Book IV — Reptiles
§ 1 Serpents, or Ophidian Reptiles
Serpents are characterised by an elongated body, clothed in scales and destitute of limbs, but furnished with a tail. They move by lateral undulations of the body; and in this manner they glide with equal ease along the bare ground, through entangled thickets or water, and up the trunks of trees. They possess the power of fasting a great length of time, and when they feed always swallow their prey whole, which they are enabled to accomplish by their faculty of dilating their bodies to an enormous size. This power is carried to such an extent that a Boa Constrictor can swallow a bullock whole, suffering no other inconvenience than that of lying in a state of torpor while digestion is proceeding. Serpents generally roll themselves up when in a state of repose, with the head in the centre; and when disturbed raise the head before they uncoil the body. The Serpent is often made a subject of poetry; and as it was the form adopted by the arch fiend to seduce Eve, it is generally considered the emblem of insinuation and flattery:
“—— —— —— —— on his rear,
Circular base of rising folds that tower’d
Fold above fold, surprising maze, his head
Crested aloft, and carbuncle his eyes.
With burnish’d neck of verdant gold, erect
Amidst his circling spires that on the grass
Floated redundant; pleasing was his shape
And lovely.... Oft he bow’d
His turret crest and sleek enamell’d neck,
Fawning, and lick’d the ground whereon she trod.”
Paradise Lost.
The ancients paid great honours to Serpents, and sometimes called them good genii: they frequented sepulchres and burying-places, and were addressed like the tutelary divinities of these places. We read, in the fifth book of the Æneid, that when the Trojan hero sacrificed to his father’s ghost, a Serpent of this kind made his appearance:
“—— —— and from the tomb begun to glide
His hugy bulk on seven high volumes roll’d;
Blue was his breadth of back, and streak’d with scaly gold.
Thus riding on his curls he seemed to pass
A rolling fire along, and singe the grass;
More various colours through his body run,
Than Iris when her bow imbibes the sun.
Between the rising altars and around,
The sacred monster shot along the ground;
With harmless play among the bowls he pass’d,
And with his lolling tongue assay’d the taste:
Thus fed with holy food, the wondrous guest
Within the hollow tomb retired to rest.”
Dryden.
This animal was exalted to the honour of being an emblem of prudence, and even of eternity; and is often represented as the latter in Egyptian hieroglyphics, biting his tail, so as to form a circle. Serpents are very numerous in Africa; and Lucan, in his “Pharsalia,” gives us a very extraordinary account of the different species, which he seems to have drawn partly from ancient Greek authors, partly from actual traditions. He says:
“Why plagues like these infect the Libyan air;
Why deaths unknown in various shapes appear;
Why, fruitful to destroy, the cursed land
Is temper’d thus by Nature’s secret hand;
Dark and obscure the hidden cause remains,
And still deludes the vain inquirer’s pains.”
Rowe’s “Lucan.”
Serpents differ very much in size. We are told of Serpents in the Isle of Java measuring fifty feet in length; and in the British Museum there is a skin of one thirty-two feet long.
Is a venomous species of serpent that seldom exceeds the length of two or three feet, and is of a dull yellowish brown colour with black spots, the abdomen being entirely black; the head is nearly in the shape of a lozenge, and much thicker than the body. The Viper is viviparous; yet it is ascertained that the eggs are formed, though they are hatched in the body of the mother.
The Reverend Mr. White, of Selborne, in company with a friend, surprised a large female Viper, as she lay on the grass, basking in the sun, which seemed very heavy and bloated. As Vipers are so venomous that they should be destroyed, they killed her; and afterwards, being curious to know what made her so large, they opened her, and found in her abdomen fifteen young ones, about the size of full-grown earth-worms. This little fry issued into the world with the true Viper spirit about them, showing great alertness as soon as they were disengaged from the body of their parent. They twisted and wriggled about, set themselves up, and gaped very wide when touched with a stick; exhibiting manifest tokens of menace and defiance, though as yet no fangs could be discovered, even by the help of glasses.
Vipers attain their full growth in seven years; they feed on frogs, toads, lizards, and other animals of that kind, and it is even asserted that they catch mice and small birds, of which they seem very fond. They cast their skin every year. The two front teeth in the upper jaw of the Viper are furnished with a small bladder containing poison. There is no doubt but this poison, which appears to have been infused into the jaws of the Viper and other serpents by Providence, as a means of revenge upon their enemies, is so harmless to the animal itself, that when swallowed by it it only serves to accelerate its digestion. These venomous teeth or fangs stand, each by itself, upon a small movable bone; this arrangement enables the creature to fold down its fearful weapons in the mouth, and to erect them instantly when it has occasion to make use of them. The Viper is very patient of hunger, and may be kept more than six months without food. When in confinement, it refuses all sustenance, and the sharpness of its poison decreases in proportion: when at liberty, it remains torpid throughout the winter; yet, when confined, it has never been observed to take its annual repose.
The Viper is a native of many parts of this island, chiefly the dry and chalky counties. Its flesh was formerly used for broth, and much esteemed in medicine, particularly to restore debilitated constitutions. It was also used as a cosmetic, being supposed to render the complexion fair. It was probably from the use made by the ancients of this animal in medicine that Esculapius is represented with a serpent. The best remedy against the bite of the Viper is to suck the wound, which may be done without danger, and after this to rub it with sweet oil, and poultice it with bread and milk.
This species of Viper is nearly allied to the asp, and has a pointed and solid horny substance on each eyelid, formed of two projecting scales: its body is of a pale yellowish or greyish colour, with distant sub-ovate transverse brown spots; and in length it is from one to two feet.
This species is often mentioned by the ancients. Pliny tells us that “the serpent Cerastes hath many times four small horns, standing out double; with moving whereof she amuseth the birds, and traineth them unto her for to catch them, hiding all the rest of her body.”
It is found in the sandy deserts of Egypt and the neighbouring countries, and is believed to be the Asp with which Cleopatra eluded the disgrace of becoming a prisoner to her Roman conqueror.
Is a native of the New World, and grows to five or six, and sometimes to eight feet in length, and is nearly as thick as a man’s leg. It is not unlike the viper, having a large head and small neck, and inflicting a very dangerous wound. Over each eye is a large pendulous scale, the use of which has not yet been ascertained; the body is scaly and hard, variegated with several different colours. The principal characteristic of this justly dreaded serpent is the rattle, a kind of instrument resembling the curb-chain of a bridle, at the extremity of the tail; it is formed of thin, hard, hollow bones, linked together, and rattling on the least motion. When disturbed, the creature shakes this rattle with considerable noise and rapidity, striking terror into all the smaller animals, which are afraid of the destructive venom that this serpent communicates to the wounded limb with his bite. The wound the Rattle-snake inflicts, through the uncommon sharpness and rapid fluency of the poison, generally terminates the torment and life of the unhappy victim in the course of six or seven hours.
A snake of this kind exhibited in London at a menagerie of foreign animals, in the year 1810, wounded a carpenter’s hand, who was repairing its cage, and seeking for his rule. The man suffered the most excruciating pain, and his life could not be saved, although medical assistance was immediately applied, and every effort made to prevent the dire effect of the poison. The proprietor was condemned to pay a deodand for the injury done by the serpent.
The Haje, or Egyptian Asp, is from three to six feet in length; it has two teeth longer than the rest, through which the venom flows. The body is covered with small round scales, and is of a greenish colour, bordered with brown; its neck is capable of inflation. The jugglers of Egypt, by pressing this Asp on the nape of the neck with the finger, throw the animal into a kind of catalepsy, which renders it stiff and immovable; when they say that they have changed it into a rod. The habit which this species has of raising itself up when approached, induced the ancient Egyptians to believe that it guarded the fields where it was found; and it is sculptured on the gates of their temples as an emblem of the protecting divinity of the world.
Called by the Indians the Nagao, is from three to eight feet long, with two long fangs in the upper jaw. It has a broad neck, and a mark of dark brown on the forehead; which, when viewed frontwise, looks like a pair of spectacles; but behind, like the head of a cat. The eyes are fierce and full of fire; the head is small, and the nose flat, though covered with very large scales, of a yellowish ash-colour: the skin is white, and the large tumour on the neck is flat and covered with oblong smooth scales. This serpent is extremely dreaded by the British residents in India, as its bite has hitherto been found to be incurable, and the sufferer generally dies in half an hour.
Of this kind are the dancing-snakes, which are carried in baskets throughout Hindoostan, and procure a maintenance for a set of people, who play a few simple notes on the flute, with which the snakes seem much delighted, and keep time by a graceful motion of the head; erecting about half their length from the ground, and following the music with gentle curves, like the undulating lines of a swan’s neck. It is a well-attested fact, that, when a house is infested with these snakes, and some other of the coluber genus, which destroy poultry and small domestic animals, as also by the larger serpents of the boa tribe, the musicians are sent for; who, by playing on a flageolet, find out their hiding places, and charm them to destruction: for no sooner do the snakes hear the music, than they come softly from their retreat, and are easily taken. I imagine these musical snakes were known in Palestine, from the Psalmist comparing the ungodly to the deaf adder, which stoppeth her ears, and refuseth to hear the voice of the charmer, charm he never so wisely.
Is the largest of all English serpents, sometimes exceeding four feet in length. The colour of the body is variegated with yellow, green, white, and regular spots of brown and black. They seem to enjoy themselves when basking in the sun, at the foot of an old wall. This animal is perfectly innoxious, although many reports have been circulated and believed to the contrary; it feeds on frogs, worms, mice, and various kinds of insects, and passes the greater part of the winter in a state of torpidity. In the spring they re-appear, and at this season uniformly cast their skins. This is a process that they also seem to undergo in autumn. Mr. White says: “About the middle of September we found in a field, near a hedge, the slough of a large snake, which seemed to have been newly cast. It appeared as if turned wrong side outward, and as if it had been drawn off backward, like a stocking or a woman’s glove. Not only the whole skin, but even the scales from the eyes were peeled off, and appeared in the slough like a pair of spectacles. The reptile, at the time of changing his coat, had entangled himself intricately in the grass and weeds, in order that the friction of the stalks and blades might promote this curious shifting of his exuvia.”
This immense animal is often twenty feet in length, and sometimes even thirty-five; the ground colour of its skin is yellowish grey, on which is distributed, along the back, a series of large chain-like, reddish brown, and sometimes perfectly red, variegations, with other smaller and more irregular marks and spots. It is a native of South America, where it chiefly resides in the most retired situations in woods and marshes.
The bite of this snake is not venomous, nor is the animal believed to bite at all, except to seize its prey. It kills its prey by twining round it and crushing its bones.
The Python and the Anaconda, which are at least as large as the Boa Constrictor, are found chiefly in the Indian Islands: they are very similar both in form and colouring to the Boa, and have exactly the same habits.
These monsters will attack and devour the largest animals, of which the following is an instance: A Boa had for some time been waiting near the brink of a pool in expectation of its prey, when a buffalo appeared. Having darted upon the affrighted beast, it instantly began to encircle him with its voluminous twistings, and at every twist the bones of the buffalo were heard to crack as loud as the report of a gun. It was in vain that the animal struggled and bellowed; its enormous enemy entwined it so closely that at length all its bones were crushed to pieces, like those of a malefactor on the wheel, and the whole body was reduced to one uniform mass: the serpent then untwined its folds in order to swallow its prey at leisure. To prepare for this, and also to make it slip down the throat more smoothly, it licked the whole body over, covering it with a mucilaginous substance. It then began to swallow it, at the end that afforded the least resistance, and in the act of swallowing, the throat suffered so great a dilation as to take in a substance that was thrice its own ordinary thickness.
This name is now applied only to a genus of South American reptiles, which are of a harmless nature, being destitute of those fangs which prepare the venom in poisonous serpents. It is indeed doubtful whether the Amphisbænas are really snakes, and by many naturalists they are arranged amongst the lizards, although they have no limbs. The head is so small, and the tail so thick and short, that at first sight it is difficult to distinguish one from the other; and this circumstance, united to the animal’s habit of proceeding either backwards or forwards as occasion may require, gave rise to the supposition throughout the native regions of the Amphisbæna, that it had two heads, one at each extremity, and that it was impossible to destroy one by simple cutting, as the two heads would mutually seek one another and reunite! The colour of the commonest species is a deep brown varied with patches of white. The body is ornamented by more than two hundred rings, and the tail by about twenty-five. The eyes are almost concealed by a thick membrane, and this, together with their small size, has given rise to the idea that the Amphisbæna is blind. It grows to the length of eighteen inches or two feet. Its food consists of worms and insects, and especially ants, in the mounds of which it generally conceals itself. The ancients gave the name of Amphisbæna to what they considered a two-headed serpent; but it is not known with certainty which of the serpent tribe they meant, as their Amphisbæna is described by Lucan as venomous, though in his lines elegance of language, beauty of versification, and liveliness of fancy, have perhaps a greater claim than truth to the admiration of the reader:—
“With hissings fierce, dire Amphisbænas rear
Their double heads, and rouse the soldier’s fear.
Eager he flies: more eager they pursue;
On every side the onset quick renew!
With equal swiftness face or shun the prey,
And follow fast when thought to run away.
Thus on the looms the busy shuttles glide,
Alternate fly, and shoot at either side.”