.
RAPTORES, OR BIRDS OF PREY.
_Nocturnal_:
Horned Owls 576
Great 576
Virginian 579
Short-eared 579
Ketupu 581
Scops 581
Hornless Owls 583
Sparrow 583
Small Sparrow 584
Pampas Sparrow 584
Burrowing 585
Tawny 585
Barn 585
Canada 588
Hawk 589
White 589
Caparacoch 590
Harfang 590
Lapland 591
Ural 591
_Diurnal_:
Eagles 592
Royal 602
Imperial 602
Bonelli's 602
Tawny 602
Booted 602
Reinwardt's 602
Vulturine 602
Sea Eagles 602
European 603
American 604
Marine 604
Piscivorous 604
Caffir 604
Mace's 604
Pondicherry 604
Indian 604
Osprey 605
Huppart 606
Falco urubitinga 606
Harpy 606
White-bellied Eagle 607
Falcons 608
Gyrfalcons 608
White 609
Iceland 609
Norway 609
Falcons 610
Lanier 610
Sultan 610
Peregrine 610
Hobby 613
Merlin 613
Kestrel 613
Bengal 613
Goshawk 622
Sparrow-hawks 623
Common 623
Dwarf 623
Chanting Falcon 624
Kites 624
Common 624
Black 625
Parasite 625
American 625
Buzzards 626
Common 627
Honey 627
Rough-legged 627
Harriers 627
Hen 628
Moor 628
Frog-eating 628
Pale-chested 629
Jardine's 629
Ash-coloured 629
Caracaras 629
Brazilian 629
Chimango 629
Long-winged 629
Chimachima 629
Funebris 631
Vultures 631
Griffons 632
Bearded 632
Sarcoramphi 634
Condor 634
King Vulture 638
Cathartes 639
Urubu 639
Turkey Buzzard 641
Common Vulture 641
Percnopterus 641
Vulture, Pondicherry 642
Kolbe's 642
Yellow 642
Sociable 645
Chinese 646
Oricou 646
Serpent-eaters 646
Secretary Bird 646
ERRATA.
_Phasianus cristatus indicus_, in page 448, should be attributed to
Brisson, not Latham.
The synonym for Ring Pigeon, in page 448, should be _Columba palumbus_.
Woodcut 182 represents the Stock Dove, erroneously named Wood Pigeons in
page 450.
REPTILES AND BIRDS.
INTRODUCTORY.
There is little apparent resemblance between the elegant feathered
warbler which makes the woods re-echo to its cheerful song, and the
crawling reptile which is apt to inspire feelings of disgust when the
more potent sensation of terror is absent--between the familiar Swallow,
which builds its house of clay under the eaves of your roof, or the
warbler whose nest, with its young progeny, carefully watched by the
father of the brood in the silent watches of the night, is now
threatened by the Serpent which has glided so silently into the bush,
its huge mouth already open to swallow the whole family, while the
despairing and fascinated parents have nothing but their slender bills
to oppose to their formidable foe. "Placed side by side," says Professor
Huxley, "a Humming-bird and a Tortoise, or an Ostrich and a Crocodile,
offer the strongest contrast; and a Stork seems to have little but its
animality in common with the Snake which it swallows." Nevertheless,
unlike as they are in outward appearance, there is sufficient
resemblance in their internal economy to bring them together in most
attempts at a classification of the Animal Kingdom. The air-bladder
which exists between the digestive canal and kidneys in some fishes,
becomes vascular with the form and cellular structure of lungs in
reptiles; the heart has two auricles, the ventricle in most is
imperfectly divided, and more or less of the venous blood is mixed with
the arterial which circulates over the body; but retaining their gills
and being therefore transitional in structure, they are also
cold-blooded. In birds, the lungs are spongy, the cavity of the
air-bags becoming obliterated by the multiplication of vascular
cellules; the heart is four-chambered, transmitting venous blood to the
lungs, and pure arterial blood to the body; the temperature is raised
and maintained at 90° to 100° Fahr.
Thus Reptiles, like Birds, breathe the common air by means of their
lungs, but respiration is much less active. "Although," remarks
Professor Owen, "the heart of Birds resembles in some particulars that
of Reptiles, the four cavities are as distinct as in the Mammalia, but
they are relatively stronger, their valvular mechanism is more perfect,
and the contractions of this organ are more forcible and frequent in
birds, in accordance with their more extended respiration and their more
energetic muscular action." It is true, as Professor Huxley informs us,
that the pinion of a bird, which corresponds with the human hand or the
fore paw of a reptile, has three points representing three fingers: no
reptile has so few.[1] The breast-bone of a bird is converted into
membrane-bone: no such conversion takes place in reptiles. The sacrum is
formed by a number of caudal and dorsal vertebræ. In reptiles the organ
is constituted by one or two sacral vertebræ.
[1] _Vide_, however, p. 8.--ED.
In other respects the two classes present many obvious differences, but
these are more superficial than would be suspected at first glance. And
Professor Huxley believes that, structurally, "reptiles and birds do
really agree much more closely than birds with mammals, or reptiles with
amphibians."
While most existing birds differ thus widely from existing reptiles, the
cursorial or struthious genera, comprising the Ostrich, Nandou, Emu,
Cassowary, Apteryx, and the recently extinct Dinornis of New Zealand,
come nearer to the reptiles in structure than any others. All of these
birds are remarkable for the shortness of their wings, the absence of a
crest or keel upon the breast-bone, and some peculiarities of the skull,
which render them more peculiarly reptilian. But the gap between
reptiles and birds is only slightly narrowed by their existence, and is
somewhat unsatisfactory to those who advocate the development theory,
which asserts that all animals have proceeded, by gradual modification,
from a common stock.
Traces had been discovered in the Mesozoic formations of certain
Ornitholites, which were too imperfect to determine the affinities of
the bird. But the calcareous mud of the ancient sea-bottom, which has
hardened into the famous lithographic slate of Solenhofen, revealed to
Hermann von Meyer, in 1861, first the impression of a feather, and, in
the same year, the independent discovery of the skeleton of the bird
itself, which Von Meyer had named _Archæopteryx lithographicus_. This
relic of a far-distant age now adorns the British Museum.
[Illustration: Fig. 1.--Archæopteryx lithographicus.]
The skull of the Archæopteryx is almost lost, but the leg, the foot, the
pelvis, the shoulder-girdle, and the feathers, as far as their structure
can be made out, are completely those of existing birds. On the other
hand, the tail is very long. Two digits of the manus have curved claws,
and, to all appearance, the metacarpal bones are quite free and
disunited, exhibiting, according to Professor Huxley, closer
approximation to the reptilian structure than any existing bird. Mr.
Evans has even detected that the mandibles were provided with a few
slender teeth.
On the other hand, the same writer points out certain peculiarities in
the single reptile found also among the Solenhofen slates, which has
been described and named _Compsognathus longipes_ by the late Andreas
Wagner. This reptile he declares "to be a still nearer approximation to
the missing link between reptiles and birds," thus narrowing the gap
between the two classes.
While we think it proper to point to these structural resemblances of
one class of the animal creation to others very different in their
external appearance, it is necessary to guard ourselves and our readers
from adopting the inferences sometimes deduced from them; that "these
infinitely diversified forms are merely the final terms in an immense
series of changes which have been brought about in the course of
immeasurable time, by the operation of causes more or less similar to
those which are at work at the present day." Domestication and other
causes have no doubt produced changes in the form of many animals; but
none from which this inference can be drawn, except in the imagination
of ingenious men who strain the facts to support a preconceived
hypothesis. In spite of the innumerable forms which the pigeon assumes
by cross-breeding and domestication, it still remains a pigeon; the dog
is still a dog, and so with other animals. Nor does it seem to us to be
necessary, or calculated to advance our knowledge in natural history, to
form theories which can only disturb our existing systems without
supplying a better. Systems are necessary for the purpose of arrangement
and identification; but it should never be forgotten that all
classifications are artificial--a framework or cabinet, into the
partitions of which many facts may be stowed away, carefully docketed
for future use. "Theories," says Le Vaillant, "are more easily made and
more brilliant probably than observations; but it is by observation
alone that science can be enriched." A bountiful Creator appears to have
adopted one general plan in the organization of all the vertebrate
creation; and, in order to facilitate their study, naturalists have
divided them into classes, orders, and genera, formed on the differences
which exist in the structure of their vital functions. The advantages of
this are obvious, but it does not involve the necessity of fathoming
what is unfathomable, of explaining what is to man inexplicable in the
works of GOD.[2]
[2] This, however, is a subject upon which naturalists of the
highest rank hold different opinions, many of those most highly
qualified to form a correct judgment advocating the tenets
propounded by Mr. Charles Darwin.--ED.
In previous volumes of this series[3] we have endeavoured to give the
reader some general notions of the form, life, and manners of the
branches of the animal kingdom known as Zoophytes, Mollusca, Articulata,
and Pisces. We now continue the superior sub-kingdom (to which the
fishes also belong) of the Vertebrated Animals, so called from the
osseous skeleton which encircles their bodies, in which the vertebral
column, surmounted by the cranium, its appendage, forms the principal
part.
[3] "The Ocean World," from the French of Louis Figuier. "The
Insect World," from the French of the same author.
The presence of a solid frame in this series of animals admits of their
attaining a size which is denied to any of the others. The skeleton
being organized in such a manner as to give remarkable vigour and
precision to all their movements.
In the vertebrated animals the nervous system is also more developed.
There is, consequently, a more exquisite sensibility in them than in the
classes whose history we have hitherto discussed. They possess five
senses, more or less fully developed, a heart, a circulation, and their
blood is red.
We have now to deal with a class advanced above that of fishes, that of
Reptilia, which is divided as follows:--
AMPHIBIA--(BATRACHIA, CUV.)
Animals having ribs or processes, or short, slight, and free
vertebræ, forming a series of separate centrums, deeply cupped at
both ends, one of which is converted by ossification in the mature
animal into a ball, which may be the front one, as in the Surinam
Toad, _Pipa_, or the hind ones in the Frogs and Toads, _Rana_. The
skin is nude, limbs digitate, gills embryonal,--permanent in
some, in most lost in metamorphosis,--to be succeeded by pulmonary
respiration,--or both; a heart with one ventricle and two auricles.
They consist of:--
I. OPHIOMORPHA.
Cæciliadæ or Ophiosomæ.
II. ICTHYOMORPHA.
Proteidæ or Sirens, Proteus, Newts, and Salamanders.
III. THERIOMORPHA.
_Aglosa_ Pipa or Surinam Toads.
_Ranidæ_ Frogs.
_Hylidæ_ Tree Frogs.
_Bufonidæ_ Toads.
CHELONIA, OR TURTLES.
Distinguished by the double shield in which their bodies are enclosed,
whether they are terrestrial, fresh-water, or marine.
The Turtles, _Chelonia_, have the limbs natatory.
Mud Turtles, _Trionyx_, } limbs amphibious.
Terrapens, _Emys_, }
Tortoises, _Testudo_, limbs terrestrial.
LACERTILIA.
Having a single transverse process on each side, single-headed ribs, two
external nostrils, eyes with movable lids; body covered with horny,
sometimes bony, scales.
_Lacerta_--the Monitors, Crocodiles, Lizards; having ambulatory limbs.
_Anguis_--Ophisaurus, Bimanus, Chalcides, Seps; limbs abortive; no
sacrum.
OPHIDIA.
Having numerous vertebræ with single-headed hollow ribs, no visible
limbs, eyelids covered by an immovable transparent lid; body covered by
horny scales. It includes:--
_Viperinæ_--the Vipers and Crotalidæ.
_Colubrinæ_--the Colubers, Hydridæ, and Boidæ.
CROCODILIA.
Teeth in a single row, implanted in distinct sockets; body depressed,
elongated, protected on the back by solid shield; tail longer than the
trunk, compressed laterally, and furnished with crests above. The
several families are:--
_Crocodilidæ_--the Gavials, Mecistops, Crocodiles.
_Alligatoridæ_--Jacares, Alligators, Caiman.[4]
[4] By some naturalists the _Amphibia_ are considered as a
distinct class, by other as a sub-class either of _Reptilia_ or
of _Pisces_. Of the reptiles proper (at present existing), the
arrangement into the orders _Testudinata_ (or Tortoises), _Sauria_
(or Lizards), and _Ophidia_ (or Snakes), is the one most generally
adopted; but De Blainville elevates the _Loricata_ (or Crocodiles)
to the rank of an order, and others have adopted a division of
corresponding rank, _Saurophidia_, for the _Anguis_ series above
referred to; but the latter are merely limbless Lizards (or with
abortive limbs) akin to the Scinques.--ED.
CHAPTER I.
AMPHIBIA, OR BATRACHIANS.
Those geographers who divide the world into land and sea overlook
in their nomenclature the extensive geographical areas which belong
permanently to neither section--namely, the vast marshy regions on the
margins of lakes, rivers, and ponds, which are alternately deluged with
the overflow of the adjacent waters, and parched and withering under
the exhalations of a summer heat; regions which could only be inhabited
by beings capable of living on land or in water; beings having both
gills through which they may breathe in water, and lungs through which
they may respire the common air. The first order of reptiles possesses
this character, and hence its name of Amphibia, from +amphibios+,
having a double life.
The transition from fishes to reptiles is described by Professor Owen,
with that wonderful power of condensation which he possesses, in the
following terms:--"All vertebrates during more or less of their
developmental life-period float in a liquid of similar specific gravity
to themselves. A large proportion, constituting the lowest organised and
first developed forms of this province, exist and breathe in water, and
are called fishes. Of these a few retain the primitive vermiform
condition, and develop no limbs; in the rest they are 'fins' of simple
form, moving by one joint upon the body, rarely adapted for any other
function than the impulse or guidance of the body through the water. The
shape of the body is usually adapted for moving with least resistance
through the liquid medium. The surface of the body is either smooth and
lubricous or it is smoothly covered with overlapping scales; it is
rarely defended by bony plates, or roughened by tubercles. Still more
rarely it is armed with spines." Passing over the general economy of
fishes we come to the heart. "The heart," he tells us, "consists of one
auricle receiving the venous blood, and one ventricle propelling it to
the gills or organs submitting that blood in a state of minute
subdivisions to the action of aërated water. From the gills the aërated
blood is carried over the entire body by vessels, the circulation being
aided by the contraction of the surrounding muscles."
The functions of gills are described by the Professor with great
minuteness. "The main purpose of the gills of fishes," he says, "being
to expose the venous blood in this state of minute subdivision to
streams of water, the branchial arteries rapidly divide and sub-divide
until they resolve themselves into microscopic capillaries, constituting
a network in one plane or layer, supported by an elastic plate, covered
by a tesselated and non-ciliated epithelium. This covering and the
tunics of the capillaries are so thin as to allow chemical interchange
and decomposition to take place between the carbonated blood and the
oxygenated water. The requisite extent of the respiratory field of
capillaries is gained by various modes of multiplying the surface within
a limited space." "Each pair of processes," he adds, "has its flat side
turned towards contiguous pairs, and the two processes of each pair
stand edgeway to each other, being commonly united for a greater or less
extent from their base; hence Cuvier describes each pair as a single
bifurcated plate, or 'feuillet.'"
The modification which takes place in the respiratory and other organs
in Reptilia, is described in a few words. "Many fishes have a bladder of
air between the digestive canal and the kidneys, which in some
communicate with an air-duct and the gullet; but its office is chiefly
hydrostatic. When on the rise of structure this air-bladder begins to
assume the vascular and pharyngeal relations with the form and cellular
structure of lungs, the limbs acquire the character of feet: at first
thread-like and many jointed, as in the _Lepidosiren_; then bifurcate,
or two-fingered, with the elbow and wrist joints of land animals, as in
_Amphiuma_; next, three-fingered, as in _Proteus_, or four-fingered, but
reduced to the pectoral pair, as in _Siren_."
In all reptiles the blood is conveyed from the ventricular part of the
heart, really or apparently, by a single trunk. In Lepidosiren the veins
from the lung-like air-bladders traverse the auricle which opens
directly into the ventricle. In some the vein dilates before
communicating with the ventricle into a small auricle, which is not
outwardly distinct from the much larger auricle receiving the veins of
the body. In Proteus the auricular system is incomplete. In Amphiuma the
auricle is smaller and less fringed than in the Sirens, the ventricle
being connected to the pericardium by the apex as well as the artery.
This forms a half spiral turn at its origin, and dilates into a broader
and shorter bulb than in the Sirens.
"The pulmonic auricle," continues the learned Professor, "thus augments
in size with the more exclusive share taken by the lungs in respiration;
but the auricular part of the heart shows hardly any outward sign of its
diversion in the Batrachians. It is small and smooth, and situated on
the left, and in advance of the ventricle in Newts and Salamanders. In
Frogs and Toads the auricle is applied to the base of the ventricle, and
to the back and side of the aorta and its bulb."
In the lower members of the order, the single artery from the ventricle
sends, as in fishes, the whole of the blood primarily to the branchial
organs, during life, and in all Batrachians at the earlier aquatic
periods of existence. In the Newt three pairs of external gills are
developed at first as simple filaments, each with its capillary loop,
but speedily expanding, lengthening, and branching into lateral
processes, with corresponding looplets; those blood-channels
intercommunicating by a capillary network. The gill is covered by
ciliated scales, which change into non-ciliated cuticle shortly before
the gills are absorbed. In the _Proteus anguinus_, three parts only of
branchial and vascular arches are developed, corresponding with the
number of external gills. In _Siren lacertina_ the gills are in three
pairs of branchial arches, the first and fourth fixed, the second and
third free, increasing in size according to their condition.
The AMPHIBIA, then, have all, at some stage of their existence, both
gills and lungs co-existent: respiring by means of branchiæ or gills
while in the water, and by lungs on emerging into the open air.
All these creatures seem to have been well known to the ancients. The
monuments of the Egyptians abound in representations of Frogs, Toads,
Tortoises, and Serpents. Aristotle was well acquainted with their form,
structure, and habits, even to their reproduction. Pliny's description
presents his usual amount of error and exaggeration. Darkness envelops
their history during the middle ages, from which it gradually emerges in
the early part of the sixteenth century, when Belon and Rondiletius in
France, Salviani in Italy, and Conrad Gesner in Switzerland, devoted
themselves to the study of Natural History with great success. In the
latter part of the same century Aldrovandi appeared. During fifty years
he was engaged in collecting objects and making drawings, which were
published after his death, in 1640, edited by Professor Ambrossini, of
Bologna, the Reptiles forming two volumes. In these volumes, twenty-two
chapters are occupied by the Serpents. But the first arrangement which
can be called systematic was that produced by John Ray. This system was
based upon the mode of respiration, the volume of the eggs, and their
colour.
Numerous systems have since appeared in France, Germany, and England;
but we shall best consult our readers' interest by briefly describing
the classification adopted by Professor Owen, the learned Principal of
the British Museum, in his great work on the Vertebrata.
The two great classes Batrachians and Reptiles, include a number of
animals which are neither clothed with hair, like the Mammalia, covered
with feathers like the birds, nor furnished with swimming fins like
fishes. The essential character of reptiles is, that they are either
entirely or partially covered with scales. Some of them--for instance,
Serpents--move along the ground with a gliding motion, produced by the
simple contact and adhesion of the ventral scales with the ground.
Others, such as the Tortoises, the Crocodiles, and the Lizards, move by
means of their feet; but these, again, are so short, that the animals
almost appear to crawl on the ground--however swiftly, in some
instances. The locomotive organs in Serpents are the vertebral column,
with its muscles, and the stiff epidermal scutes crossing the under
surface of the body. "A Serpent may, however, be seen to progress,"
says Professor Owen, "without any inflection, gliding slowly and with a
ghost-like movement in a straight line, and if the observer have the
nerve to lay his hand flat in the reptile's course, he will feel, as the
body glides over the palm, the surface pressed as it were by the edges
of a close-set series of paper knives, successively falling flat after
each application." Others of the class, such as the Tortoises,
Crocodiles, and Lizards, move by the help of feet, which are generally
small and feeble--in a few species being limited to the pectoral region,
while in most both pairs are present. In some, as in various Lizards,
the limbs acquire considerable strength.
There is one genus of small Lizards, known as the Dragons, _Draco_,
whose movements present an exception to the general rule. Besides their
four feet, these animals are furnished with a delicate membranous
parachute, formed by a prolongation of the skin on the flanks and
sustained by the long slender ribs, which permits of their dropping from
a considerable height upon their prey.
Batrachians, again, differ from most other Reptilia by being naked:
moreover, most of them undergo certain metamorphoses; in the first stage
of their existence they lead a purely aquatic life, and breathe by means
of gills, after the manner of fishes. Young Frogs, Toads, and
Salamanders, which are then called _tadpoles_, have, in short, no
resemblance whatever to their parents in the first stage of their
existence. They are little creatures with slender, elongated bodies,
destitute of feet and fins, but with large heads, which may be seen
swimming about in great numbers in stagnant ponds, where they live and
breathe after the manner of fishes. By degrees, however, they are
transformed: their limbs and air-breathing lungs are gradually
developed, then they slowly disappear, and a day arrives when they find
themselves conveniently organized for another kind of existence; they
burst from their humid retreat, and betake themselves to dry land. "The
tadpole meanwhile being subject to a series of changes in every system
of organs concerned in the daily needs of the coming aërial and
terrestrial existence, still passes more or less time in water, and
supplements the early attempt at respiration by pullulating loops and
looplets of capillaries from the branchial vessels." (Owen.)
Nevertheless, they do not altogether forget their native element; thanks
to their webbed feet, they can still traverse the waters which sheltered
their infancy; and when alarmed by any unusual noise, they rush into the
water as a place of safety, where they swim about in apparent enjoyment.
In some of them, as _Proteus_ and the amphibious _Sirens_, where the
limbs are confined to the pectoral region, swimming seems to be the
state most natural to them. They are truly amphibious, and they owe this
double existence to the persistence of their gills; for in these
perennibranchiate Batrachians, arteries are developed from the last pair
of branchial arches which convey blood to the lungs: while, in those
having external deciduous gills, the office being discharged, they lose
their ciliate and vascular structure and disappear altogether. The skull
in Reptiles generally consists of the same parts as in the Mammalia,
though the proportions are different. The skull is flat, and the
cerebral cavity, small as it is, is not filled with brain. The vertebral
column commences at the posterior part of the head, two condyles
occupying each side of the vertebral hole (Fig. 2). The anterior limbs
are mostly shorter than the posterior, as might be expected of animals
whose progression is effected by leaps. Ribs there are none. The sternum
is highly developed, and a large portion of it is cartilaginous; it
moves in its mesial portions the two clavicles and two coracoid bones,
which fit on to the scapula, the whole making a sort of hand which
supports the anterior extremities, and an elongated disk which supports
the throat, and assists in deglutition and respiration. The bone of the
arm (_humerus_) is single, and long in proportion to the fore arm. In
the Frogs (_Rana_), the ilic bone is much elongated, and is articulated
in a movable manner on the sacrum, so that the two heads of the thigh
bones seem to be in contact. The femur, or thigh, is much lengthened and
slightly curved, and the bones of the leg so soldered together as to
form a single much elongated bone.
[Illustration: Fig. 2.--Skeleton of a Frog.]
The respiration of Reptiles and some of the Batrachians, like that of
Birds and Mammals, is aërial and pulmonary, but it is much less active.
Batrachians have, in addition, a very considerable cutaneous
respiration. Some of them, such as Toads, absorb more oxygen through the
skin than by the lungs. Their circulation is imperfect, the structure
of the heart only presenting one ventricle; the blood, returning after a
partial regeneration in the lungs, mingles with that which is not yet
revivified: this mixed fluid is launched out into the economic system of
the animal. Thus Reptiles and Batrachians are said to be _cold-blooded_
animals, more especially the former, in which the respiratory organs,
which are a constant source of interior heat, are only exercised very
feebly. Owing to this low temperature of their bodies, reptiles affect
warm climates, where the sun exercises its power with an intensity
unknown in temperate regions; hence it is that they abound in the warm
latitudes of Asia, Africa, and America, whilst comparatively few are
found in Europe. This is also the cause of their becoming torpid during
the winter of our latitudes: not having sufficient heat in themselves to
produce reaction against the external cold, they fall asleep for many
months, awakening only when the temperature permits of their activity.
Serpents, Lizards, Tortoises, Frogs, are all subjected to this law of
their being. Some hybernate upon the earth, under heaps of stones, or in
holes; others in mud at the bottom of ponds. The senses are very
slightly developed in these animals; those of touch, taste, and smell,
are very imperfect; that of hearing, though less obtuse, leaves much to
be desired; but sight in them is very suitably exercised by the large
eyes, with contractile eye-balls, which enables certain reptiles--such,
for instance, as the Geckos, to distinguish objects in the dark. Most
Reptiles and Batrachians are almost devoid of voice: Serpents, however,
utter a sharp hissing noise, some species of Crocodiles howl
energetically, the Geckos are particularly noisy, and Frogs have a
well-known croak. In Reptiles and Batrachians the brain is small, a
peculiarity which explains their slight intelligence and the almost
entire impossibility of teaching them anything. They can, it is true, be
tamed; but although they seem to know individuals, they do not seem to
be susceptible of affection: the slight compass of their brain renders
them very insensible, and this insensibility to pain enables them to
support mutilations which would prove immediately fatal to most other
animals. For instance, the Common Lizard frequently breaks its tail in
its abrupt movements. Does this disturb him? Not at all! This
curtailment of his being does not seem to affect him; he awaits
patiently for the return of the organ, which complaisant nature renews
as often as it becomes necessary. In the Crocodiles and Monitor Lizards,
however, a mutilated part is not renewed, and the renovated tails of
other Lizards do not develop bone. In some instances, the eyes may be
put out with impunity, or part of the head may be cut off; these organs
will be replaced or made whole in a certain time without the animal
having ceased to perform any of the functions which are still permitted
to him in his mutilated state. A Tortoise will continue to live and walk
for six months after it is deprived of its brain, and a Salamander has
been seen in a very satisfactory state although its head was, so to
speak, isolated from the trunk by a ligature tied tightly close round
the neck. There is another curious peculiarity in the history of
Reptiles and Batrachians: each year as they awake from their state of
torpor, they slough their old covering, and thus each year renew their
youth; so far as the skin is concerned, it is certain that they retain
their youth a very long time. Their growth is slow, and continues almost
through the whole duration of their existence; they are, moreover,
endowed with remarkable longevity. This is not very astonishing, if we
consider that (at least in our latitudes) they remain torpid for several
months yearly; thus using up less of the materials of life than most
animals, they ought, consequently, to attain a more advanced age. The
activity of organization in Reptiles and Batrachians is so slight that
their stomachs feel less of the exigencies of hunger; hence they rarely
take nourishment; they digest their food with equal deliberation. With
the exception of the Land Tortoises, whose regimen is herbivorous, most
reptiles feed on living prey. Some, such as Lizards, Frogs, and Toads,
prey on worms, insects, small terrestrial or aquatic Molluscs; others,
such as Ophidians and Crocodiles, attack Birds, and even Mammalia. Large
Serpents, owing to the distensibility of their oesophagus, swallow
animals much larger than themselves. The Boa-constrictor darts upon the
Deer, binds him in its snaky coils, breaks his bones, and little by
little swallows him entirely.
Reptiles, whether Batrachians, Ophidians, or Chelonians, are mostly
_oviparous_, sometimes _ovo-viviparous_, and some of them are very
prolific. The eggs of some are covered with a calcareous envelope, as in
the Turtle. Sometimes they are soft, and analogous to the spawn of fish,
as in the Batrachians. They do not hatch their eggs by sitting upon
them, but bury them in the sand, and take no further care of them,
trusting to the heat of the sun, which hatches them in due course. To
this the Pythons form a partial exception. Batrachians content
themselves with diffusing their spawn or eggs in the marshy waters or
ponds, or they bear them on their backs until the time of hatching
approaches. On leaving the egg the young Tortoises have to provide
immediately for their own wants, for the parents are not present to
bring them their nourishment or to defend them against their enemies.
This parental protection, so manifest among the superior animals, does
not exist in oviparous species; that is, in those whose eggs are not
hatched in the body of the mother. The young are, so to speak, produced
in a living state, and fully prepared for the battle of life. The loves
of these animals present none of that character of mutual affection and
tender sympathy which distinguishes the Mammalia and Birds.[5] When they
have ensured the perpetuity of their species, they separate, and betake
themselves again to their solitary existence.
[5] Birds, however, are oviparous, and nevertheless manifest the
strongest parental affection.--ED.
Some reptiles attain dimensions truly extraordinary, which render them
at times very formidable. Turtles are met with which weigh as much as
sixteen hundred pounds, and the carapace of one of these measured as
much as six feet in length. The size of an ordinary Crocodile is from
eight to nine feet, but they have been seen twenty-four and even thirty
feet long, with a mouth opening from six to eight feet wide.
[Illustration: Fig. 3.--Skeleton of a Turtle.]
In Chelonians the surface of the skull is continuous without movable
articulations. The head is oval in the Land Tortoises, the interval
between the eyes large and convex, the opening of the nostrils large,
the orbits round. The general distinguishing characteristic of Tortoises
is the external position of the bones of the thorax, at once enveloping
with a cuirass or buckler the muscular portion of the frame, and
protecting the pelvis and shoulder bones. The ribs are inserted by means
of sutures into these plates, and united with each other. A
three-branched shoulder and cylindrical shoulder-blade are
characteristic of the Tortoises.
In tropical regions enormous Serpents are found, which are as bulky as a
man's thigh, and are said to be not less than forty feet in length.
Roman annals mention one forty feet long, which Regulus encountered in
Africa during the Punic wars, and which is fabulously said to have
arrested the march of his army. These gigantic reptiles are not,
however, the enemies which man has most cause to fear; their very size
draws attention to them in such a manner that it is easy to avoid them.
It is quite otherwise with Vipers twenty or thirty inches long; they
glide after their prey without being seen, strike it cruelly with their
fangs, leaving in the wound a venom which produces death with startling
rapidity. Doubtless this fatal power was the origin of the worship which
was rendered to certain reptiles by barbarous nations of old, and these
animals are indeed still venerated by many savage races. The whole class
of Reptiles are, for the most part, calculated to inspire feelings of
disgust, and such has been the sentiment in all ages. Few people can
suppress a movement of fright at the sight of an ordinary Snake, Lizard,
or Frog, notwithstanding that they are most inoffensive animals. Several
causes concur to this aversion. In the first place the low temperature
of their bodies, contact with which communicates an involuntary shudder
in the person who tries to touch one of them; then the moisture which
exudes from the skins of Frogs, Toads, and Salamanders; their fixed and
strong gaze, again, impresses one painfully in thinking of them; the
odour which some of them exhale is so disgusting, that it alone
sometimes causes fainting; add to this the fear of a real or often
exaggerated danger, and we shall have the secret of the sort of
instinctive horror which is felt by many people at the sight of most
reptiles. Nevertheless, the injurious species are exceptional amongst
reptiles, and there are not any amongst the Batrachians, for it is
altogether a mistake to take for venom the fluid which the toad
discharges.[6] It is true that these animals are repulsive in
appearance, we can nevertheless recognise their services in the economy
of nature. Inhabitants of slimy mud and impure swamps, they make
incessant war upon the worms and insects which abound in those
localities. In their turn they find implacable enemies in the birds of
the marshes, which check their prodigious multiplication. In this manner
equilibrium is maintained.
[6] The _Necturus_, a Siren-like animal inhabiting the lakes of
North America, has a series of small, fang-like teeth above and
below, which are stated to give an envenomed bite.--"Proceedings
of the Zoological Society" for 1857, p. 61. For poison-organs in
certain fishes, _vide_ the same publication for 1864, p. 155.--ED.
Some of the animals which now occupy our attention render more direct
service to man by the part which they fulfil at his table. Frogs are
eaten in the south of France, Italy, and many other countries; and in
some parts of the south of France, Adders are eaten under the name of
Hedge-eels. We know the favour in which Turtles are held in England,
where turtle-soup is considered a dish only fit for merchant princes. In
some countries Iguanas, Crocodiles, and even Serpents are eaten.
Viper-broth, which was known to Hippocrates, is discontinued as an
article of food.
As we have already remarked, the peculiar nature of their organization
leads Reptiles and Batrachians to seek the warmer regions of the earth.
It is in those regions that they attain the enormous dimensions which
distinguish certain Serpents; there, too, they secrete their most subtle
poisons, and display the most lively colours--which, if less rich than
those of Birds and Fishes, are not less startling in effect. Many
Serpents and Lizards glitter with radiant metallic reflections, and some
of them present extremely varied combinations of colour. Chameleons are
found in the same localities, but in the Old World only; these and some
other Lizards are remarkable for changing their colour, a phenomenon
which is also seen among the Frogs, but in a smaller degree.
Reptiles and Batrachians were numerous in the early ages of our globe.
It was then that those monstrous Saurians lived, whose dimensions even
are startling to our imagination. The forms of the Reptiles and
Batrachians of the early ages of the earth were much more numerous,
their dimensions much greater, and their means of existence more varied
than those of the present time. Our existent Reptiles are very
degenerate descendants of those of the great geological periods, unless
we except the Crocodiles and the gigantic Boas and Pythons. Whilst the
Reptiles of former ages disported their gigantic masses, and spread
terror amongst other living creatures, alike by their formidable
armature and their prodigious numbers, they are now reduced to a much
lower number of species. There are now but little more than 1,500
species of Reptiles and Batrachians described, and only 100 of those
belong to Europe.[7]
[7] _Vide_ subsequent notes on this subject, in p. 31, &c.
I. BATRACHIA.
Animals which compose this class have long been confounded with
reptiles, from which they differ in one fundamental peculiarity in their
organization. At their birth they respire by means of gills, and
consequently resemble fishes. In a physiological point of view, at a
certain time in their lives, these animals are fishes in form as well as
in their habits and organization. As age progresses, they undergo
permanent metamorphosis--they acquire lungs, and thenceforth an aërial
respiration. It is, then, easy to understand that these animals hold a
doubtful rank, as they have long done, amongst Reptiles, which are
animals with an aërial respiration; they ought to form a separate class
of Vertebrates.[8]
[8] They are regarded by some naturalists as a sub-class of Fishes
rather than of Reptiles, as _piscine_ forms certain of which
develop to a parallelism with the ordinary _reptilian_ condition of
advancement; their reproduction especially favouring this view or
idea.--ED.
Batrachians establish a transitional link between Fishes and
Reptiles--they are, as it were, a bond of union between those two groups
of animals. In the adult state Batrachians are cold-blooded animals with
incomplete circulation, inactive respiration, and the skin is bare. In
the introductory section to this chapter we have given the general
characteristics which belong to them. The Frogs--Tree Frogs, Toads,
Surinam Toads, Salamanders, and Newts--are the representatives of the
principal families of Batrachians of which we propose giving the
history.
The Frogs, _Rana_, have been irreparably injured by their resemblance to
the Toads. This circumstance has given rise to an unfavourable prejudice
against these innocent little Batrachians. Had the Toad not existed, the
Frog would appear to us as an animal of a curious form, and would
interest us by the phenomena of transformation which it undergoes in the
different epochs of its development. We should see in it a useful
inoffensive animal of slender form, with delicate and supple limbs,
arrayed in that green colour which is so pleasant to the eye, and which
mingles so harmoniously with the carpeting of our fields.
[Illustration: Fig. 4.--The Edible Frog (_Rana esculenta_).]
The body of the Edible Frog, _Rana esculenta_ (Fig. 4), sometimes
attains from six to eight inches in length, from the extremity of the
muzzle to the end of the hind feet. The muzzle terminates in a point;
the eyes are large, brilliant, and surrounded with a circle of gold
colour. The mouth is large; the body, which is contracted behind,
presents a tubercular and rugged back. It is of a more or less decided
green colour on the upper, and whitish on the under parts. These two
colours, which harmonize well, are relieved by three yellow lines, which
extend the whole length of the back, and by scattered black marbling. It
is, therefore, much to be regretted that prejudice should cause some at
least of us to turn away from this pretty little hopping animal, when
met with in the country; with its slight dimensions, quick movements,
and graceful attitudes. For ourselves, we cannot see the banks of our
streams embellished by the colours and animated with the gambols of
these little animals without pleasure. Why should we not follow with our
eyes their movements in our ponds, where they enliven the solitude
without disturbing its tranquillity. Frogs often leave the water, not
only to seek their nourishment, but to warm themselves in the sun. When
they repose thus, with the head lifted up, the body raised in front and
supported upon the hind feet, the attitude is more that of an animal of
higher organization than that of a mean and humble Batrachian. Frogs
feed on larvæ, aquatic insects, worms, and small mollusks. They choose
their prey from living and moving creatures; for they set a watch, and
when they perceive it, they spring on it with great vivacity. A large
Indian species (_R. tigrina_) has been seen to prey occasionally upon
young Sparrows. Far from being dumb, like many oviparous quadrupeds,
Frogs have the gift of voice. The females only make a peculiar low
growl, produced by the air which vibrates in the interior of two vocal
pouches placed on the sides of the neck; but the cry of the male is
sonorous, and heard at a great distance: it is a croak which the Greek
poet, Aristophanes, endeavoured to imitate by the inharmonic consonants,
_brekekurkoax, coax_! It is principally during rain, or in the evenings
and mornings of hot days, that Frogs utter their confused sounds. Their
chanting in monotonous chorus makes this sad melody very tiresome. Under
the feudal system, during the "good old times" of the middle ages, which
some people would like to bring back again, the country seats of many of
the nobility and country squires were surrounded by ditches half full of
water, all inhabited by a population of croaking Frogs. Vassals and
villains were ordered to beat the water in these ditches morning and
evening in order to keep off the Frogs which troubled the sleep of the
lords and masters of the houses. Independent of the resounding and
prolonged cries of which we have spoken, at certain times the male Frog
calls the female in a dull voice, so plaintive that the Romans described
it by the words "ololo," or "ololygo." "Truly," says Lacépède, "the
accent of love is always mingled with some sweetness."
When autumn arrives Frogs cease from their habitual voracity, and no
longer eat. To protect themselves from the cold, they bury themselves
deeply in the mud: troops of them joining together in the same place.
Thus hidden, they pass the winter in a state of torpor; sometimes the
cold freezes their bodies without killing them. This state of torpor
gives way in the first days of spring. During the month of March, Frogs
begin to awake and to move themselves; this is their breeding season.
Their race is so prolific that a female can produce from six to twelve
hundred eggs annually. These eggs are globular, and are in form a
glutinous and transparent spheroid, at the centre of which is a little
blackish globule; the eggs float, and form like chaplets on the surface
of the water.
[Illustration: Fig. 5.--Development of the Tadpole.
1. Egg of the Frog. 2. The Egg fecundated, and surrounded by its
visicule. 3. First state of the Tadpole. 4. Appearance of the breathing
gills. 5. Their development. 6. Formation of the hind feet. 7. Formation
of the fore feet, and decay of the gills. 8. Development of the lungs,
and reduction of the tail. 9. The perfect Frog.]
All who have observed the small ponds and ditches in the country at this
season, will have seen these light and elegant crafts swimming on the
surface of the water. After a few days, more or less according to the
temperature, the little black spot which is the embryo of the egg, and
which has developed itself in the interior of the glairy mass which
envelops it, disengages itself and shoots forth into the water: this is
the tadpole of the Frog.
The body of the tadpole is oval in shape, and terminates in a long flat
tail, which forms a true fin; on each side of the neck are two large
gills, in shape like a plume of feathers; the tadpole has no legs. These
gills soon begin to wither, without aquatic respiration ceasing,
however; for, besides these, the tadpole possesses interior gills like
fishes. Soon after, the legs begin to show themselves, the hind legs
appearing first; they acquire a considerable length before the fore feet
begin to show themselves. These develop themselves under the skin, which
they presently pierce through. When the legs have appeared, the tail
begins to fade, and, little by little, withers away, until in the
perfect animal it entirely disappears. About the same time the lungs
become developed, and assume their functions. In Fig. 5 may be traced
the successive phases of its transformation from the egg to the tadpole,
till we finally reach the perfect Batrachian. Through these admirable
modifications we see the Fish, little by little, become a Batrachian. In
order to follow this strange metamorphosis, it suffices to gather some
Frog's eggs, and to place them with some aquatic herbs in an aquarium,
or in a globe with Gold and Silver Fish; it there constitutes a most
interesting spectacle, and we advise our readers to give themselves this
instructive and easy lesson in natural history.
At present, there exist two species of Frog in Europe: the _Green_ or
_Edible Frog_, and the _Common Frog_. The Green Frog is that which we
have described, and of which we have given a representation in Fig. 4.
They are found in running streams and stagnant waters. It is this
species to which La Fontaine alludes in one of his fables. Common Frogs
are smaller than the preceding: they inhabit damp places in fields and
vineyards, and only return to the water to breed or to winter.
The flesh of the Edible Frog is very tender, white, and delicate. As an
article of food, it is lightly esteemed by some, but undeservedly so.
Prepared in the same manner, Green Frogs closely resemble very young
fowls in taste. In almost all parts of France Frogs are disdained as
articles of food; it is only in the south that a taste for them is
openly avowed, and there Frogs are sought for and brought to market.
Therefore, I never could comprehend how the notion popular in England,
when it is wished to express contempt for Frenchmen, should be to call
them Frog-eaters. It is a reproach which might be addressed to
Provençals and Languedocians like the author of this work, but not at
all to the majority of Frenchmen.
[Illustration: Fig. 6.--Green Tree Frog (_Hyla_).]
The Green Tree Frog is easily distinguished by having little plates
under its toes. These organs are a species of sucker, by means of which
the animal is enabled, like the house-fly, to cling strongly to any
surface, however smooth and polished it may be. The smoothest branch,
even the lower surface of a leaf, forms a sufficient hold and support to
these delicate organs.
The upper part of the body is of a beautiful green, the lower part,
where little tuberculi are visible, is white. A yellow line, lightly
bordered with violet, extends on each side of the head and back, from
the muzzle to the hind legs. A similar line runs from the jaw to the
front legs. The head is short, the mouth round, and the eyes raised.
Much smaller than the ordinary Frog, they are far more graceful. During
the summer they live upon the leaves of trees in damp woods, and pass
the winter at the bottom of some pond, which they do not leave till the
month of May, after having deposited their eggs. They feed on small
insects, worms, and mollusks; and in order to catch them, they will
remain in the same place an entire day. During the glare of the sun,
they remain hidden amongst the leaves; but when twilight approaches,
they move about and climb up the trees. We must repeat of these Green
Tree Frogs what we have already said of Frogs. Get rid of all prejudice
towards their kind, and then you will examine with pleasure their lively
colours, which harmonize so well with the green leaves; remark their
tricks and ambuscades; follow them in their little hunting excursions;
see them suspended upside down upon the leaves in a manner which appears
marvellous to those who are not aware of the organs which have been
given to enable them to attach themselves to the smoothest bodies: and
it will give as much pleasure as can be derived from the consideration
of the plumage, habits, and flight of birds. The croak of the Green Tree
Frogs is like that of other Frogs, although less sharp and sometimes
stronger in the males; it can be pretty well translated by the syllables
_caraccarac_, pronounced from the throat. This cry is principally heard
in the morning and evening; then, when one Frog begins to utter its
croak, all the others imitate it. In the quiet night the voice of a
troop of these little Batrachians sometimes reaches to an enormous
distance.
Toads, _Bufo_, are squat and disagreeable in shape: it is difficult to
comprehend why nature, which has bestowed elegance and a kind of grace
upon Frogs and Tree Frogs, has stamped the Toad with so repulsive a
form. These much despised beings occupy a large place in the order of
nature: they are distributed with profusion, but one cannot say exactly
to what end; their movements are heavy and sluggish. In colour they are
usually of a livid grey, spotted with brown and yellow, and disfigured
by a number of pustules or warts. A thick and hard skin covers a flat
back; its large belly always appears to be swollen; the head a little
broader than the rest of its body; the mouth and the eyes are large and
prominent. It lives chiefly at the bottom of ditches, especially those
where stagnant and corrupt water has lain a long time. It is found in
dung heaps, caves, and in dark and damp parts of woods. One has often
been disagreeably surprised on raising some great stone to discover a
Toad cowering against the earth, frightful to see, but timorous, seeking
to avoid the notice of strangers. It is in these different obscure and
sometimes foetid places of refuge that the Toad shuts itself up during
the day; going out in the evening, when our common species moves by
slight hops; whilst another, the Natterjack Toad, _Bufo calamita_, only
crawls, though somewhat fastly. When seized, it voids into the hand a
quantity of limpid water imbibed through the pores of its skin; but if
more irritated, a milky and Venemous humour issues from the glands of
its back.
[Illustration: Fig. 7.--The Common Toad (_Bufo vulgaris_).]
One peculiarity of its structure offers a defence from outward attacks.
Its very extensible skin adheres feebly to the muscles, and at the will
of the animal a large quantity of air enters between this integument and
the flesh, which distends the body, and fills the vacant space with an
elastic bed of gas, by means of which it is less sensible to blows.
Toads feed upon insects, worms, and small mollusks. In fine evenings, at
certain seasons especially, they may be heard uttering a plaintive
monotonous sound. They assemble in ponds, or even in simple puddles of
water, where they breed and deposit their eggs. When hatched, the young
Toads go through the same metamorphosis as do the tadpoles of the Frogs.
Their simple lives, though very inactive, are nevertheless very
enduring; they respire little, are susceptible of hibernation, and can
remain for a considerable time shut up in a very confined place.
It is proper, however, to caution the reader against believing all that
has been written about the longevity of Toads. Neither must implicit
faith be given to the discovery of the living animal (Fig. 7) in the
centre of stones. "That Toads, Frogs, and Newts, occasionally issue from
stones broken in a quarry or in sinking wells, and even from coal-strata
at the bottom of a mine," is true enough; but, as Dr. Buckland observes,
"the evidence is never perfect to show that these Amphibians were
entirely enclosed in a solid rock; no examination is made until the
creature is discovered by the breaking of the mass in which it was
contained, and then it is too late to ascertain whether there was any
hole or crevice by which it might have entered." These considerations
led Dr. Buckland to undertake certain experiments to test the fact. He
caused blocks of coarse oölitic limestone and sandstone to be prepared
with cells of various sizes, in which he enclosed Toads of different
ages. The small Toads enclosed in the sandstone were found to die at the
end of thirteen months; the same fate befell the larger ones during the
second year: they were watched through the glass covers of their cells,
and were never seen in a state of torpor, but at each successive
examination they had become more meagre, until at last they were found
dead. This was probably too severe a test for the poor creatures, the
glass cover implying a degree of hardness and dryness not natural to
half amphibious Toads. Moreover, it is certain that both Toads and Frogs
possess a singular facility for concealing themselves in the smallest
crevices of the earth, or in the smallest anfractuosities of stones
placed in dark places.
This animal, so repulsive in form, has been furnished by nature with a
most efficient defensive armature; namely, an acrid secretion which will
be described farther on. It is a bad leaper, an obscure and solitary
creature, which shuns the sight of man, as if it comprehended the blot
it is on the fair face of creation. It is, nevertheless, susceptible of
education, and has occasionally been tamed; but these occasions have
been rare. Pennant, the zoologist, relates some curious details
respecting a poor Toad, which took refuge under the staircase of a
house. It was accustomed to come every evening into a dining-room near
to the place of its retreat. When it saw the light it allowed itself to
be placed on a table, where they gave it worms, wood-lice, and various
insects. As no attempt was made to injure it, there were no signs of
irritation when it was touched, and it soon became, from its gentleness
(the gentleness of a Toad!), the object of general curiosity; even
ladies stopped to see this strange animal. The poor Batrachian lived
thus for six and thirty years; and it would probably have lived much
longer had not a Crow, tamed, and, like it, a guest in the house,
attacked him at the entrance of his hole, and put out one of his eyes.
From that time he languished, and died at the end of a year.
[Illustration: Fig. 8.--Surinam Toad (_Pipa monstrosa_).]
Nearly allied to the Toads, _Bufo_, the Surinam Toad, _Pipa_, holds
its place. Its physiognomy is at once hideous and peculiarly odd:
the head is flat and triangular, a very short neck separates it from
the trunk, which is itself depressed and flattened. Its eyes are
extremely small, of an olive, more or less bright, dashed with small
reddish spots. It has no tongue. There is only one species of Pipa,
viz. the American Pipa (Fig. 8), which inhabits Guiana and several
provinces of Brazil. The most remarkable feature in this Batrachian
is its manner of reproduction. It is oviparous, and when the female
has laid her eggs, the male takes them, and piles upon the back of
his companion these, his hopes of posterity. The female, bearing the
fertilized eggs upon her back, reaches the marshes, and there
immerses herself; but the skin of the back which supports the eggs
soon becomes inflamed, erysipelatous inflammation follows, causing an
irritation, produced by the presence of eggs, which are then absorbed
into the skin, and disappear in the integument until hatched.
The young Pipa Toads are rapidly developed in these dorsal cells, but
they are extricated at a less advanced stage than almost any other
vertebrate animal. After extrication, the tadpole grows rapidly, and the
chief change of form is witnessed in the gills. As to the mother
Batrachian, it is only after she has got rid of her progeny that she
abandons her aquatic residence.[9]
[9] The same phenomena occur, with certain variations, in some
other American Batrachians, as the _Nototrema marsupiatum_ of
Mexico, and the _Notode'phys ovifera_ of Venezuela. In the _Alytes
obstetricans_ of France, Switzerland, and the Rhine district, the
ova (about sixty in number) adhere to the hind-legs of the male
parent!--ED.
The Batrachians differ essentially from all other orders of REPTILIA.
They have no ribs; their skin is naked, being without scales. The young,
or _tadpoles_, when first hatched, breathe by means of gills, being at
this stage quite unlike their parents. These gills, or branchiæ,
disappear in the tailless Batrachians, as the Frogs and Toads, in which
the tail disappears, are called. In the tadpoles the mouth is destitute
of a tongue, this organ only making its appearance when the fore limbs
are evolved. The habits also change. The tadpole no longer feeds on
decomposing substances, and cannot live long immersed in water. The
branchiæ disappear one after the other, by absorption, giving place to
pulmonary vessels. The principal vascular arches are converted into the
pulmonary artery, and the blood is diverted from the largest of the
branchiæ to the lungs. In the meantime the respiratory cavity is
formed, the communicating duct advances with the elongation of the
oesophagus, and at the point of communication the larynx is ultimately
developed. The lungs themselves extend as simple elongated sacs,
slightly reticulated on the inner surface backwards into the abdominal
cavity. These receptacles being formed, air passes into and expands the
cavity, and respiration is commenced, the fore limbs are liberated from
the branchial chambers, and the first transformation is accomplished.
The alleged Venemous character of the Common Toad has been altogether
rejected by many naturalists; but Dr. Davy found that Venemous matter
was really contained in follicles in the true skin, and chiefly about
the head and shoulders, but also distributed generally over the body,
and on the extremities in considerable quantities. Dr. Davy found it
extremely acrid, but innocuous when introduced into the circulation. A
chicken inoculated with it was unaffected, and Dr. Davy conjectures that
this acrid liquid is the animal's defence against carnivorous Mammalia.
A dog when urged to attack one will drop it from its mouth in a manner
which leaves no doubt that it had felt the effects of the secretion.
In opposition to these opinions the story of a lad in France is told,
who had thrust his slightly wounded hand into a hole, intending to seize
a Lizard which he had seen enter. In place of the Lizard he brought out
a large Toad. While holding the animal, it discharged a milky yellowish
white fluid which introduced itself into the wound in his hand, and this
poison occasioned his death; but then it is not stated that the boy was
previously healthy.
Warm and temperate regions with abundant moisture are the localities
favourable to all the Batrachians. Extreme cold, as well as dry heat,
and all sudden changes are alike unfavourable to them. In temperate
climates, where the winters are severe, they bury themselves under the
earth, or in the mud at the bottom of pools and ponds, and there pass
the season without air or food, till returning spring calls them forth.
The species of this family are very numerous. MM. Duméril and Bibron
state that the Frogs, _Rana_, number fifty-one species; the Tree Frogs,
_Hyla_, sixty-four; and the Toads, _Bufo_, thirty-five. They are found
in all parts of the world, the smallest portion being found in Europe,
and the largest in America. Oceania is chiefly supplied with the Tree
Frogs. There are several curious forms in Australia, and one
species only is known to inhabit New Zealand. The enormous fossil
_Labyrinthodon_, of a remote geological era, is believed to have been
nearly related to these comparatively very diminutive Batrachians.[10]
[10] In Dr. Günther's Catalogue of the _Batrachia Salientia_ (as
Dr. Gray terms them) in the collection of the British Museum,
published in 1858, and which includes all the ascertained species
up to the time of publication, as many as 282 are enumerated,
which are arranged under twenty-five groups holding the rank of
families.--ED.
TAILED BATRACHIANS,
Sometimes called Urodeles, from +oura+, "tail," +dêlos+, "manifest."
The constant external character which distinguishes these Amphibians
in a general manner is the presence of a tail during the whole stage
of their existence. Nevertheless they are subject to the metamorphoses
to which all the Amphibians submit. "The division, therefore,
of reptiles," says Professor Rymer Jones, "into such as undergo
metamorphoses and such as do not, is by no means philosophical although
convenient to the zoologist, for all reptiles undergo a metamorphosis
although not to the same extent. In the one the change from the aquatic
to the air-breathing animal is never fully accomplished; in the tailed
Amphibian the change is accomplished after the embryo has escaped from
the ovum."
Salamanders have had the honour of appearing prominently in fabulous
narrative. The Greeks believed that they could live in fire, and this
error obtained credence so long, that even now it has not been entirely
dissipated. Many people are simple enough to believe from the Greek
tradition that these innocent animals are incombustible. The love of the
marvellous, fostered and excited by ignorant appeals to superstition,
has gone even further than this; it has been asserted that the most
violent fire becomes extinguished when a Salamander is thrown into it.
In the middle ages this notion was held by most people, and it would
have been dangerous to gainsay it. Salamanders were necessary animals in
the conjurations of sorcerers and witches; accordingly painters among
their symbolical emblems represented Salamanders as capable of
resisting the most violent action of live coal. It was found necessary,
however, that physicians and philosophers should take the trouble to
prove by experiment the absurdity of these tales.
The skull of the Land or Spotted Salamander, _Salamandra maculosa_, is
well described by Cuvier as being nearly cylindrical, wider in front so
as to form the semi-circular face, and also behind for the crucial
branches, containing the internal ears. The cranium of the aquatic
Salamander differs from the terrestrial in having the entire head more
oblong, and they differ also among themselves.
[Illustration: Fig. 9.--Land Salamander.]
In the Land Salamander the body is black and warty with large irregular
yellow spots distributed over the head, back, sides, feet, and tail.
They affect obscure and moist places, and only issue from their retreat
in the night or morning, walking slowly, and dragging themselves with
difficulty along the surface of the ground. They live upon flies,
beetles, snails, and earth worms. They remain in the water to deposit
their eggs; the young are born alive, and furnished with fully-developed
gills. Moreover Salamanders are gifted with a power which causes them to
be much dreaded by other animals: it has the power of discharging an
acrid and milky humour, with a very strong odour, from the surface of
its body, which serves as a defence against many animals which would
otherwise attack it. It has been proved by experiment that this liquid,
when introduced into the circulatory system by a small wound is a very
active poison, and causes certain death to the smaller animals. This
species is found in most parts of Europe, but not in the British
Islands.
The Black Salamander, _Triton alpestris_, has no spots; it is found on
the highest European mountains, in the regions of snow, and principally
on the highest Alps.
[Illustration: Fig. 10.--Newts, or Aquatic Salamanders.]
Newts, or Aquatic Salamanders, have not a round conical tail like the
terrestrial species, but have that appendage compressed or flattened
laterally. The males (during the breeding season only) are recognised
chiefly by the membranous serrated ridge or crest which extends along
the whole length of the back, from the head to the extremity of the
tail, as represented in Fig. 10. Newts are highly aquatic; they are
found in ditches, marshes, and ponds, which after the breeding season
they leave for moist places on land, often then finding their way into
drains and cellars. They are carnivorous, feeding upon different insects
and on the spawn of Frogs, not even sparing individuals of their own
species. The females deposit their eggs singly, fixing them on the under
surface of the leaves of aquatic plants. "Some Newts," says Professor
Owen, "deposit their eggs upon aquatic plants, such as _Polygonum
persicaria_, folding the leaf by means of the hind feet in such a way
that its under surface is turned inwards and the fold made to stick by
the adhesive coating of the egg, which she inserts in the fold." The
young are hatched fifteen days after. These animals give utterance to a
very peculiar noise, and when touched emit an odour quite
characteristic.
It has been ascertained that Newts can live for a long time, not only in
very cold water, but even in the midst of ice, being sometimes taken in
blocks of ice which are formed in the ditches and ponds which they
inhabit. When the ice-flakes melt they seem to awaken from their torpor,
and betake themselves to their accustomed movements with their recovered
liberty. Lacépède states that he found Aquatic Salamanders even during
summer in pieces of ice obtained from the ice-dealers, where they had
remained without movement or nourishment from the time when the ice had
been gathered from the marshes.
Newts present another remarkable feature in the facility with which they
repair any mutilations they may have undergone. Not only do their tails
grow again when broken off, but even their feet are reproduced in the
same manner, and the process may be many times repeated.
The Crested Newt, _Triton cristatus_, is frequently found in the
neighbourhood of Paris; the skin of its back is rough and warty, of a
brownish colour, with large black spots and white projecting points; the
belly has black spots upon an orange ground.
The Dutch traveller, Sieboldt, has introduced a species of Aquatic
Salamander, which inhabits the mountain lakes and marshes of Japan. This
species is remarkable for its gigantic growth. Instead of being the size
of a finger, as is the case with those indigenous to Europe, this
Batrachian is four feet and a half in length, and weighs fifty pounds.
Magnificent specimens of this gigantic Salamander, the _Sieboldtia
maxima_, may be seen by the visitors to the London Zoological Gardens.
The largest of them measured and weighed as above (March 3rd, 1869). An
analogous large fossil species was described as the _Homo diluvii
testis_!
The transformation of the tailed Batrachians, from the _tadpole_
condition to the air-breathing and four-footed state, is one of the most
interesting exhibitions of Nature, and one which everyone may verify
for himself. We cannot in our brief description have a more trustworthy
guide than Professor Rymer Jones, who selects the Water Newt, _Triton
cristatus_, as an example:--
"Immediately before leaving the egg," he says, "this tadpole presents
both the outward form and internal structure of a fish. The flattened
and vertical tail, fringed with a broad dorsal and oval fin; the shape
of the body and gills, appended to the side of the neck, are all
apparent; so that were the creature to preserve this form throughout its
life the naturalist would scarcely hesitate in classing it with fishes,
properly so called.
"When first hatched it presents the same fish-like body, and rows itself
through the water by the lateral movement of the caudal fin. The only
appearance of legs as yet visible consists in two minute tubercles,
which seem to be sprouting out from the skin immediately behind the
branchial tufts, and which are, in fact, the first buddings of anterior
extremities. Nevertheless, to compensate to a certain extent for the
total want of prehensile limbs, which afterwards become developed, two
supernumerary organs are provisionally furnished in the shape of two
minute claspers on each side of the mouth; by means of these the little
creature holds on to the leaves which are under water.
"Twelve days after issuing from the egg, the two fore-legs, which at
first resembled two little nipples, have become much elongated, and are
divided at their extremity into two or three rudiments of fingers. The
eyes, which were before scarcely visible, being covered by a membrane,
distinctly appear. The branchiæ, at first simple, are divided into
fringes, wherein red blood now circulates; the mouth has grown very
large, and the whole body is so transparent as to reveal the position of
the viscera within. Its activity is likewise much increased; it swims
with rapidity, and darts upon minute aquatic insects, which it seizes
and devours.
"About the twenty-second day the tadpole for the first time begins to
emit air from the mouth, showing that the lungs have begun to be
developed. The branchiæ are still large. The fingers upon the fore-legs
are completely formed. The hind-legs begin to sprout beneath the skin,
and the creature presents, in a transitory condition, the same external
form as that which the _Siren lacertina_ permanently exhibits.
"By the thirty-sixth day the young Salamander has arrived at the
development of the _Proteus anguinus_; its hind-legs are nearly
completed; its lungs have become half as long as the trunk of the body,
and its branchiæ more complicated in structure.
"At about the forty-second day the tadpole begins to assume the form of
an adult Newt. The body becomes shorter, the fringes of the branchiæ are
rapidly obliterated, so that in five days they are reduced to simple
prominences covered by the skin of the head; and the gills opening at
the sides of the neck, which allowed the water to escape from the mouth
as in fishes, and were, like them, covered with an operculum formed by a
fold of the integument, are gradually closed; the membranous fin of the
tail contracts, the skin becomes thicker and more deeply coloured, and
the creature ultimately assumes the form and habits of the perfect Newt,
no longer possessing branchiæ, but breathing air, and in every
particular the Reptile."
But however curious the phenomena attending the development of the
tadpoles of the Amphibian Reptiles may be to the observer who merely
watches the changes perceptible from day to day in their external form,
they acquire tenfold interest to the physiologist who traces the
progressive evolution of their internal viscera; more especially when he
finds that in these creatures he has an opportunity afforded him of
contemplating, displayed before his eyes, as it were, upon an enlarged
scale, those phases of development through which the embryo of every
air-breathing vertebrate animal must pass while concealed within the
egg, or yet unborn.[11]
[11] In the British Museum Catalogue (1850) these Amphibians
are styled _Batrachia Gradientia_, and are distributed under
three families, comprising fifty-two recognised species. The
class _Amphibia_ is divided by Dr. Gray into five orders--viz.
_Batrachia_, _Pseudosauria_, _Pseudophidia_, _Pseudichthyes_, and
_Meantia_. Of these the first, or the _Batrachia_, are divided
into the sub-orders _Salientia_ and _Gradientia_, the latter
consisting of three families, _Salamandridæ_, _Molgidæ_, and
_Plethodontidæ_. The second order, _Pseudosauria_, comprises the
families _Protonopsidæ_ (which contains the _Sieboldtia maxima_)
and _Amphiumidæ_. The third order, _Pseudophidia_, consists of only
one family, _Cæciliidæ_. The fourth order, _Pseudichthyes_, also
contains one family only, the _Lepidosirenidæ_. The fifth order,
_Meantia_, comprises the two families _Proteidæ_ and _Sirenidæ_.
Twenty-four ascertained species are distributed amongst the last
four of these orders; but the limits of this work do not permit
of a more detailed notice of these various groups of _Batrachia
Gradientia_. More recently, Dr. Günther, in his work on the
reptiles of the Indian region, has pointed out certain structural
characters connected with the generative system which show that
the _Pseudophidia_ do not properly belong to the _Batrachia_;
nor is their place in the system as yet quite satisfactorily
determined. They seem rather to be a very humble form of reptile;
while the _Pseudichthyes_ should rather be subordinated to the
class _Pisces_: though, as we have seen, there are naturalists
who would refer all of the _Batrachia_ to the fish class, certain
forms amongst them rising to a parallelism of development with
_Reptilia_, but still not constituting true reptiles. The mode
of reproduction especially is in favour of this view. Both
_Pseudophidia_ and _Pseudichthyes_ are intertropical or subtropical
animals, whereas the rest of the _Batrachia Gradientia_ belong
almost exclusively to the northern temperate zone; any exceptional
case occurring probably in very elevated regions. Of sixty-six
ascertained species, forty-nine are American, and there are five
from Japan, inclusive of the _Sieboldtia maxima_. But more species
have been discovered since the catalogue cited has been drawn
up, and of course there must be many yet to be discovered. Five
species are referred to the _Pseudophidia_, and three only to the
_Pseudichthyes_.--ED.
CHAPTER II.
OPHIDIAN REPTILES, OR TRUE SNAKES.
Reptiles are, as has been said in the preceding chapter, Vertebrated
Animals, breathing by lungs, having red and cold blood; that is to say,
not producing sufficient heat to render their temperature superior to
that of the atmosphere. Destitute of hairs, of feathers, of mammary
glands, and having bodies covered with scales.
Snakes, properly so called, have the tympanic bone, or pedicle of the
lower jaw, movable, and nearly always suspended to another bone,
analogous to the mastoid bone, which is attached to the cranium by
muscles and ligaments, a conformation which gives to these animals the
vast power of distension they possess. Their trachea is long, their
hearts placed far back, and the greater number have one very long lung
and vestiges of a second. They are divided into non-Venemous and
Venemous; and the latter are subdivided into Venemous with maxillary
teeth, and Venemous with isolated fangs.
The Snakes prey almost exclusively on animals of their own killing; the
more typical species attacking such as are frequently larger than
themselves: and the maxillary apparatus is, as we have seen, modified so
as to permit of the requisite distension. According to Professor Owen's
clear and intelligible description, the two superior maxillary bones
have their anterior extremities joined by an elastic and yielding
fibrous tissue with the small and single intermaxillary bone; the lower
maxillary rami are similarly connected. The opposite extremity of each
ramus is articulated to a long and movable vertical pedicle formed by
the tympanic bone, which is itself attached to the extremity of a
horizontal pedicle formed by the mastoid bone, so connected as to allow
of a certain yielding movement upon the cranium. The other bones have
similar loose movable articulations, which concur in yielding to the
pressure of large bodies with which the teeth have grappled.
The class of Reptiles is divided into three orders:--the OPHIDIANS,
comprehending the Snakes; the SAURIANS, the Lizards and Crocodiles; and
the CHELONIANS, the Turtles and Tortoises.
OPHIDIANS.
In Ophidians, commonly known under the name of Snakes, the body is long,
round, and straight. They have neither feet, fins, nor other locomotive
extremities. Their mouths are furnished with pointed hooked teeth. In
the Boas and Pythons the teeth are slender, curved, bending backwards
and inwards above their base of attachment. In others each maxillary
bone has a row of larger ones, which gradually decrease in size as they
are placed further back. These teeth are not contiguous, being separated
by considerable intervals. The smaller non-Venemous Serpents, such as
the _Colubridæ_, have two rows of teeth in the roof of the mouth. Each
maxillary and mandibular bone includes from twenty to twenty-five teeth.
In the Rattlesnakes and some other typical genera of poisonous Snakes,
the short maxillary bone only supports a single perforated fang. Their
lower jaw is highly distensible; the opening beings longer than the
skull. They have no neck; their eyelids are immovable; their skin is
coriaceous, highly extensible, and scaly or granulous, covered with a
thin caducous epidermis, which detaches itself in one entire piece, and
is reproduced several times in one year. Their movements are supple and
varied. In consequence of the sinuosity of their bodies,--for, though
scale-clad, Snakes are without apparent means of progression,--they make
their way with the utmost facility, by walking, leaping, climbing, or
swimming.
According to the genus chiefly, the very numerous species inhabit either
arid or moist places, the ground, or bushes and trees. Some pass much of
their time in the water, and one family (that of the _Hydrophidæ_) is
exclusively aquatic--even pelagic in the instance of one very widely
diffused species, the _Pelamis bicolor_. In the Arboreal Snakes the tail
is very long, and highly prehensile; in others, as the Vipers, it is
short and without any prehensility. In the Sea Snakes (_Hydrophidæ_), it
is laterally much compressed. Like other true reptiles, Snakes abound
more especially in warm climates, and there are many kinds of them in
Australia; but the order has not a single representative in New Zealand.
Most of the Snakes feed on living animals, only a few on birds' eggs.
Several kinds of them prey habitually on other Snakes, as the genera
_Hamadryas_, _Bungarus_, and _Elaps_, even _Psammophis_ occasionally;
and there are rare instances of non-Venemous Snakes preying upon
poisonous ones. The Venemous kinds first kill their victim by poisoning
it; various others by smothering it between the coils of their body. As
they do not possess organs for tearing the prey to pieces, nor a
dentition fit for mastication, the prey is swallowed entire; and in
consequence of the great width of the mouth, and of the extraordinary
extensibility of the skin of the gullet, they are able to swallow
animals of which the girth much exceeds their own. The Sea Snakes prey
mostly upon fishes, and the ordinary Water Snakes (_Homolopsidæ_, &c.)
on frogs and other Batrachians. Certain swallowers of birds' eggs have
peculiar spinous processes proceeding from the vertebræ of the neck,
the object of which is to fracture the shell of an egg during the
process of deglutition.
Most of the Ophidian Reptiles are oviparous, but many are
ovo-viviparous. The Pythons alone (so far as ascertained) perform a sort
of incubation, which has been repeatedly observed of captive specimens
of these huge Serpents.
Many Snakes are remarkable for their great beauty of colouring, or of
the pattern of their markings; but on account of the poisonous property
of so many of them, the whole order is popularly regarded with horror
and apprehension, and the most foolish tales are current respecting
various species of them. Thus many people suppose that there are Snakes
which rob cows of their milk; and the skeleton of a child being found in
the same hollow with a number of harmless Snakes (the North American
_Coryphodon constrictor_), it was concluded, as a matter of course,
that the Serpents must have both killed the child and stripped off its
flesh, which latter is what no Snake could possibly do. People are prone
to exaggerate, and commonly evince a fondness for the marvellous, which
induce those of hot countries more especially, where the species of
Ophidians are numerous, to declare every Snake met with as usually the
most Venemous one in their country; and thus travellers often come away
with exceedingly erroneous impressions on the subject. The Indian region
surpasses every other part of the globe in the number and variety of its
Ophidians, and almost every investigation of a limited but previously
unexplored district, is tolerably sure to add largely to our previous
knowledge of them. What, however, the late Sir J. Emerson Tennent
asserts of those inhabiting Ceylon, is equally applicable to other parts
of the Indian region. "During my residence in Ceylon," he remarks, "I
never heard of the death of an European which was caused by the bite of
a Snake; and in the returns of coroners' inquests made officially to my
department, such accidents to the natives appear chiefly to have
happened at night, when the reptiles, having been surprised or trodden
on, inflicted the wound in self-defence. For these reasons the
Cingalese, when obliged to leave their houses in the dark, carry a stick
with a loose ring, the noise of which, as they strike it on the ground,
is sufficient to warn the Snakes to leave their path."
In some parts of the vast Indian region the natives regard the innocuous
Chameleon as Venemous; in other parts various Geckos, or other Lizards.
In Bengal there is a current notion regarding a terrifically poisonous
Lizard, which is termed the _Bis-cobra_, but which has no existence
except in the imagination of the natives--who bring the young of the
Monitors and occasionally other well-known Lizards as exemplifying the
object of their dread. Again, the little harmless Burrowing Snakes
(_Typhlops_), which, superficially, have much the appearance of
earth-worms, are there popularly regarded as highly poisonous, though
not only are they harmless, but physically incapable of wounding the
human skin. Strangers who are little versed in zoology are commonly led
astray by such errors on the part of natives of those countries, and,
unfortunately, there is a number of stock vernacular names which are
applied to very different species in different localities. Thus
Europeans in India are familiar with the appellation "Carpet Snake," as
denoting a very deadly reptile, but nobody can there point out what the
Carpet Snake really is; and the one most generally supposed to bear that
name is a small innocuous Snake (_Lycodon aulicus_), which is common
about human dwellings. In the Australian colony of Victoria, however,
the appellation Carpet Snake is bestowed upon a terribly Venemous
species (_Hoplocephalus curtus_); while in the neighbouring colony of
New South Wales, a harmless and even useful creature (_Morelia
spilotes_) is habitually known as the Carpet Snake.
With regard to the poison of Venemous Snakes, attention has lately been
directed to the virtue of ammonia or volatile alkali. This should be
administered internally, mixed with alcoholic spirit and water, in
repeated doses; and it should also be injected into a vein--about one
drachm of the _liquor ammoniæ_ of the shops being mixed with two or
three times that quantity of water. The patient should be kept moving as
much as possible, and the effects of a galvanic battery should also be
tried in cases where animation is nearly or quite suspended. By these
means it is asserted that quite recently, in Australia, some very
remarkable cures have been effected.
The _Ophidia_ have many enemies, as the well-known Mongoose among
mammalia, also Swine, and various ruminating quadrupeds, as Deer and
Goats. In the bird class, the famous Serpent-eater, or Secretary-bird of
South Africa, is one of their chief destroyers; and there are various
other Snake-devouring birds of prey, besides the great African Ground
Hornbill,--even the Pea-fowl and sundry Storks and other waders.
Comparatively large birds of the King-fisher family prey chiefly upon
Snakes and Lizards in Australia; and of reptiles, besides those Snakes
which prey upon other Snakes, the Monitor Lizards frequently seize and
devour them.
The series of Ophidians is arranged by our most eminent herpetologist,
Dr. A. Günther, into five subordinate groups, which he characterises as
follows:--
I. _Burrowing Snakes_, living under ground, only occasionally appearing
above the surface. They are distinguished by a rigid cylindrical body,
short tail, narrow mouth, small head not distinct from the neck, little
teeth in small number, and by the absence or feeble development of the
ventral shields. They feed chiefly on small invertebrate animals. Not
any of them are Venemous.
II. _Ground Snakes_, or species which live above ground, and only
occasionally climb bushes or enter the water; their body is more or less
cylindrical, very flexible in every part, and of moderate proportions.
Their ventral shields are broad. They feed chiefly on terrestrial
vertebrate animals. By far the greater number of Snakes belong to this
category, and it is represented by many variations in all of the three
sub-orders to be noticed presently.
III. _Tree Snakes_, or species passing the greater part of their life on
bushes and trees, which they traverse with the utmost facility. They are
distinguished either by an exceedingly slender body, with broad,
sometimes carinated, ventral shields, or by a prehensile tail. Many of
the species are characterised by their vivid coloration, of which green
forms the principal part. We shall see, in the sequel, that the first
and third sub-orders offer numerous instances of Tree Snakes; the Tree
Snakes of the second sub-order being confined to Tropical Africa. They
feed on animals which have a mode of life similar to their own; only a
few species on eggs.
IV. _Fresh-water Snakes_, distinguished by the position of the nostrils,
which are placed on the top of the snout, and by a tapering tail. They
inhabit fresh-waters, and are, therefore, excellent swimmers and divers;
only a few species (which also in external characters approach the
following group, that of the true Sea Snakes) venture out to sea. They
feed on fishes, frogs, crustaceans, and other water animals, and are
viviparous. Not any of them are Venemous.
V. _Sea Snakes_, distinguished by a strongly compressed tail, and by the
position of the nostrils, which are placed as in the last group. They
live in the sea, only occasionally approaching the land, feed on marine
fishes, are viviparous and Venemous. One genus only (_Platurus_) has the
ventral shields so much developed as to be able to move on land. No
Oceanic Serpent is known of gigantic dimensions, such as is currently
alleged to have been seen by unscientific observers.
"Although these five groups," remarks Dr. Günther, "are not separated
from each other by defined lines of demarcation, and frequently pass
into one another by intermediate forms, yet a family and genus which
should be composed of species of several of these groups would be a very
unnatural assemblage of heterogeneous forms."
It is also remarked by the same naturalist that there is no sharp
boundary line between the order of Snakes and that of Lizards. There are
various limbless Saurians of Ophidian appearance, but the systematic
position of which is decided by the structure of their jaws. The Common
Orvet, or Slow-worm, is a familiar instance. On the other hand, certain
Ophidians remind us, by several characters, of the Saurian type,--as the
Snakes constituting the families _Typhlopidæ_, _Tortricidæ_,
_Xenopeltidæ_, and _Uropeltidæ_, which are distinguished by polished,
closely adherent, rounded, sub-equal scales, much resembling the smooth
scales of various Scincoid Lizards; most of them have a very narrow
mouth, unlike the enormous gape of the typical Serpents, and some are
without that longitudinal fold in the median line of the chin which is
so characteristic of most Ophidians; moreover, most of them have
rudiments of the bones of a pelvic arch. "The reason," alleges Dr.
Günther, "why we adopt the view of those systematists who refer such
reptiles to the Ophidians, instead of associating them with the limbless
Scincoid Lizards, is the loose connection of the jaw-bones, a character
which must be considered as peculiar to the Ophidians, and which is only
somewhat less developed in the families mentioned than in the typical
forms. The two halves of the lower jaw in Ophidians, namely, are not
united by a bony symphysis, but by an elastic ligament. The peculiar
mobility of the jaw bones enables the Snakes to extend the gape in an
extraordinary degree, and to work their prey down through the collapsed
pharynx."
The same naturalist classifies the _Ophidia_ into three sub-orders, in
which the Venemous Snakes are separated from the others; but to some
herpetologists this arrangement must appear rather forced, as his
_Venemous Colubrine Snakes_ have certainly a much nearer resemblance in
other respects to the _Colubridæ_ than they have to the _Viperine
Snakes_. For the most part, these reptiles are provided with numerous
teeth, which are lengthened, conical, thin and pointed like a needle,
and more or less bent backwards.
In Dr. Günther's _first sub-order_, that of _Non-Venemous Snakes_, the
teeth are either entirely smooth, or only the last of the maxillary
series is provided with a faint longitudinal groove, which is not
intended to convey a virus into the wound, the groove appearing rather
to increase the strength of the tooth. Many of them have long teeth in
front of the jaws or of the palate, but these are never grooved or
perforated, and only serve to afford a firmer hold on the living and
struggling prey.
"The structure of the venom-tooth is not the same in all poisonous
Snakes: in some it is fixed to the maxillary bone, which is as long or
nearly as long as in the non-Venemous Snakes, and generally bears one or
more ordinary teeth on its hinder portion. The venom-tooth is fixed more
or less erect, not very long, and its channel is generally visible as an
external groove. The poisonous Snakes with such a dentition have
externally a more or less striking resemblance to the non-Venemous
Serpents, and on this account they are designated as _Venemous Colubrine
Snakes_, forming our _second sub-order_." Two very distinct families are
here brought together--viz. the _Elapidæ_ (which comprises the Cobras
and many others), and the _Hydrophidæ_ (or Sea Snakes).
"In the other Venemous Snakes, composing the _third sub-order_, the
maxillary bone is extremely short, and does not bear any teeth except an
exceedingly long fang, with a perfectly closed externally invisible
channel in its interior. Although this tooth also is fixed to the bone,
the bone itself is very mobile, so that the tooth, which is laid
backwards when at rest, can be erected the moment the animal prepares to
strike. This tooth or fang, like all the other teeth, is not only
occasionally lost, but appears to be shed at regular intervals. From two
to four other venom-fangs in different stages of development, destined
to replace the one in action, exist between the folds of the gum, and
are not anchylosed to the bone." The more characteristic Venemous Snakes
appertain to this sub-order--viz. the two families _Crotalidæ_
(comprehending the Rattlesnakes, the Fer-de-lance, &c.) and _Viperidæ_
(comprising the Vipers, Puff-adders, &c.).
Let it be particularly borne in mind that the supposed distinguishing
characters of all poisonous Snakes, as assigned by sundry mischievously
ignorant writers, are those of the third of the foregoing sub-orders
almost exclusively. Even the broad, flat, and lanceolate form of head is
exemplified in certain Tree Snakes of the non-Venemous genus _Dipsas_,
and not in the Cobras and others that are quite as deadly--e.g.
_Hoplocephalus_, _Bungarus_, _Naja_, _Elaps_, and others constituting
the Colubriform family _Elapidæ_.
FIRST SUB-ORDER.
_Ophidii Coluberiformes_ (Günther), Innocuous Snakes.
These are distributed by Dr. Günther under numerous families, of which
we can only notice the more prominent, and some of the more conspicuous
species, in a popular exposition.
The _Typhlopidæ_, or Blind Snakes, comprise forms which are the most
remote from the true Ophidian type. They live under ground, their rigid
body and short curved tail being adapted for burrowing. After showers of
rain they occasionally appear above ground, and then they are tolerably
agile in their serpentine movements. The eye, which is scarcely visible
in many species, can give to them only a general perception of light.
They feed on worms and small insects, the tongue being forked, and, as
in other Snakes, frequently exserted. They are oviparous. The smallest
species of Snakes belong to this family, some of them being only half
the size of a common earth-worm, to which they bear a superficial
resemblance. Such, indeed, are the small vermiform Snakes already
referred to, as being foolishly considered Venemous by most natives of
India. Species of this family inhabit almost every country within and
near the tropics.
The _Tortricidæ_ are akin to the _Typhlopidæ_, and have rudiments of
hind limbs hidden in a small groove on each side of the vent, also a
longitudinal fold at the chin. The "Coral Snake" of Demarara (_Tortrix
scytale_) appertains to this family; and the genus _Cylindrophis_,
different species of which inhabit the great Asiatic archipelago, with
the island of Ceylon.
The family _Xenopeltidæ_ consists of a single species only, so far as
hitherto known, the _Xenopeltis unicolor_, which is common in the
Indo-Chinese and Malayan countries. It grows to three or four feet in
length, and when alive is uniformly steel-blue, most beautifully
iridescent, beneath white; but the blue fades to brown after long
immersion in spirits. Young examples have a white collar. Mr. W.
Theobald remarks of it that "this Snake is common in Lower Pegu and the
Tenasserim provinces, and is very malignly beautiful, though of
repulsive physiognomy. The skin is loose and thick, and its habits are
nocturnal. The following illustrates its ferocious nature:--I once
remarked a Colubrine Snake (_Ptyas mucosa_), some five feet in length,
in the hedge of the Circuit-house of Bassein. On running downstairs, the
Snake had vanished, but on searching for it I saw its tail sticking out
of a hole beneath a wooden plant-case. Do what I might I could not drag
it out, as it seemed held fast within. I therefore, with some trouble,
overturned the plant-case, and then saw that the unlucky Colubrine Snake
was firmly pinned by a large _Xenopeltis_, into whose hole it had
unwittingly entered. The _Xenopeltis_ seemed about four feet in length;
but, on perceiving itself uncovered, released its hold of the _Ptyas_
and made its escape." The _Xenopeltis_ preys chiefly on small mammalia,
which it hunts for in their subterranean holes; and in some respects it
approximates the _Pythonidæ_.
The _Uropeltidæ_, or Shield-tails, constitute a very curious family of
Burrowing Snakes, which bear considerable resemblance to the
_Typhlopidæ_, but have a very peculiar, short, strong, posteriorly
shielded tail, adapted for working their way below the surface. The
species are mostly small, and hitherto they have been found chiefly in
Ceylon, but a few also in the peninsula of India. They are by no means
scarce, but escape observation from their peculiar mode of life. Dr.
Kelaart remarks that "they are timid creatures, seldom making their
appearance above ground; living chiefly in ant-hills or dunghills,
sometimes also several feet deep in rich loamy soil. They feed on ants,
small earth-worms, and the larvæ of insects, and at least one species
has been ascertained to be viviparous. Five genera and eighteen species
of them are recognised."
The _Calamaridæ_ form an extensive family of diminutive slender Snakes,
from one to two feet in length, many species of which inhabit both the
Old World and the New, though the same kinds are not found both East and
West. They keep to the ground, beneath stones, fallen trees, &c.; and
their food appears to consist chiefly of insects. They are gentle, and
never attempt to bite, and themselves very commonly become the prey of
the smaller _Elapidæ_, certain of which indeed bear considerable
resemblance in appearance to the _Calamaridæ_, but are readily
distinguished by possessing the poison-fangs.
The _Oligodontidæ_ are another extensive family of small ground Snakes,
which are peculiar to South-eastern Asia and its great archipelago. They
conduct to the terrene genera of the great family _Colubridæ_.
The _Colubridæ_ are divided by Dr. Günther into ground Colubrines
(_Coronellinæ_), true Colubrines (_Colubrinæ_), bush Colubrines
(_Dryadinæ_), and fresh-water Colubrines (_Natricinæ_); and he remarks
that "they are found in every part of the temperate and tropical
regions, but are only scantily represented in Australia and in the
islands of the Pacific. The species are so numerous and show such a
gradual passage between extreme forms, that, although genera can be
easily characterized, it is almost impossible to distinguish wider
groups by definite characters." Among them the _Coronellinæ_ approximate
the immediately preceding families, and, like them, live on the ground,
and are not generally of brilliant colouring, though a few species which
frequent grassy plains are of a bright green colour. The _Colubrinæ_
"form, as it were," writes Dr. Günther, "the nucleus of the whole
sub-order of innocuous Snakes: they are typical forms, not characterized
by the excessive development of some particular organ, but by the
fairness of the proportions of all parts. Yet some of them have a more
slender body than others which always live on the ground; they are land
Snakes, but swim well when driven into the water, or climb when in
search of food. They are of moderate or rather large size." In the
_Dryadinæ_ the form is elongate and somewhat compressed, indicating
their climbing propensities; they have the body not so excessively
slender as in the true Tree Snakes, to which they lead off. They are
much more numerous in the New World than in the Old, and their
ground-colour is very commonly green. The _Natricinæ_ are generally not
very elongate or compressed, and most of them have keeled scales. They
freely enter the water in pursuit of their food, which consists chiefly
of frogs and fishes. All the Snakes of the preceding three sub-families
overpower their prey by throwing some coils of the body round or over
it, and commence to swallow it only after it has been smothered, or at
least exhausted; but the _Natricinæ_ swallow their prey immediately
after they have seized it.
Of the sub-family _Coronellinæ_, one species of the typical genus
_Coronella_ is widely diffused over Europe, and has only of late years
been recognised as an inhabitant of the British Islands, the _Coronella
austriaca_. Another, _C. girondica_, occurs in Italy. Others are found
in Africa, America, and Australia. The _C. austriaca_ has somewhat the
appearance of the common Adder, for which it is often mistaken; but it
is non-Venemous, though rather a fierce reptile, which bites and holds
on; and as it occurs in Malta (where no Venemous species is known to
exist), it is doubtless the supposed Viper which seized upon the apostle
Paul. Several other genera are recognised.
Of the _Colubrinæ_, _Rhinechis scalaris_, _Coluber æsculapii_, _C.
quadrilineatus_, _Elaphis quater-radiatus_, and three species of
_Zamenis_ inhabit Europe: there are five of _Coluber_ in North America,
and the well-known "Black Snake" of the Anglo-Americans is the
_Coryphodon constrictor_. Other species of _Coryphodon_ or _Ptyas_
inhabit South-eastern Asia, as the different "Rat Snakes" of
Anglo-Indians, of which _Ptyas mucosus_ is particularly common in India,
where it is encouraged by reasonable people as a destroyer of the far
more troublesome Brown Rat (_Mus decumanus_).
The _Dryadinæ_ are chiefly American, and do not call for particular
further remark; but the _Natricinæ_ are very numerous, and
there are three species in Europe of its most prominent genus,
_Tropidonotus_--viz. _T. natrix_, _T. hydrus_, and _T. viperinus_. [Dr.
Günther gives as many as twenty-one species of this genus as inhabitants
of the Indian region alone, and there is reason to believe that that
number is far from being complete. Others inhabit North America and
North-western Australia, and some generic groups have been detached that
are not very conspicuously separable.]
[Illustration: Fig. 11.--Ringed Snake (_Tropidonotus natrix_).]
The Ringed Snake, _Tropidonotus natrix_, is often found in fine seasons
near human habitations. It deposits its eggs, which are fifteen to
twenty in number, commonly in dunghills, in one agglutinated mass.
Exposed to the air, these eggs soon shrivel and dry, and the embryos
within them perish. The Ringed Snakes are also found near rivers and
meadows, by the side of water-courses, into which they love to plunge;
hence they are sometimes called Water Serpents, Swimming Serpents, Hedge
Eels, and other provincial synonyms. They sometimes attain to as much as
and more than a yard in length. The summit of their head is covered with
nine large scales, disposed in four rings. The upper part of the body is
of a more or less darkish grey colour, marked on each side with
irregular black spots. Between the two rows of spots are two other
longitudinal rows, which extend from the head to the tail. The belly
varies from black to a bluish white. Upon the neck are two whitish or
pale yellowish spots, which form a kind of half collar or ring, from
which its name is derived; these two spots become much more apparent
from being contrasted with two other very dark triangular spots placed
near them. They prey upon lizards, frogs, and mice, and they even
surprise young birds, and devour the eggs in their nests, for they climb
trees with facility. Towards the end of the autumn they seek the warmest
places, approaching near to houses; or they retire into subterranean
holes, often at the bottom of some hedge, which is almost always in an
elevated place, secure from inundations. The Ringed Snake is found in
nearly all European countries, and can be handled without danger.
Lacépède gives some interesting details, showing the gentleness of its
habits. They are easily tamed, and can be kept in houses, where they
soon accustom themselves to those who have the care of them. At a sign
from their keeper, they will twist themselves round his fingers, arms,
and neck, insinuate their heads between his lips to drink his saliva,
and to hide and warm themselves they creep under his clothes. In their
wild state, the adult Ringed Snake lives in the fields; and, when
full-grown, shows great irritation when attacked. When exasperated, they
move their tongues, erect themselves with great vivacity, and even bite
the hand which tries to seize them; but their bite is quite harmless.
[This Ringed Snake is the _Natrix torquatus_ of Ray, well known to
naturalists. The female is larger than the male. Its food consists a
good deal of frogs, which are generally caught by the leg, and swallowed
alive, in spite of resistance and very distressing cries.
When the skin has just been cast, the Ringed Snake presents beautiful
markings, especially when seen swimming across some clear running
stream, its head and neck raised above the limpid water, and the sun
shining on its bright enamelled skin. It has been supposed, not
unnaturally, that the Snake casts its skin at fixed intervals; this, Mr.
Bell considers to be a mistake. He has always found that it depended on
the temperature of the atmosphere and on their state of health and
feeding. "I have known the skin thrown off" he adds, "four or five times
during the year. It is always thrown off by reversing it, so that the
transparent covering of the eyes and that of the scales are always found
in the exuviæ. Previous to this curious phenomenon, the whole cuticle
becomes somewhat opaque, the eyes dim, and the animal is evidently
blind. It also becomes more or less inactive, until at length, when the
skin is ready for removal and the new skin perfectly hard underneath,
the animal bursts it at the neck, and creeping through some dense
herbage or low brushwood, leaves it detached, and comes forth in
brighter and clearer colours than before."
The Ringed Snake begins to hybernate, in some warm hedge or under the
root of some tree, or other sheltered situation, about the end of
autumn; and there they coil themselves up, sometimes in numbers, till
the spring again calls them forth. Many instances are told of this Snake
being tamed. Mr. Bell had one which knew him from all other persons; it
would come to him when let out of its box, and crawl under the sleeve
of his coat, and every morning come to him for its draught of milk.]
The Green and Yellow Snake is also about a yard in length, and is common
in the south and west of France; they have been taken in the forest of
Fontainebleau. The beautiful colours in which they are clothed causes
them to be easily distinguished from the Viper. The eyes are edged with
golden-coloured scales; the upper part of the body is of a very dark
greenish colour, upon which is extended a large number of radiating
lines, composed of small yellowish spots of different shapes, some long,
others lozenge shape, giving it a chequered appearance. These chequers
extend from the head to the tail. The belly is yellowish; the large
plates which cover it have a black spot at each end, and are bordered
with a very thin black line. This inoffensive reptile is extremely
timid, and generally hides itself from observation, taking to flight at
the least alarm. They are said to be easily tamed.
[Illustration: Fig. 12.--_Tropidonotus viperinus._]
The Viperine Snake (Fig. 12) has the body of a greyish or dirty yellow
colour, having on the middle of the back a series of blackish spots so
close to each other as to give the idea of one small continuous wavy
line from head to tail. The sides are covered with isolated spots,
forming lozenge-like figures, the centres of which are of a greenish
tint. This is the smallest of all the European _Colubridæ_, and, like
the others, it is found in most parts of Europe.
[The _Psammophidæ_, or Desert Snakes, are akin both to the _Colubridæ_
and to the Tree Snakes of the next family; but the latter, remarks Dr.
Günther, may always be distinguished either by their green coloration,
by the horizontal pupil to the eye, or the absence of a long, anterior,
maxillary tooth. In the _Psammophidæ_ the pupil of the eye is round or
vertical. Most of the species of this family belong to the fauna of
tropical Africa, which also produces a slender form (in _Psammophis
elegans_). The other species are of a stouter habit, frequenting plains,
or at all events living on the ground. Of the Indian _Psammophis
condanarus_, Dr. Jerdon procured one which had killed and was swallowing
a small Viper (_Echis carinata_), this being one of the few instances in
which a non-Venemous Snake has been known to overpower a poisonous one.
We have heard the same of a small Boa-like Serpent (_Chilabothrus?_) in
the West Indies, which is said to prey upon the formidable _Crotalidæ_.
The _Psammodynastes pulverulentus_ has a wide geographical range over
South-eastern Asia and its islands. Although innocuous, it has the
aspect of a Venemous species.
In a kindred African family, the _Rachiodontidæ_, the species of
_Dasypeltis_ have the maxillary teeth minute and few in number (four to
seven); but they have also some remarkable gular teeth, which are formed
by the elongated inferior spinous processes of the hinder cervical
vertebræ. The object of the latter is to crush the shells of birds'
eggs, upon which the Snakes in question habitually feed.
Of the more characteristic Tree Snakes, the _Dendrophidæ_ have the body
and tail much compressed, or very slender and elongated; the head
generally lengthened, narrow, flat, and distinct from the slender neck;
the snout rather long, obtuse or rounded in front; cleft of the mouth
wide; and the eye of moderate size, or large, with round pupil. These
are Diurnal Snakes, which live entirely upon trees, where they prey
chiefly on arboreal lizards and frogs. Species of them inhabit all
tropical countries. They are mostly of great beauty, and the Indian
_Chrysopelea ornata_ is excessively so, being variegated with yellow and
crimson upon a black ground; but the crimson soon fading when a
specimen is immersed in spirit. Others are very variable in their
colouring, as the African _Bucephalus capensis_ and the Indian
_Dendrophis picta_.
The next family of _Dryiophidæ_, or the Whip Snakes, have a still more
slender and elongated body, which has been aptly compared to the thong
of a whip. The head is very narrow and long, with tapering snout, ending
in a protruded rostral shield, which is sometimes modified into a
flexible appendage; eyes of moderate size, and all the Asiatic species
have the pupil of the eye horizontally linear, and a long fang-like
tooth in the middle of the maxillary. The whole of this group are
provided with a posterior grooved tooth. They are chiefly nocturnal, and
their movements are wonderfully rapid and graceful among the branches of
trees. They are numerous almost everywhere in tropical countries. In
general the various Whip Snakes are of a bright leaf-green colour, with
two white stripes on the belly, so that they are difficult to discern
among the foliage. In the genus _Langaha_, which is peculiar to
Madagascar, the muzzle is elongated into a fleshy appendage, which is
covered with small scales, constituting about one-third of the total
length of the head. This appendage is dentated in one species (_L.
crista-galli_), and not so in another (_L. nasuta_). In the Indian genus
_Passerita_ the snout is long and pointed, terminating in a flexible
appendage. The name of Whip Snake is applied by Anglo-Indians to all of
the species of _Dendrophidæ_ and of _Dryiophidæ_, and the erroneous
notion prevails that they are highly Venemous, and that they spurt venom
into people's eyes. The same is believed in South Africa of the
_Bucephalus capensis_. Even Gordon Cumming asserts that one night a
Snake which his servant had tried to kill with his loading-rod flew up
at his eye, and "spat poison into it. Immediately," he adds, "I washed
it well at the fountain. I endured great pain all night, but next day my
eye was all right."[12]
[12] "A Hunter's Life in South Africa," vol. ii. p. 133. _Vide_
also Chapman's "Travels in the Interior of South Africa," vol. ii.
p. 34. We have personally captured or assisted in capturing various
species of both families in India, and it is no easy matter to
do so sometimes, from the rapidity of their movements among the
branches of trees and bushes; but most assuredly we never saw one
of these most beautiful reptiles attempt to dart or to spurt at
anybody, and as they have no poison fangs the latter must needs be
an error.--ED.
Of a beautiful green species (_Philodryas viridissimus_), appertaining
to the family of _Dendrophidæ_, in Brazil, Dr. Wurcherer writes:--"I am
always delighted when I find that another Tree Snake has settled in my
garden. You look for a bird's nest, the young ones have gone, but you
find their bed occupied by one of these beautiful creatures, which will
coil up its body, of two feet in length, within a space not larger than
the hollow of your hand. They appear to be always watchful; for at the
instant you discover one, the quick playing of the long, black, forked
tongue will shew you that you too are observed. On perceiving the
slightest sign of your intention to disturb it, the Snake will dart
upwards through the branches and over the leaves, which scarcely appear
to bend beneath the weight. A moment more, and you have lost sight of
it." Some of the true Whip Snakes attain to six or seven feet in length,
or even more; and with reference to the vague application of vernacular
names (_vide_ p. 42), it may here be remarked that the "Little Whip
Snake" of the Australian colony of Victoria denotes a poisonous Snake of
a very different family (the _Hoplocephalus flagellum_).
The _Dipsadidæ_ are a numerous family of tropical Tree Snakes, which
also have a much compressed body, but short and triangular-shaped head,
which is broad behind; the eye large, having generally a vertical pupil.
Some of them attain to six or seven feet in length, and all live on
warm-blooded animals. It is remarkable that certain of the species prey
on birds solely, whilst others attack only mammalia. Their coloration
varies a good deal, and species of them inhabit most tropical and
subtropical countries.
The _Lycodontidæ_ are an extensive family of small Ground Snakes,
inhabiting Africa and tropical Asia, which have the body generally of
moderate length, or rather slender, and the head also of moderate length
and width, with generally a depressed, flat, and somewhat elongated
muzzle; maxillary with a fang-like tooth in front, but without a
posterior grooved tooth. The African species feed on Mice and other
small nocturnal mammalia; while the Indian species (which have a
vertical pupil) prey chiefly, if not wholly, on the smaller Scincoid
Lizards, which they would appear to follow into the place of their
retreat. _Lycodon aulicus_ is one of the commonest Snakes of the Indian
region, and is quite harmless, though often ignorantly supposed to be
dangerously poisonous.
The _Amblycephalidæ_, or Blunt-heads, comprise a few species of moderate
or small size, akin to the _Dipsadidæ_, but the narrow mouth of which
necessitates their feeding on insects, and they live on trees and
bushes, or under the roofs of huts. Of the Indo-Chinese and Malayan
_Amblycephalus boa_, Dr. Günther remarks that "the head of this most
singular Snake resembles much that of a mastiff, the lips being arched
and tumid. It climbs with great facility, frequenting the roofs of the
natives' huts in pursuit of its insect food. It attains to a length of
three feet, the tail being a third." Of a second genus, _Pareas_, three
species inhabit the same region.
The _Pythonidæ_, or Pythons, and Boas, are celebrated for the
enormous magnitude to which some of the species attain. These are
emphatically the great constrictor Serpents, to all of which the name of
_Boa-constrictor_ is popularly applied, although this appellation refers
properly to one only of them which is peculiar to South America. Various
genera of them inhabit Africa, South-eastern Asia and its islands,
Australia, and South America, with the West Indies.]
The Pythons are large Serpents of Asia and Africa. They live in marshy
places, and near the margins of rivers. They are non-Venemous, but
possessed of immense muscular power, which enables some of the species
to kill, by constriction, animals of much larger circumference than
themselves.
Aristotle tells us of immense Lybian Serpents, so large that they
pursued and upset some of the triremes of voyagers visiting that coast.
Virgil's Laocoon, so vividly represented in the well-known marble group,
owes its origin, no doubt, to the descriptions current of constricting
Serpents. Quoting Livy, Valerius Maximus relates the alarm into which
the Roman army, under Regulus, was thrown by an enormous Serpent, having
its lair on the banks of the Bagradus, near Utica. This Serpent Pliny
speaks of as being a hundred and twenty feet long. But, without
multiplying instances to which time has lent its fabulous aid, and
coming to more modern times, Bontius speaks of Serpents in the Asiatic
islands as beings so various that he despairs of even enumerating them
all. "The great ones," he says, "sometimes exceed thirty-six feet, and
have such capacity of throat and stomach, that they swallow entire
Boars." Adding that he knew persons who had partaken of a Hog cut out of
the stomach of a Serpent of this kind. "They are not poisonous," he
adds, "but they strangle by powerfully applying their folds round the
body of their prey." Mr. M'Leod, in his interesting voyage of the
_Alceste_, states that during a captivity of some months at Whidah, on
the coast of Africa, he had opportunities of observing Serpents double
this length, one of which engaged a negro servant of the governor of
Fort William in its coil, and very nearly succeeded in crushing him to
death. There can be no doubt that the length is here much exaggerated.
About thirty feet is the utmost length attained by the most gigantic
Serpents of which we possess accurate knowledge.
The body of the PYTHON is large and round. They live on trees in warm
damp places, on the banks of streams or water-courses, and attack the
animals which come there to slake their thirst. Hanging by the tail to
the trunk of a tree they remain immovable in their ambush until their
opportunity comes, when they dart upon their prey, fold their bodies
round it with amazing rapidity, and crush it in their monstrous folds.
Animals as large as Gazelles, and even larger, thus become their
victims. Their jaws are extremely distensible, as we have seen; for,
having neither breast-bone nor false sides, they can easily increase the
diameter of the opening, so as to swallow the most voluminous prey.
The Ophidians (as we have seen) surpass all other Reptiles in the number
of their vertebræ, with incomplete hæmal arches; these constitute
the skeleton of the long, slender, limbless trunk. All these
vertebræ coalesce with one another, and are articulated together by
ball-and-socket joints. Besides this articulation to the centrum, the
vertebræ of Ophidians articulate with each other by means of joints
which interlock by parts reciprocally receiving and entering one
another, like the tenon-and-mortise joint in carpentry. "The vertebral
ribs have an oblong articular surface, concave above and almost flat
below, in the Python. They have a large medullary cavity, with dense but
thin walls, with a fine cancellated structure at their articular ends.
Their lower end supports a short cartilaginous membrane, closing the
hæmal arch, which is attached to the broad and stiff abdominal scute.
These scutes, alternately raised and depressed by muscles attached to
the ribs and integuments, aid in the gliding movement of serpents."
The peculiar motion of Snakes was first noted by Sir Joseph Banks, and
commented on by Sir Everard Home. Sir Joseph was observing a _Coluber_
of unusual size, and thought he saw its ribs come forward in succession,
like the feet of a caterpillar. To test this, he placed his hand under
the animal, the ends of the ribs were distinctly felt pressing upon the
surface in regular succession, leaving no doubt that the ribs formed so
many pairs of levers, by means of which it moves its body from place to
place.
The muscles which bring forward these ribs, according to Sir Everard,
consists of five sets. One from the transverse process of each vertebra
and the rib immediately behind it, which rib is attached to the next
vertebra. The next set goes from the rib near the spine, and passes over
two ribs, sending a slip to each, and is inserted into a third, a slip
connecting it with the next muscle in succession. Under this is a third
set, issuing from the posterior side of each rib, passing over two ribs,
and sending a lateral slip to the next muscle, and is also inserted in
the third rib behind. And so on throughout the five sets of muscles.
On the inside of the chest there is a strong set of muscles attached to
the anterior surface of each vertebra, and passing obliquely forward
over four ribs is inserted into the fifth one only in the centre. From
this part of each rib a strong flat muscle comes forward on each side,
before the viscera, forming the abdominal muscles and uniting in a
middle tendon, so that the lower half of each rib which is beyond the
origin of this muscle, and which is only laterally connected to it by a
loose cellular membrane, is external to the belly of the animal, and is
used for the purpose of progressive motion, while that half of each rib
which is next the spine, as far as the lungs extend, is employed in
respiration.
These observations of Sir Everard Home apply to all Snakes; but the
muscles were compared with a skeleton of the _Boa-constrictor_ in the
Hunterian Museum, which is thirteen feet nine inches in length. The
habit of attaching themselves to trees, and holding on by the tail,
their heads and bodies floating listlessly on some sedgy river, is
explained by the structure of the tail. Dr. Meyer has minutely described
the manner in which they hook themselves on to a tree, which gives them
the power of a double fulcrum. The apparatus which gives this power is a
spur or nail on each side of the vent in the _Pythonidæ_, in which the
anatomist discovered the elements of an unguinal phalanx articulated
with another bone much stronger, which is concealed under the skin.
Following the arrangement of the _Pythonidæ_, adopted by Dr. J. E. Gray
in the Catalogue of the British Museum, we find:--
I. _Morelia_, having a strong prehensile tail, distinct head, truncate
muzzle, crown of the head with small shield-like plates. Of this genus
there are two species. The Diamond Snake (_M. spilotes_), a native of
Australia, and of a bluish-black colour; and the Carpet Snake (_M.
variegata_), from Port Essington and Swan River. It is whitish, with
irregular black-edged olive spots, and an olive head, with two or three
white spots in the centre of the crown.
II. _Python_, having the crown shielded to behind the eyes.
Of this genus there are two species, which have sometimes been referred
to the Boas. The Pythons bear the same general appearance. Upon their
bodies is traced a sort of blackish-brown chain, presenting nearly
quadrangular links upon a clear yellowish ground, extending from the
nape of the neck to the extremity of the tail. The suscephalous region
is partly covered by a large brownish-black spot. Upon each side of the
head is a black band, which frequently extends from the nostril, passing
by the eye, as far as, and up to, the commissures or corners of the
lips.
[Illustration: Fig. 13.--Natal Rock Snake (_Hortulia natalensis_).]
_P. reticulatus_, the Ular Sawad of the Malay countries, found also in
Burmah and Siam, has the four front upper labial plates pitted; the
frontal plate simple; the head has a narrow, longitudinal, brown stripe.
This is one of the most handsomely marked species of the whole family,
its body being covered with a gay lacing of black and golden yellow. It
is said to attain the great length of thirty feet, and is stout in
proportion. In its native wilds the powers of this gigantic reptile are
said to be enormous, being able to subdue a full-grown Buffalo; and even
a Man has been said to fall a prey to its fury. A Malay prao had
anchored for the night under an island of the Celebes. One of the crew
had gone ashore in search of the favourite betel nut, and is supposed on
his return to the beach to have fallen asleep. In the dead of the night
his comrades were roused by his screams; they pulled ashore with all
expedition, but came too late; the cries had ceased, and the wretched
man had breathed his last in the folds of one of these enormous
Serpents. They killed the creature, cut off the head, and carried it,
together with the lifeless body of their comrade, to the vessel. The
right wrist of the corpse bore the mark of the Serpent's teeth, and the
disfigured body showed that the man had been crushed by the constrictive
folds of the reptile round the head, breast, and thighs. The Ular Sawad
arranges its eggs by placing them in a group, which is covered by the
body. This statement, first made by Mr. Bennett, has been confirmed by
the observations of M. Lamare Picquot, and by observations on other
species of Python in the Jardin des Plantes, Paris, and in the London
Zoological Gardens.
The Rock Snake of India and Ceylon (_P. molurus_) is another species to
which the name of Boa-constrictor has been given. It has the two pairs
of front upper, and three hind lower labial shields pitted, and the
frontal plates double. Of this gigantic Serpent several specimens are
generally to be seen in the Zoological Gardens.
III. _Hortulia_, having the upper and lower labial shields deeply
pitted; muzzle and forehead with symmetrical shield; nostrils lateral.
They are natives of Africa, and three species are known, namely, the
Natal Rock Snake, having the lower labial shields deeply pitted, the
muzzle and forehead with symmetrical shields, the nostrils lateral; the
Guinea Rock or Fetish Snake (_H. Sebæ_), closely resembling the last in
many structural points; and the Royal Rock Snake (_H. regia_), having
the four pairs of the upper front labials pitted, the upper ocular plate
single, the lower labial shields four in number and broad.
The Royal Rock Snake inhabits Western Africa. It is black in colour,
marked on the middle of the back with a series of oblong white spots,
the sides being marked by another series of large white spots, with one
or two black spots in the upper part; the head black, with a streak over
the nostrils and the top of the eyes, another from the lower edge of the
eye, the lips and chin beneath are white.
The Natal Rock Snake (_H. natalensis_, Fig. 13) is described by Sir
Andrew Smith as being gigantic in size, he having seen a skin measuring
twenty-five feet, although part of the tail was absent. "It feeds," he
says, "on small quadrupeds; and for some days after swallowing one it
remains in a torpid state, when it may be easily destroyed." Of this
opportunity, however, the South Africans never avail themselves; they
have a horror of the reptile, but believe that it has an influence over
their destinies, and affirm that no one has ever been known to kill one
and prosper.
The Guinea Rock or Fetish Snake (_H. Sebæ_, Fig. 14) is typical of the
genus, and has also been referred to the Boa-constrictor, and closely
resembles the Natal Rock Snake. It is a native of the warmer parts of
Africa. A living specimen at the Zoological Gardens is estimated to
weigh a hundredweight.
Of the genera _Liasis_ and _Nardoa_ there are five species, very
imperfectly known.
[Illustration: Fig. 14.--Guinea Rock Snake (_H. Sebæ_).]
IV. _Epicrates_, an American and West Indian species, having the crown
scaly; the forehead with symmetrical shields.
The Aboma (_E. cenchria_) is one of the largest of the group, sometimes
attaining dimensions quite gigantic. It is yellowish in colour, with a
row of large brown rings running the whole length of the back, and
variable spots on the sides; these are generally dark, with a whitish
semi-lunar mark. This formidable Reptile has all the habits of its
congeners; it is found in the marshy swamps of tropical America, and
near the rivers, where it lies in wait for its prey.
[Illustration: Fig. 15.--Aboma (_Epicrates cenchria_).]
The Boas, properly so called, have the scales smooth; labial shields
smooth, not pitted; the body compressed, tapering to the tail, which is
long and prehensile; the head is comparatively small, being enlarged
behind, and contracted towards the muzzle, which is rather short. The
crown is covered with scales; the nostrils lateral, between two plates.
Four species of this genus are recognised by naturalists, all of which
have been described by travellers as the true Boiguacu, or
_Boa-constrictor_ of Linnæus. This species has the scaly circle of the
orbit separated from the upper labial plates by one or two series of
scales. A large chain consisting of blackish hexagonal spots,
alternating pale oval stains, notched and jagged, extending the whole
length of the back, and forming a very elegant design. This species
seems to be strictly confined to tropical America. Humboldt found it in
Guiana, and the Prince de Wied observed it in Brazil. All the specimens
in the British Museum are from that part of the New World. This is
supposed to be the Tlicoatl and Temacuilcahuilia (the words meaning
"fighting with five men"), described by Hernandez, the latter name being
derived from its size and strength. "It attacks," he says, "those it
meets, and overpowers them with such force, that if it once coils itself
round their necks, it strangles and kills them, unless it bursts itself
by the violence of its own efforts." The same author states that he has
seen Serpents as thick as a man's thigh, which had been taken when young
by Indians and tamed. That this Boa attains an immense size is a
well-established fact. Shaw mentions a skin in the British Museum, in
one of his lectures, which measured thirty-five feet in length.
Three other species--the Lamanda (_B. diviniloqua_), from Santa Lucia;
the Emperor (_B. imperator_), a native of Mexico; and _B. eques_, the
Chevalier Boa of Peru--are all to be occasionally seen in the Zoological
Gardens.
The _Boa anaconda_, more properly _Eunectes murinus_, is also a native
of tropical America. The name of Anaconda has become well known through
Mr. Lewis's celebrated tale, so called, in which its predatory habits
are displayed in such a manner as to enthral and fascinate the reader,
as the author makes the reptile fascinate its victim. The name, Mr.
Bennett tells us, is of Cinghalese origin, and is popularly applied to
all very large Serpents. This species is of a brownish tint, with a
double series of colours extending from head to tail; the sides are
covered with annular spots with white disks surrounded by blackish
rings. Seba has represented this creature lying in wait for Mice; but
this is probably the prey of the young Anaconda. Another provincial
name, "El Troga Venado" (the Deer Swallower), is probably applied to the
matured Reptile.
[Illustration: Fig. 16.--Anaconda (_Eunectes murinus_).]
The following description of the actions of one of these large
non-Venemous Serpents, which accompanied a specimen sent to the United
Service Museum, by Sir Robert Ker Porter, is probably a fair description
of the habits of all the large _Pythonidæ_:--"This species is not
Venemous, nor is it known to injure man (at least not in this part of
the New World); however, the natives of the plain stand in great fear of
it, never bathing in waters where it is known to exist. Its common
haunt, or rather domicile, is invariably near lakes, swamps, and rivers;
likewise close and wet ravines produced by inundations of the periodical
rains. Fishes, as well as other animals which repair there to drink, are
its prey. The creature lurks watchfully under cover of the water, and,
while the unsuspecting animal is drinking, suddenly makes a dash at its
nose, and with a grip of its back-reclining range of teeth, never fails
to secure the terrified beast beyond the power of escape. In an instant
the sluggish waters are in turbulence and foam. The whole form of the
Serpent is in motion; its huge and rapid coilings soon encircle the
struggling victim, and but a short interval elapses ere every bone in
the body of the expiring prey is broken." Sir Robert then describes the
manner in which the prey is swallowed, being previously lubricated by
the Serpent's saliva; but Professor T. Bell, after carefully watching
the constricting Serpent's mode of swallowing its prey, asserts that
this is a delusion. "The mucus is not poured out till it is required to
lubricate the dilated jaws and throat for the seemingly disproportionate
feat."
[The small, but very distinct family of _Erycidæ_ have the body of
moderate length, cylindrical, covered with small and short scales; the
tail very short, with only a single series of subcaudal scales; head
somewhat elongate; eye rather small, with vertical pupil. Adult
individuals have, like the Pythons, a short conical prominence in a
groove on each side of the vent; this being the extremity of a
rudimentary hind limb. "The Snakes of this family," remarks Dr. Günther,
"shew great similarity to the Pythons and Boas, with regard to their
internal structure as well as to their external characters. But their
tail is very short, not flexible, and much less prehensile; and whilst
the Serpents just mentioned are more or less arboreal, frequenting
marshy places with luxuriant vegetation, the _Erycidæ_ inhabit dry,
sandy, or stony plains, burrowing with the greatest facility below the
surface, and entering crevices and holes in search of their prey, which
consists of Mice, Lizards, and other burrowing Snakes. Probably they are
semi-nocturnal, and able to see in dark places as well as in the night.
They are found in Northern Africa, in the islands of the Mediterranean,
in the arid parts of India, and probably in Arabia; two species are
known to have been brought from Sikhim."
The _Cursoria elegans_ is said to be from Afghanistan; _Eryx iacalus_
inhabits Greece and Egypt; and there is also _E. thebaicus_ in the
latter country, and _E. Johnii_ in India. Another Indian species is the
_Gongylophis conicus_, which the natives erroneously persist in
declaring to be Venemous. The _Eryx Johnii_ is frequently found in the
possession of the serpent-charmers of its native country, who mutilate
the end of its short, thick tail in such a manner that the scarred
extremity somewhat resembles the form of the head. Such specimens are
shewn as deadly Two-headed Snakes, and, as such, are occasionally
brought alive to Europe. An example of this species lived in the London
Zoological Gardens for about eight years, and fed regularly on young
Mice. The keeper assured Dr. Günther that it frequently covered its prey
with saliva. It always kept itself hidden below the gravel at the
bottom of its cage. This species attains to a length of nearly four
feet, the tail measuring but four inches.
The _Acrochordidæ_ constitute a very remarkable small family, of which
one genus is terrene, and another highly aquatic in its habits. Whether
a third genus, the Javanese _Xenodermus_, should be referred to it, is
doubtful in the opinion of Dr. Günther. These Snakes have the body of
moderate length, rounded, or slightly compressed, and covered with small
wart-like, not imbricate, tubercular or spiny scales; tail rather short,
prehensile; head rather small, not distinctly separated from the neck,
and covered with scales like those of the body; nostrils close together,
at the top of the snout; teeth short, but strong, of nearly equal size,
and situate both in the jaws and on the palate. These serpents are
viviparous. One of them, _Acrochordus javanicus_, inhabits Java and the
Malayan peninsula, where it is considered rare. It grows to a length of
eight feet, and its habits are terrene. The late Dr. Cantor justly
compares its physiognomy to that of a thorough-bred bull-dog; a female
in his possession brought forth no fewer than twenty-seven young in the
course of about twenty-five minutes; they were active, and bit fiercely.
Hornstedt found a quantity of undigested fruits in the stomach of this
Serpent! Upon which Dr. Günther remarks that no opportunity of making
further observations on the habits of this remarkable Snake should be
lost. The aquatic member of this family, _Chersydrus granulatus_,
inhabits from the coasts of India to those of New Guinea and the
Philippine Islands. Sometimes it is met with at a distance of three or
four miles from the shore. Mr. W. Theobald remarks that it is plentiful
in the Bassein River (in British Burmah), in salt water below Gnaputau,
and, with various other Sea Snakes, is frequently swept by the tide into
the fishing baskets of the natives. The ebb-tide, running like a sluice,
sweeps various Fishes, Crustaceans, Snakes, and even Porpoises
occasionally, into the broad mouths of those baskets, where they are at
once jammed into a mass at the narrow end of the creel. "The
_Chersydrus_," he adds, "is more nearly connected with the _Hydrophidæ_
than with the next family, being as essentially aquatic as any of the
former, to which, save from its wanting the poison-gland, it might be
appropriately referred. Indeed, it has been erroneously asserted by
some authors to be Venemous."
The _Homalopsidæ_ are an extensive family of Snakes, of thoroughly
aquatic habits, which are only occasionally found on the margins of
rivers; several of them enter the sea, and in some parts of their
organization they approximate to the true marine Snakes. They may be
easily recognised by the position of the nostrils on the top of the
snout, which enables them to breathe by raising only a very small
portion of the head out of the water; an arrangement which is likewise
seen in the Hippopotamus, the Crocodile, the Sea Snakes, and other
aquatic animals. Many of them have a distinctly prehensile tail, by
means of which they hold on to projecting objects. Their food consists
either entirely of Fishes, or, in some species, of Crustaceans also. All
appear to be viviparous, and the act of parturition is performed in the
water. Not any of them attain a large size-about three or four feet in
length, or considerably less; and in captivity they refuse to feed. All
the Asiatic species of this family have a grooved fang at the hinder
extremity of the maxillary bone. The species are numerous, and are
arranged into many generic divisions. The majority are from the grand
Indian region, extending to China and to Australia, but there are also
several from the New World. The _Herpeton tentaculatum_, of Siam, is
very remarkable from its snout terminating in two flexible, cylindrical,
scaly tubercles, which are supposed to be employed as organs of touch
under water--perhaps to discern its food, which as yet has not been
ascertained. The largest known example of this curious Snake is only
twenty-five inches long, of which the tail measures six inches.
We now proceed to the first family of Poisonous Snakes, that of
THE SEA SNAKES (_Hydrophidæ_),
which are very distinct from all that follow, though less so from
certain of the harmless species appertaining to the two families last
treated of. Some of their distinctions have been already noticed (p.
45), but they are especially characterised by their highly compressed
tail, indicative of their thoroughly aquatic habits. According to Dr.
Günther, there is no other group of Reptiles the species of which are
so little known, and the synonymy of which is so much confused, as that
of the Sea Snakes. Most naturalists who have worked at them have been
misled by the idea that the species were not nearly so numerous as they
actually are. Mr. W. Theobald makes out as many as twenty-five
inhabiting the Bay of Bengal and the adjacent seas, to which area this
group of Reptiles is mainly confined, a few species extending to
northern Australia, and one, the most emphatically pelagic, the _Pelamis
bicolor_, even to the Pacific Ocean. One genus only, _Platurus_,
approaches the Land Snakes in several of its characters; having much the
physiognomy of an _Elaps_, with the cleft of the mouth not turned
upwards behind, as in other Sea Snakes; the eye also is rather small,
nor is the tail at all prehensile. There are two species of this
particular form, one of which, _P. scutatus_, is rather common, and its
geographic range extends from the Bay of Bengal and the China seas to
the coasts of New Zealand; the distribution of the other, _P. Fischeri_,
being nearly as extensive. The great genus _Hydrophis_ has the posterior
part of the body highly compressed, and most of the species are more or
less of a bluish lead-colour, like that of the sea, or black, banded
with white or yellowish white. They are so abundant in the Indian seas
that some of them are taken with every haul of a fishing-net, and they
are helpless and seemingly blind when out of the water; the fishermen
commonly seizing them, one after the other, by the nape and throwing
them back into the sea. Some of them (_Microcephalophis_ of Lesson) have
the head very small and the neck exceedingly slender, while the
compressed body is large and thick.
THE COLUBRINE Venemous SNAKES.
These are comprised under the one family, _Elapidæ_, all of which have
an erect, immovable, grooved, or perforated fang in the fore-part of the
maxillary bone. There is little in their external appearance to
distinguish them from the harmless Colubrine Snakes, to which they are
more nearly akin, in all but their poison-fangs, than they are to the
Rattlesnakes and Vipers; yet some of the most poisonous of Ophidians
appertain to this family, as exemplified by the well-known Cobras of the
Indian region and of Africa, and also by some of the worst Snakes that
inhabit Australia. In the colony of Victoria alone as many as ten
species of Snakes are known, one only of which, _Morelia variegata_, is
harmless; and one only of them, the formidable Death-adder (_Acanthopis
antarctica_), belongs to the sub-order of the Viperine Snakes. The rest
are included among the Colubriform Venemous Snakes, and most of the
accidents from poisonous Snakes in that colony are due to what is there
known as the Carpet Snake, _Hoplocephalus curtus_, while the Snake that
bears the same name in the adjacent colony of New South Wales is the
innocuous _Morelia spilotes_, which is a small Serpent of the family of
_Pythonidæ_. Of the total number of Snakes known in all Australia, by
far the greater number are Venemous, which is the reverse of what occurs
elsewhere. Only about five species, however, are really dangerous
throughout the great island-continent, for in many of them the poison is
by no means virulent. Thus, of _Diemansia psammophis_, which sometimes
exceeds four feet in length, Mr. Krefft remarks that "its bite does not
cause any more irritation than the sting of a bee." Also, that "the bite
of _Hoplocephalus variegatus_ is not sufficiently strong to endanger the
life of a man. I have been wounded by it several times," writes Mr.
Krefft, "and experienced no bad symptoms beyond a slight headache; the
spot where the fang entered turning blue to about the size of a shilling
for a few days." Again, of _Brachysoma diadema_, "this very handsome
little Snake is Venemous, but never offers to bite, and may be handled
with impunity." Far otherwise, however, is the venom of _Hoplocephalus
curtus_, and also of some others. _H. curtus_ is one of the worst Snakes
of Australia, where it inhabits the more temperate parts of the country
from east to west. Its bite is almost as deadly as that of the Indian
Cobra, to which it is, indeed, considerably allied. "A good-sized Dog
bitten became paralyzed within three minutes, and was dead in fifty
minutes afterwards; a Goat died in thirty-five minutes; a Porcupine
Ant-eater (_Echidna hystrix_) lived six hours; and a common Tortoise, an
animal which will live a day with its head cut off, died in five hours
after being bitten." The _H. superbus_ replaces it in Tasmania.
The Cobras (_Naja_) are widely known, alike from the virulence of their
poison, and for their remarkable dilatable disk or "hood" on the nape,
the ribs which support this hood being much elongated. Two species are
commonly recognised, the Cobra di capella of Southern Asia (_Naja
tripudians_), and the Asp (_N. haje_) of Africa; but there are marked
local varieties of both species, and the _N. sputatrix_ of the Malay
countries should probably be recognised as a third species. Those of
India, with Ceylon, have a mark like a pair of spectacles upon the hood,
while those of Burmah and the neighbouring countries eastward have only
an oval black spot upon it. In India the commonest colour of this
formidable reptile is uniform brown, though many are of a pale yellowish
straw colour, and there are others of every shade between that and
black. It grows to a length of about five feet, seldom more. "Almost
every writer on the natural productions of the East Indies," remarks Dr.
Günther, "has contributed to the natural history of this Snake, which
has been surrounded by such a number of fabulous stories, that their
repetition and contradiction would fill a volume." It is very generally
diffused over the Indian region, though, as Mr. Theobald notices, from
its nocturnal habits it is less often seen than many harmless species.
"This Snake is, I believe," he adds, "of inoffensive habits, unless
irritated, but is, of course, a dangerous neighbour to have in a
house.[13] Not only in Burmah, where the respect for animal life is
greatest, but in India also I have known a Cobra enticed or forced into
an earthen jar, and then carried by two men across a river, or some
distance from the village, and liberated. Dr. Günther remarks that,
'singularly enough, it has never been obtained in the valley of Nepâl.'
This is very easily accounted for," continues Mr. Theobald, "since few
would venture to kill a Cobra, even for scientific purposes, in the
rigorously Hindu state of Nepâl. In British India, decent Hindus will
not kill a Cobra; and if one has taken up his abode in a house, he is
permitted to remain, or else carefully inveigled into an earthen-pot,
and carried away as described. Of course only the orthodox Hindu is so
careful to abstain from injuring the Cobra, and their reverential
feeling is now perhaps rather the exception than the rule, though
probably as strong as ever in Nepâl." A fine example of the still more
formidable gigantic Cobra (_Hamadryas elaps_), to be noticed presently,
was obtained from an earthen pot which had floated out to sea.
[13] Although the _Cobra di capella_ is so plentiful in India, we
could never hear of one instance of a European being stung by one
during a residence of more than twenty-one years in that country.
They prey chiefly on Rats, the presence of which is the attraction
which brings them about human habitations; and they also prey
occasionally upon young chickens, and commonly upon Toads.--ED.
The late Sir J. Emerson Tennent mentions that "the Cinghalese remark
that if one Cobra be destroyed near a house, its companion is almost
certain to be discovered immediately after--a popular belief which I had
an opportunity of verifying on more than one occasion. Once, when a
Snake of this description was killed in a bath of the Government House
at Colombo, its mate was found in the same spot the day after; and
again, at my own stables, a Cobra of five feet long having fallen into
the well, which was too deep to permit its escape, its companion, of the
same size, was found the same morning in an adjoining drain.[14] On this
occasion the Snake, which had been several hours in the well, swam with
ease, raising its head and hood above water; and instances have
repeatedly occurred of the Cobra di capella voluntarily taking
considerable excursions by sea" (or by rivers, as the writer has
personally witnessed).]
[14] "Pliny," remarks Sir J. E. Tennent, "notices the affection
that subsists between the male and female Asp (or African Cobra);
and that if one of them happens to be killed, the other seeks to
avenge its death"--lib. viii. c. 37.
Cobras are much dreaded, for they instil the most subtle poison into
their bites. Their manners are very singular. When at rest the neck of
the animal is no larger in diameter than the head; but when under the
influence of passion and irritation the neck swells at the same time
that the animal raises the front part of his body vertically, holding
this part straight and rigid as an iron bar. The lower part of the body
rests upon the ground, and serves as a support to the upper part, which
is movable and capable of locomotion. This faculty of dilating the neck
is as striking a trait in the organization of the Cobras, as the rattle
is in _Crotalus_. The ancient inhabitants of Egypt adored them; they
attributed to their protection the preservation of grain, and allowed
them to live in the midst of their cultivated fields. The Cobra is no
longer an object of adoration in the East, but is held sacred by many
people, and it serves in nearly every country of Asia as a very
curious spectacle; being the Serpent chiefly used by snake-charmers in
these countries, terrible as it seems to us.
[Illustration: Fig. 17.--Snake-charmers.]
[Illustration: Fig. 18.--Hooded Snake.]
The action of the snake-charmer is as follows: he takes in his hand a
root, the virtue of which is supposed to preserve him from the Venemous
effects of the bite of the Cobra. Drawing the reptile from the cage in
which he keeps it confined, he irritates it by presenting a stick to it;
the animal immediately erects the fore part of its body, swells its
neck, opens its jaws, extends its forked tongue, its eyes glitter, and
it begins to hiss. Then a sort of battle commences between the Serpent
and the charmer; the latter, striking up a monotonous sort of song,
opposes his closed fist to his enemy, sometimes using his right hand and
sometimes his left. The animal fixes its eyes upon the fist which
threatens it, follows all its movements, balances its head and body, and
thus simulates a kind of dance. Other charmers obtain from the Cobra an
alternating and cadenced movement of the neck by the help of sounds
which are drawn from a whistle or small flute. It is said that these
mysterious jugglers are able, by some sympathetic action they possess,
to plunge these dangerous enemies into a sort of lethargy and death-like
rigidity, and to bring them at will out of this momentary torpor. It is
certain, at any rate, that they handle these animals, whose bite is
extremely dangerous, with considerable impunity, and without having in
any way neutralized or intercepted the venom. It is supposed by some
that these charmers take the precaution of exhausting the venom of the
Cobra every day by forcing it to bite something several times before
exhibiting it. It is also certain that they more frequently draw the
poison fangs--a wound from which can kill in the course of two or three
hours.
The Asp (_Naja haje_) has a less dilatable neck; it is of a greenish
colour, and marked with brownish spots. It is smaller than the former;
is found in the west and south of Africa; and is especially common in
Egypt. It was said to have been this Reptile which caused the death of
Cleopatra.
[The genus _Hamadryas_ of Cantor (_Ophiophagus_ of Günther) differs very
little from the true Cobras, but has a less developed hood, and a single
small tooth placed at some distance behind the fang. The only species,
_H. elaps_, attains to thirteen feet in length, and is proportionately
formidable, being much less timid and retiring in its habits than the
Cobras of the genus _Naja_. It preys habitually on other Snakes, and
seems to be more plentiful eastward of the Bay of Bengal than it is in
India. In Burmah it is styled the Gnán, and Mr. Theobald tells us that
its venom is fatal in a few minutes. "One of these Snakes," he adds,
"was brought in alive, and a snake-charmer came up to display his
command over the animal. At first (as I am told) the Snake seemed cowed
by the authoritative 'Hah' of the man; but suddenly, through some
carelessness on his part, the Snake struck him on the wrist. The poor
fellow at once ran off home to get an antidote, but fell down before
reaching his own door, and died in a few minutes. When at Tonghu,"
continues Mr. Theobald, "I heard a case of an Elephant being killed by
one of these Snakes, which I have no reason for doubting. The Elephant
was a fine powerful male, and was pulling down with his trunk some
creepers or boughs, when a large 'Gnán,' which was disturbed in the
tree, struck the Elephant on the trunk between the eyes. The Elephant at
once retreated, became faint, and died in about three hours." This
terrible Snake would appear to be not uncommon in the Andaman Islands,
and its range of distribution extends through the Malay countries to the
Philippines and to New Guinea.
The genus _Bungarus_ is so called from the vernacular appellation of
Bungarum, which is applied to one of the species on the Coromandel
coast. Some of them are very like Cobras without the hood, as the
"Kerait" (_B. cæruleus_), which is a much-dreaded Snake in India, but
the geographic range of which extends neither to the countries eastward
nor to Ceylon. The Snakes of this genus have a row of broad hexagonal
scales along the middle of the back. The Kerait grows to four feet and a
half in length, and has the upper parts of a bluish or brownish black,
either uniform or more generally marked with numerous narrow white
cross-lines, which mostly radiate from a white vertebral spot. In its
habits it resembles the Cobra, preying on small Mammalia, Lizards,
Toads, and probably other Snakes occasionally. The "Raj-sámp" (literally
Lord Snake) is a larger and thicker species than the Kerait, beautifully
marked throughout with alternate broad rings of black and golden-yellow.
This one is found almost generally throughout the Indian region, and
would seem to prey entirely on other Snakes, especially of the
_Tropidonotus_ genus. It is of very sluggish habits, and frequents moist
places and the vicinity of water. A species, or local variety (_B.
ceylonicus_), takes its place in Ceylon, and there is also a kindred
species (_B. semifasciatus_) in China and Formosa. According to Cantor,
the Bungarums are capable of darting nearly the anterior half of the
body. Their bite is very dangerous; but "the magnitude of the danger,"
remarks Dr. Günther, "depends, as in other Venemous Snakes, on many
circumstances--chiefly on the size and energy of the individual Snake
and on the place of the wound. As the fangs of the Bungarums are
comparatively short, the wound is always superficial, and can be easily
excised and cauterised; also, experiments made on some of the lower
animals show that the general effect on the whole system becomes visible
only after a lapse of time."
Of poisonous Snakes akin to the Bungarums, there are the _Xenurelaps
bungaroides_, founded on a single specimen received from the Khásya
hills (north of Sylhet); and the _Megærophis flaviceps_, which inhabits
the Indo-Chinese and the Malayan countries, but not India. The latter
attains to more than six feet in length, and when alive or fresh the
head and neck are vivid blood-red, which soon fades to a pale buff hue
in specimens immersed in spirit, and hence the faulty name of
_flaviceps_. As many as seven genera--_Glyphodon_, with two ascertained
species; _Diemansia_, with four; _Hoplocephalus_, with eight;
_Pseudechis_, with one; _Pseudo-naja_, with one; _Brachysoma_, with
three; and _Vermicalla_, with one--are peculiar to Australia with
Tasmania, making twenty known species of Colubriform Venemous Snakes in
that range of territory, where others doubtless remain to be discovered;
and there is one described as _Pseudo-elaps superciliaris_, which is
suspected to be a second species of _Pseudo-naja_. The _Cyrtophis
scutatus_ of South Africa is a sort of hoodless Cobra, without any small
teeth behind its fangs. In America there is only the genus _Elaps_, with
numerous species, which are mostly of small size, and in some instances
are very brightly coloured, as one of the Coral Snakes[15] of Brazil
(_E. corallinus_), which is beautiful coral-red, with the body encircled
by equidistant black rings. The genus _Elaps_ in America is represented
in Africa by _Homorelaps_, in the Indian region by _Callophis_, and in
Australia by _Vermicalla_. In general, these are small and slender
Snakes, too much so to be held in much dread. What Dr. Günther remarks
of the species of _Callophis_ will apply, as we believe, equally to the
others:--"They appear to prefer hilly countries to the plains, live
constantly on the ground, and are slow in their movements. In their
habits, in their form, and in their powerless muscular organization,
they show the greatest similarity to the _Calamariæ_; and this is why
the _Callophides_ feed almost entirely on the latter, the Venemous Snake
being able to overpower the non-Venemous. Both of these genera have also
the same geographical distribution; and Ceylon, where we do not find the
_Calamariæ_, is not inhabited by a single _Callophis_. If we are allowed
to judge from the number of individuals of both genera brought to Europe
in collections, the _Calamariæ_ are about twice as numerous as the
_Callophides_." Cantor, who had opportunities of observing them, states
that they are generally seen lying motionless, with the body thrown into
many irregular folds, but not coiled. Although they are diurnal, their
sight, from the minuteness of the pupil, appears to be as defective as
their sense of hearing, and they may be closely approached without
apparently being aware of danger. He never observed them to strike
voluntarily, even when provoked, and he had difficulty in making an
adult _C. gracilis_ bite a Fowl; although, of course, the venom of these
Snakes is as virulent as that of a Viper, the animals used for the
experiments having died in the course of from one to three hours after
they had been wounded. Therefore the greatest caution should be observed
in catching or handling these Snakes. The shortness of their fangs and
the small quantity of their poisonous fluid, however, will always give a
very fair chance of recovery if the proper remedies be applied, should
an accident occur. Two or three species of this genus inhabit India, and
the rest are found in the Indo-Chinese and Malayan countries, one of the
most common of them (_C. intestinalis_) having likewise been received
from the Philippines. The _C. nigrescens_ of the mountains of southern
India attain to four feet in length, but they are mostly about half of
that size, or even smaller.
[15] This name being also applied to the harmless _Tortrix scytale_
Lastly, we arrive at
THE VIPERINE SNAKES,
which have a long, perforated, erectile fang on the maxillary bone,
which is extremely short and bears no other teeth. This is described in
greater detail subsequently (pp. 93, 94). They are arranged under the
two families _Crotalidæ_ and _Viperidæ_.
The _Crotalidæ_, or Pit Vipers, have the body robust, the tail of
moderate length, or rather short, sometimes prehensile; head broad,
sub-triangular, frequently scaly above or imperfectly shielded; a deep
pit on the side of the snout, between the eye and nostril; the eye of
moderate size, with vertical pupil. They are viviparous. The Pit Vipers
are found only in Asia and America; those of the New World surpassing
the Asiatic species in size, and therefore they are much more dangerous.
Some live in bushes, others on the ground. A rudiment of the curious
caudal appendage of the American Rattlesnakes is found as a simple
spine-like scale in the Asiatic species, constituting the genus _Halys_.
Some have the head covered with scales, having small shields on the edge
of the forehead and brows; the cheeks are scaly, and the tail ends in a
spine. Of these, the American genus _Craspedocephalus_ and the Asiatic
genus _Trimeresurus_ have the subcaudal plates two-rowed to the tip.
The genus _Craspedocephalus_ comprises the terrible Fer-de-lance of
certain islands in the West Indies, which occurs on the mainland of
South America, where four other species are recognised--one of them
being found as far north as Mexico.]
[Illustration: Fig. 19.--Fer-de-lance (_Trigonocephala mycalæ_)]
The Fer-de-lance (_C. lanceolatus_) is met with in Martinique, Santa
Lucia, and in the little island of Boquin, near St. Vincent. It attains
to a length of nearly six feet; its colour is not always yellow,
sometimes it is greyish, and even marbled with brown; the head, which
is large, is remarkable for a triangular space, the three angles of
which are occupied by the muzzle and the two eyes.
This space, raised at its front edge, represents the head of a lance,
large at its base and slightly rounded at the summit. On each side of
the upper jaw, one, sometimes two, and even three, fangs are visible;
all of which the animal makes use of for the purpose of wounding and
discharging his venom. Of the poison fangs of the Fer-de-lance,
Professor Owen remarks, "that they (in common with the Rattlesnake and
Viper) are coated with a thin layer of a sub-transparent and minutely
cellular cement. This disposition of the dentinal tubes is obedient to
the general law of verticality, and the external surface of the tooth
can be exposed to no other pressure than that of the turgescent duct
with which it is in contact." It feeds on Lizards and the smaller
Mammals, especially Rats, but it is capable of killing large animals,
such as Oxen. The Negroes working among the sugar-cane, and soldiers in
the Martinique service, often become victims to the Fer-de-lance. This
Snake is, unfortunately, very prolific, and its venom is so subtle, that
animals stung by it die three hours, twelve hours, one day, or several
after the accident; but their death is certain. The wound produces
extreme pain, and is immediately followed by more or less livid
swelling; the body becomes cold and insensible, the pulse and
respiration become slower, the head becomes confused, coma appears, and
the skin turns bluish; sometimes extreme thirst and spitting of blood
are experienced, and paralysis attacks the whole system.
Another species is known in Brazil as the "Jararaca" (_C.
brasiliensis_), and there is a third in the same country, the _C.
bilineatus_; a fourth, _C. elegans_, is believed to be from the west
coast of South America; and a fifth, _C. atrox_, inhabits from Demerara
to Mexico. All of them are most highly formidable and dangerous Snakes,
which are held in especial dread.
The ten or more species of _Trimeresurus_ occupy their place in the
woodland districts of tropical Asia and its islands. In them the hinder
labial shields are the smallest. The head is triangular, covered above
with small scales, except the foremost part of the snout and the
superciliary region, which generally are shielded; body with more or
less distinctly keeled scales, in from seventeen to twenty-five series.
Body and tail of moderate length, prehensile. These reptiles are more or
less arboreal, as is indicated by their prehensile tail, and by their
green or varied coloration. "In general," remarks Dr. Günther, "they are
sluggish, not attempting to move out of the way, and as they very
closely resemble the branch on which they rest, they are frequently not
perceived until they prepare to dart, vibrating the tail, and uttering a
faint hissing sound, or until they have struck the disturber of their
rest. Accidents caused by them, therefore, are not of uncommon
occurrence, and it is a fortunate circumstance that comparatively few of
them attain to a size of more than two feet, so that the consequences of
their bite are less to be dreaded than that of various other poisonous
Snakes. Indeed, numerous cases are on record which show that the
symptoms indicating a general effect on the system were of short
duration, extending only over from two to forty-eight hours, and
confined to vomiting, retching, and fever. After the pain and swelling
of the bitten member or spot have subsided, the vicinity round the wound
becomes discoloured, mortifies, and is finally thrown off as a black,
circular slough, after which health is speedily restored. The bite of
larger specimens, from two to three feet long, is more dangerous, and
has occasionally proved fatal; so that the greatest care should always
be observed in the immediate treatment of the patient. When roused,
these Snakes are extremely fierce, striking at everything within their
reach; and Cantor states that in the extreme of fury they will fix their
fangs in their own bodies. Frogs, small mammalia, and birds form their
food, and I have never found a Lizard or Snake in their stomach."
Three or more of the species inhabiting India and Burmah are of a
beautiful leaf-green colour, which changes to dull blue after long
immersion in spirit. The commonest of them, _T. carinatus_, varies
remarkably in colouring, however, in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands;
if, indeed, the species be quite the same. These grow to over three feet
in length, of which size they are sufficiently formidable. The kindred
genus, _Peltopelor_, is founded on a single species inhabiting
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