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Show 54 REPTILIA. AooNTIAs, Cuv.(l) Which still resembles the preceding in the structure of the head, and in the eye-lids, but in which there is no sternum, nor vestige of a shoulder or pelvis. The anterior ribs unite with each other beneath the trunk, by cartilaginous prolongations. I have only found one moderate sized lung, and another that is very small. The teeth are small and conical, and I think I have perceived them in the pa. late. These animals are easily recognized by their muzzle, which is enclosed as in a sort of mask. The well known species, .!1nguis meleagris, L., Seb. II, xxi, 1,(2) inhabits the Cape of Good Hope. It resembles the .!1.fra· gilis, but its obtuse tail is much shorter; eight longitudinal rows of brown spots decorate its back. The same country produces other species, one of which is completely blind, the .!1c. crecua, Cuv. FAMILY II. SERPENTIA. The true Serpents, which are by far the most numerous, comprise the genera without a sternum, and in which there is no vestige of a shoulder, but where the ribs still surround a great part of the circumference of the trunk, and where the body of each vertebra is still articulated by a convex surface to a cavity in the succeeding one; the third eye-lid and the tympanum are deficient ; but the malleus of the ear exists un· der the skin, and its handle passes behind the tympanum. There is still a vestige of a posterior limb, concealed under the skin, in several of this family, and which in some of them shows its extremity externally in the form of a small hook.(3) (1) Acontias (javelin) the Greek name of a Serpent, which was believed to dart upon the passenger, from tix.ov?l~t», jaculor. (2) Daudin has also made an Erix of the .9.nguis meleagris, but without any reason, for its inferior scales are not larger than the others. I have ascertained by dissection that this Serpent has no sternum, so that the supposition of :M. Oppel to the contrary is erroneous. (3) See the dissertation (German) of M. Mayer on the posterior extremities of the Ophidians, in the twelfth vol. des Curieux de Ia Nature of Bonn. OPHIDIA. 55 We subdivide them into two tribes. That of the AMPHISBJEN JE, as in the preceding reptiles, still has the lower jaw supported by a tympanal bone directly articulated with the cranium, the two bunches of this jaw soldered together in front, and those of the upper one fixed to the cranium and to the intermaxillary bone, circumstances which prevent that dilatation of the mouth which obtains in the succeeding tribe, and which occasions a uniformity of the head and body, a form which enables them to move backwards or forwards with equal facility. The bony frame of the orbit is incomplete behind, and the eye very small; the body is covered with scales, the anus close to its extremity, the trachea long, and the heart very far back. They are not venomous. They form two genera, one of which is allied to Chalcides and Chirotes, and the other to Anguis and Acontias. AMPHISBJENA, L.(l) The whole body surrounded with circular ranges of quadrangular scales, like the Chalcides and the Chirotes among the Saurians; a series of pores before the anus, a few conical teeth in the jaws, but none in the palate. There is but one lung. Two species have long been known, .B.mph. alba, Lacep. II, xxi, 1; and .!1mph. fuliginosa, L., Seb. II, xviii, 2, C. 3 and lxxiii, 4, both from South America. They feed on insects, and are often found in ant-hills, which has occasioned a belief among the people that the large ants are their purveyors. They are oviparous.(2) There is another in Martinique entirely blind, .B.mph. creca, Cuv .(3) The LEPOSTERNON, Spix, are Amphisbrenre, the anterior part of whose trunk has a collection of plates above which interrupts the rings. They have no anal pores, their head . is short, and their muzzle somewhat elongated.( 4) (1) From tt,u~'~ and 'tt!mv, walking both ways. The ancients attributed two heads to it. This name has been erroneously applied to some American Serpents, which it is impossible the ancients could have known. (2) The .9.mph. jlavescens, Pr. Max. Lib. IX. (3) May it not be the .9.. vermicularis, Spix, XXV, 2? he says, "occuli via; co7l- 8picui"-1 can see none. He employed the same expression for his .9.. oxyura. ( 4) Lep. microcephalm, Spix, or .9.mph. punctata, Pr. Max. \ |