Chapter I: Front Matter

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SNAKES:

Curiosities and Wonders of Serpent Life.

Morrison & Gibb, Edinburgh, Printers to Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.

Hamadryad,
_Ophiophagus bungarus_.

_Echis carinata._

Cobra,
_Naja tripudians_.

Reticulated Python,
_Python reticulatus_.

Rat Snake,
_Ptyas mucosus_.

_Amphisbæna._

SOME OPHIDIANS AT HOME.

INDIA.]

SNAKES:

Curiosities and Wonders of Serpent Life_.

by

CATHERINE C. HOPLEY,

Author of ‘Sketches of the Ophidians,’ ‘Life in the South,’ ‘Rambles and Adventures in the Wilds of the West,’ etc. etc.

‘These lithe and elegant Beings.’—RYMER JONES.

‘Can outswim the Fish and outclimb the Monkey.’—OWEN.

Griffith and Farran, Successors to Newbery and Harris, West Corner of St. Paul’s Churchyard, London. E. P. Dutton & Co., New York. 1882.

The Rights of Translation and of Reproduction are reserved.

_TO MY
MUCH HONOURED AND ESTEEMED FRIEND_,
Professor Richard Owen, F.R.S.,
_WHO HAS GRACIOUSLY ENCOURAGED THE STUDIES
OUT OF WHICH IT CAME;
AND WHOSE CORDIAL SYMPATHY AND REGARD,
WITH FRANKEST RECOGNITION OF HIS
DEEP DEVOTION TO HIS ART,
GAVE ONE OF ITS FEW GREAT PLEASURES TO THE
SHORT LIFE OF
A DEAR BROTHER OF MINE,
THIS BOOK
IS HUMBLY DEDICATED,
WITH GRATEFUL RECOLLECTIONS OF THE PAST_.

CONTENTS.

CHAP. PAGE

I. SEEING A SNAKE FEED, 27

II. SNAKES OF FICTION AND OF FACT, 41

III. OPHIDIAN TASTE FOR BIRDS’ EGGS, 59

IV. DO SNAKES DRINK? 75

V. THE TONGUE OF A SNAKE—PART I. WHAT IT IS ‘NOT,’ 94

VI. THE TONGUE OF A SNAKE—PART II. WHAT IT ‘IS,’ 107

VII. THE TONGUE OF A SNAKE—PART III. ITS USES, 115

VIII. THE GLOTTIS, 129

IX. BREATHING AND HISSING OF SNAKES, 142

X. HIBERNATION, 159

XI. THE TAIL OF A SNAKE, 170

XII. OPHIDIAN ACROBATS: CONSTRUCTION AND CONSTRICTION, 192

XIII. FRESH-WATER SNAKES, 221

XIV. THE PELAGIC OR SEA SNAKES, 233

XV. ‘THE GREAT SEA SERPENT,’ 247

XVI. RATTLESNAKE HISTORY, 268

XVII. THE RATTLE, 294

XVIII. THE INTEGUMENT—‘HORNS,’ AND OTHER EPIDERMAL APPENDAGES, 315

XIX. DENTITION, 342

XX. VIPERINE FANGS, 368

XXI. THE CROTALIDÆ, 381

XXII. THE XENODONS, 395

XXIII. OPHIDIAN NOMENCLATURE, AND VERNACULARS, 413

XXIV. DO SNAKES INCUBATE THEIR EGGS? 431

XXV. ANACONDA AND ANGUIS FRAGILIS, 452

XXVI. ‘LIZZIE,’ 470

XXVII. DO SNAKES AFFORD A REFUGE TO THEIR YOUNG? 483

XXVIII. SERPENT WORSHIP, ‘CHARMING,’ ETC., 507

XXIX. THE VENOMS AND THEIR REMEDIES, 532

XXX. NOTES FROM THE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS, 561

INDEX, 593