width of the head, which is covered with small scales; by the scales of the body being in general rough and keeled; and by the tail being usually short in comparison with the body, and often thin or slender. The belly is clothed with broad band-like shields or plates, as in the Snakes: there are no vestiges of limbs. Some have a deep pit, like a second nostril on the cheek, just in front of the eye, as the Rattlesnakes, whose singular caudal appendage we have just noticed. Others have the tail terminating in a small recurved spine, and others have two minute spines resembling recurved horns, on the tip of the nose. The Najas have the power of dilating the skin of the neck to an enormous extent when irritated. All the species with which we are acquainted, bring forth their young alive, the eggs being hatched in the moment of birth: the term Viper is an abbreviation of vivipara, which expresses this quality.
One of the most remarkable phenomena in Natural History is the power which, from time immemorial, has been exercised in the East by certain persons over the most venomous Serpents. It is more than once alluded to in the Sacred Scriptures,[1] and multitudes of modern writers have described the practices of these Snake-charmers with more or less of accuracy. The Snakes chiefly subjected to their skill are the various species of Cerastes, or Horned Vipers, and of Naja, or Hooded Snakes, which are common both in Africa and India. Many persons affirm that there is nothing extraordinary in the process; that the Snakes are tamed for the purpose, and deprived of their fangs, before the exhibition; but
- ↑ Ps. lviii. 4, 5.—Jer. viii. 17.
