nosehorn viper, and the common viper found in England--our only
dangerous serpent. These serpents all inflict their poisonous wounds
by means of two fangs, which they protrude from the mouth, and from
the points of which they inject the poisonous matter into the wounds
they inflict. On the lower shelves of this case the visitor will find
some specimens of the Sea-Serpents, which frequent the East Indian
seas, and the coast of New Holland. They are dangerous reptiles,
having small fangs amid their teeth, with which they attack bathing
animals or men. Some of them have been found sleeping on the warm
bosom of a tropical ocean; and upon the warm sands of the shore they
are often found, coiled up in a torpid state. They vary greatly in
size: but the visitor will perceive none approaching in length to that
remarkable reptile which artists, despairing in their attempts to give
it the proper dimensions, lately coiled about the wide pages of
pictorial papers.

The visitor will next have his attention drawn to that family of
serpents of which the Boa is the great representative. These are all
grouped together in cases (12-15). This family has what naturalists
call "the rudiments of legs." They are a nobler family than that which
the rattlesnake represents, inasmuch as they do not depend upon poison
to master their enemy; but fight legitimately, with their muscular
strength. The terrible pictures which adorn the pages of eastern
travels for children, of poor Indians with just their heads appearing
above the folds of a gigantic boa, will probably recur to the visitor,
as he surveys the tortuous folds of the placid specimens of the family
that lie before him. It is therefore hardly necessary to inform him
that the boa family destroy their prey by coiling round it, and having
secured their tail to a tree to give themselves additional strength,
by crushing every bone in its body. Having thus taken the life out of