is compressed by its proper muscles, and the deadly fluid is injected through the tubular tooth into the wound. In the harmless Snakes (or rather those which are not poisonous), each of the upper and under jaws is set with a number of small, but very sharp teeth, pointing backwards; the palate is also armed with two similar rows, so that there are six lines of teeth in the mouth. Owing to the loose jointing of the bones before mentioned, the two sides of the head are capable of being moved to and fro separately, with a sort of see-sawing action. When the teeth have been struck into the victim, this alternate advance of the sides of the face begins, and as the backward inclination of the teeth allows the food only to move in one direction, it is gradually drawn by a constantly shifting of the hold on either side into the throat. There is a South African Snake (Deirodon), the mouth of which is deprived of teeth, yet it is destined to feed on the eggs of birds. The apparent defect in this case has been pointed out by Professor Owen as a beautiful example of special contrivance. "If," observes that great physiologist, "the teeth had existed of the ordinary form and proportion in the maxillary and palatal regions, the egg would have been broken as soon as it was seized, and much of its nutritious contents would have escaped from the lipless mouth of the Snake in the act of deglutition; but owing to the almost edentulous state of the jaws, the egg glides along the expanded opening unbroken, and it is not until it has reached the gullet, and the closed mouth prevents any escape of the nutritious matter, that the shell is exposed to instruments adapted for its perforation. These instruments consist of the inferior spinous processes of the seven or eight posterior cervical vertebræ, the extremities of which are capped by a layer of hard cement, and penetrate the dorsal (upper) parietes of the oesophagus; they may be WATER SNAKE AND BLACK SNAKE. 367 readily seen even in very young subjects, and in the interior of that tube, in which their points are directed backwards. The shell being sawed open longitudinally by these vertebral teeth, the egg is crushed by the contractions of the gullet, and is carried to the stomach, where the shell is no doubt soon dissolved by the gastric juice." It might be expected that the ferocity of animals so exclusively carnivorous, so energetic, and so well furnished for rapine as Serpents, would sometimes direct their arms against each other. Perhaps our readers may not be displeased to see the report of a conflict of this sort, in which the prowess of the combatants, their equality of force, their perseverance, and their fury, are graphically described by a gentleman who declares himself to have been an eye-witness of the scene. Of course the story depends on the veracity of the writer; but we may be permitted to observe that some details of the description, which a naturalist can appreciate, and which could scarcely have been invented, seem to indicate that the picture was drawn from the life. The story is narrated by Mr. St. John in his "Letters of an American Farmer." After describing the size and strength of some hemp-plants, around which a wild vine. had formed natural arbours, he thus proceeds :-" As I was one day sitting, solitary and pensive, in this primitive arbour, my attention was engaged by a strange sort of rustling noise at some paces distance. I looked all around without distinguishing anything, until I climbed up one of my great hemp-stalks; when, to my astonishment, I beheld two snakes of a considerable length, the one pursuing the other with great celerity, through a hemp-stubble field. The aggressor was of the black kind, six feet long; the fugitive was a Water Snake, nearly of equal dimensions. They soon met, and, in the fury of their first encounter, appeared in an in * " Odontography." stant firmly twisted together; and whilst their united tails beat the ground, they mutually tried, with open jaws, to lacerate each other. What a fell aspect did they present! Their heads were compressed to a very small size; their eyes flashed fire; but, after this conflict had lasted about five minutes, the second found means to disengage itself from the first, and hurried towards the ditch. Its antagonist instantly assumed a new posture, and, half-creeping, halferect, with a majestic mien, overtook and attacked the other again, which placed itself in a similar attitude, and prepared to resist. The scene was uncommon and beautiful; for, thus opposed, they fought with their jaws, biting each other with the utmost rage; but, notwithstanding this appearance of mutual courage and fury, the water-snake still seemed desirous of retreating towards the ditch, its natural element. This was no sooner perceived by the keen-eyed black one, than, twisting its tail twice round a stalk of hemp, and seizing its adversary by the throat, not by means of its jaws, but by twisting its own neck twice round that of the watersnake, he pulled it back from the ditch. To prevent a defeat, the latter took hold likewise of a stalk on the bank, and, by the acquisition of that point of resistance, became a match for his fierce antagonist. Strange was this to behold; two great snakes strongly adhering to the ground, mutually fastened together by means of the writhings which lashed them to each other, and stretched at their full length; they pulled, but pulled in vain; and, in the moments of greatest exertion, that part of their bodies which was entwined seemed extremely small, while the rest appeared inflated, and now and then convulsed with strong undulations rapidly following each other. Their eyes appeared on fire, and ready to start out of their heads. At one time the conflict seemed decided; the water-snake bent itself into great folds, and by that operation rendered the other more THE SERPENT BATTLE. 369 than commonly outstretched; the next minute the new struggles of the black one gained an unexpected superiority; it acquired two great folds likewise, which necessarily extended the body of its adversary, in proportion as it had contracted its own. These efforts were alternate; victory seemed doubtful, inclining sometimes to one side, sometimes to the other, until at last the stalk to which the black snake was fastened, suddenly gave way, and, in consequence of this accident, they both plunged into the ditch. The water did not extinguish their vindictive rage, for by their agitations I could still trace, though I could not distinguish, their attacks. They soon reappeared on the surface twisted together, as in their first onset: but the black snake seemed to retain its wonted superiority; for its head was exactly fixed above that of the other, which it incessantly pressed down under the water, until its opponent was stifled, and sank. The victor no sooner perceived its enemy incapable of further resistance, than abandoning it to the current, it returned to the shore and disappeared." P. H. G. THE BROKEN EMBANKMENT. As was mentioned in a former paper,* in the Netherlands and some other countries, so flat is the beach and so shallow is the ocean, that a man may enclose a portion of the liquid expanse, and, by pumping off the water, may at once secure to himself a ready-made estate. Every man is born on the edge of such an ocean. Perhaps he has no patrimony, and, sure enough he is born into the world without knowledge. His fortune is all to make; but he has the means of making it. From the great waste he may reclaim as much as he pleases, and, through industry and the blessing of God devoutly sought, he may succeed in securing a goodly domain of intelligence, moral worth, and ascendancy over others. It cannot, however, be disguised, that a territory formed in this fashion is liable to many hazards; and if the submerged birth-right says, "Take pains, and I will come to you," the surrounding ocean says, "Take care, or I will drown you." The great battle, in the first instance, is to wall off the space and pump out the brine; but it needs constant vigilance to preserve the acquisition. The surrounding deep is really higher than the solid land, and the dash of the waves and the flow of the current are constantly wearing and wasting the dykes and breakwaters; and, did the owner not assiduously repair the damage, the ocean would soon recover his own. So, to preserve the fruits of past effort, we have need of diligence. The scholar who does not keep up his learning soon loses it; and when you ask, What has become of it all? Where has it all gone, which, at the time, cost such trouble and expense? How is it that at forty he knows less of Latin and algebra than he learned at fourteen? The answer must be: "He did not * "Excelsior," vol. v. p. 1. |