CHAP. I. Of the Shell of Teſtaceous Fiſhes.

ONE is apt to combine very diſſimilar objects in the ſame groupe, when hurried into the vortex of method. No two animals are more unlike each other than the whale and the limpet, the tortoiſe and the oyſter. Yet, as theſe animals muſt find ſome place in the picture of animated nature, it is beſt to let them reſt in the ſtation where the generality of mankind have aſſigned them; and as they have been willing to give them all from their abode the name of fiſhes, it is wiſeſt in us to conform.

But before I enter into any hiſtory of ſhell-fiſh, it may not be improper to obſerve, that [2] naturaliſts who have treated on this part of hi⯑ſtory, have entirely attended to outward forms; and, as in many other inſtances, forſaking the deſcription of the animal itſelf, have exhauſted all their induſtry in deſcribing the habitation. In conſequence of this radical error, we have volumes written upon the ſubject of ſhells, and very little ſaid on the hiſtory of ſhell-fiſh. The life of theſe induſtrious creatures, that for the moſt part creep along the bottom, or immove⯑ably wait till driven as the waves happen to di⯑rect, is almoſt entirely unknown. The wreath⯑ing of their ſhells, or the ſpots with which they are tinctured, have been deſcribed with a moſt diſguſting prolixity; but their appetites and their combats, their eſcapes and humble arts of ſubſiſtence, have been utterly neglected.

As I have only undertaken to write the hi⯑ſtory of animated nature, the variety of ſhells, and their peculiar ſpots or blemiſhes, do not come within my deſign. However, the manner in which ſhells are formed is a part of natural hiſtory connected with my plan, as it pre-ſup⯑poſes vital force or induſtry in the animal that forms them.

The ſhell may be conſidered as an habitation ſupplied by nature. It is an hard ſtony ſub⯑ſtance, made up ſomewhat in the manner of a [3] wall. Part of the ſtony ſubſtance the animal derives from outward objects, and the fluids of the animal itſelf furniſh the cement. Theſe united make that firm covering which ſhell-fiſh generally reſide in till they die.

But, in order to give a more exact idea of the manner in which ſea-ſhells are formed, we muſt have recourſe to an animal that lives upon land, with the formation of whoſe ſhell we are beſt acquainted. This is the garden-ſnail, that carries its box upon its back, whoſe hiſtory Swammerdam has taken ſuch endleſs pains to deſcribe. As the manner of the formation of this animal's ſhell extends to that of all others that have ſhells, whether they live upon land or in the water, it will be proper to give it a place before we enter upon the hiſtory of teſtaceous fiſhes.

To begin with the animal in its earlieſt ſtate, and trace the progreſs of its ſhell from the time it firſt appears—The inſtant the young ſnail leaves the egg, it carries its ſhell or its box no its back. It does not leave the egg till it is arrived at a certain growth, when its little ha⯑bitation is ſufficiently hardened. This beginning of the ſhell is not much bigger than a pin's head, but grows in a very rapid manner, having at [4] firſt but two circumvolutions, for the reſt are added as the ſnail grows larger. In proportion as the animal encreaſes in ſize, the circumvolu⯑tions of the ſhell encreaſe alſo, until the number of thoſe volutes come to be five, which is never exceeded.

The part where the animal enlarges its ſhell is at the mouth, to which it adds in proportion as it finds itſelf ſtinted in its habitation below. Being about to enlarge its ſhell, it is ſeen with its little teeth biting and clearing away the ſcaly ſkin that grows at the edges. It is ſome⯑times ſeen to eat thoſe bits it thus takes off; at other times it only cleans away the margin when covered with films, and then adds another rim to its ſhell.

For the purpoſes of making the ſhell, which is natural to the animal, and without which it could not live three days, its whole body is furniſhed with glands, from the orifices of which flows out a kind of ſlimy fluid, like ſmall ſpiders threads, which join together in one common cruſt or ſurface, and in time con⯑denſe and acquire a ſtony hardneſs. It is this ſlimy humour that grows into a mem⯑brane and afterwards a ſtony ſkin; nor can it have eſcaped any who have obſerved the track of a ſnail; that gliſtening ſubſtance [5] which it leaves on the floor or the wall is no other than the materials with which the animal adds to its ſhell, or repairs it when broken.

Now to exhibit in a more ſatisfactory manner the method in which the ſhell is formed,—The ſnail burſts from its egg with its ſhell upon its back; this ſhell, though very ſimple, is the center round which every ſucceeding convolu⯑tion of the ſhell is formed, by new circles added to the firſt. As the body of the ſnail can be ex⯑tended no where but to the aperture, the mouth of the ſhell only can of conſequence receive augmentation. The ſubſtance of which the ſhell is compoſed is chiefly ſupplied by the animal itſelf, and is no more than a ſlimy fluid which hardens into bone. This fluid paſſes through an infinite number of little glands till it arrives at the pores of the ſkin; but there it is ſtopped by the ſhell that covers the part below; and therefore is ſent to the mouth of the ſhell, where it is wanted for its enlargement. There the firſt layer of ſlime ſoon hardens; and then ano⯑ther is added, which hardens alſo, till in time the ſhell becomes as thick as is requiſite for the animal's preſervation. Thus every ſhell may be conſidered as compoſed of a number of layers of ſlime, which have entirely proceeded from the animal's own body.

[6]But though this be the general opinion with regard to the formation of ſhells, I cannot avoid thinking there are ſtill other ſubſtances beſide the animal's own ſlime which go to the compoſition of its ſhell, or at leaſt to its external coat, which is ever different from the internal. The ſubſtances I mean are the accidental con⯑cretions of earthy or ſaline parts, which adhere to the ſlimy matter upon its firſt emiſſion. By adopting this theory, we can more ſatisfactorily account for the various colours of the ſhell, which cannot be ſuppoſed to take its tincture from the animal's body, as is the uſual opinion; for all the internal parts of the ſhell are but of one white colour; it is only the outermoſt layer of the ſhell that is ſo beautifully varied, ſo richly tinctured with that variety of colours we behold in the cabinets of the curious. If the external coat be ſcaled off, as Mr. Argenville aſſerts, all the inner ſubſtance will be found but of one ſimple colouring; and conſequently the animal's own juices can give only one colour; whereas we ſee ſome ſhells ſtained with an hundred.

The uſual way of accounting for the different colouring of ſhells, which ſeems to me erroneous, is this. In the body of every one of theſe ani⯑mals, ſeveral ſtreaks are diſcerned of a different [7] colour from the reſt. This variety, ſay they, is an inconteſtible proof that the juices flowing from thoſe parts will be alſo of a different hue; and will conſequently tinge that part of the ſhell which their ſlime compoſes of a different colour. But this ſyſtem, as was obſerved before, is overthrown by the fact, which diſcovers that only the outer ſurface of the ſhell is tinged; whereas, by this, it would have been coloured throughout: nay, by this ſyſtem, the internal parts of the ſhell would be ſtained with the moſt vivid colouring, as being leaſt expoſed to the external injuries of the element where it is placed. But the truth is, the animal reſiding in the ſhell has none of theſe various colours thus talked of: its ſlime is a ſimple pellucid ſubſtance; and the only marblings which ap⯑pear in its body, are the colour of the food, which is ſeen through its tranſparent inteſtines. We muſt, therefore, account for the various colouring of its ſhell upon a different principle.

If, as I ſaid, we examine the cabinets of the curious, we ſhall find ſhells with various and beautiful colouring; we ſhall find them gene⯑rally furniſhed with a white ground, tinctured with red, yellow, brown, green, and ſeveral other ſhades and lovely mixtures, but never blue. Shells are of almoſt all colours but blue. [8] The reaſon ſeems to be obvious; for blue is the colour which ſea-water changes. A piece of ſilk, or a feather, of this colour, put into an in⯑fuſion of ſalt, urine, or nitre, loſe their tint entirely. Now may not this give us a hint with reſpect to the operation of Nature in co⯑louring her ſhells? May we not from hence conclude, that ſea-water is efficacious in giving colour or taking it away? That, to produce colour, the animal not only furniſhes its juices, but the ſea or the earth that mixture of ſubſtance which is to unite with them. Neither the ani⯑mal ſlime alone, nor the external earthy or ſa⯑line ſubſtances alone, could produce colours; but both united, produce an effect which nei⯑ther ſeparately was poſſeſſed of. Thus ſhells aſſume every colour but blue; and that ſea-water, inſtead of producing, would be apt to deſtroy.

From hence, therefore, it appears, that the animal does not alone tincture its own ſhell; but that external cauſes co-operate in contributing to its beauty. It is probable that, from the nature of its food, or from other circumſtances unknown to us, the external layers of its ſlime may be of different conſiſtencies; ſo as, when joined with the particles of earth or ſalt that are accidentally united with them from without, [9] they aſſume various and beautiful hues. But the internal layers, which receive no foreign ad⯑mixture, ſtill preſerve the natural colour of the animal, and continue white without any vari⯑ation.

Thus far we ſee that the animal is not wholly the agent in giving beauty and colouring to its ſhell: but it ſeems otherwiſe with reſpect to its convolutions, its prominences, and general form. Theſe entirely depend upon the art of the animal; or rather upon its inſtincts; which, in the ſame kinds, are ever invariable. The ſhell generally bears ſome rude reſemblance to the body upon which it has been moulded. Thus it is obſervable in all ſea-ſhells, that if the animal has any tumour or excreſcence on its body, it creates likewiſe a ſwelling in that part of the incruſtation to which it correſponds. When the animal begins to alter its poſition, and to make new additions to its apartments, the ſame protuberance which had raiſed the ſhell before in one part, ſwells it again at ſome little diſtance; by which means we ſee the ſame in⯑equality, in a ſpiral line, all round the ſhell. Sometimes theſe tumours of the animal are ſo large, or ſo pointed, that thoſe which riſe over them in the incruſtation, appear like horns: after this the animal diſengages itſelf from its [10] firſt cavities, and then, by freſh evacuations, aſſumes a new ſet of horns; and ſo encreaſes the number in proportion to its growth. If, on the other hand, the body happens to be cha⯑nelled, the ſhell that covers it will be chanelled likewiſe; if there be any protuberances in the body, which wind in a ſpiral line about it, the ſhell will likewiſe have its tumours and cavities winding round to the end.

In this manner, as the animals are of various forms, the ſhells exhibit an equal variety. In⯑deed, the diverſity is ſo great, and the figures and colours ſo very ſtriking, that ſeveral per⯑ſons, with a kind of harmleſs indolence, have made the arrangement of them the ſtudy and the buſineſs of their lives. Thoſe who conſult their beauty alone, take care to have them poliſhed, and to have an external cruſt, or perioſteum, as Swammerdam calls it, ſcoured off from their, ſurfaces by ſpirit of ſalt. But there are others that, with more learned affectation, keep them exactly in the ſtate in which they have been found, with their precious cruſt ſtill round them. The expence men have ſometimes been at in making ſuch collections, is amazing; and ſome ſhells, ſuch as the Stairs ſhell or the Admiral ſhell, are not more pre⯑cious for their ſcarceneſs, than pearls are for [11] their beauty. Indeed, it is the ſcarcity, and not the beauty, of the object that determines the value of all natural curioſities. Thoſe ſhells that offer but little beautiful to the ignorant are often the moſt precious; and thoſe ſhells which an unlearned ſpectator would ſtop to ob⯑ſerve with admiration, one accuſtomed to the vi⯑ſitation of cabinets, would paſs over with diſdain. Theſe collections, however, have their uſe; not only by exhibiting the vaſt variety of Nature's operations, but alſo by exciting our curioſity to the conſideration of the animals that form them. A mind that can find innocent entertainment in theſe humble contemplations is well employed; and, as we ſay of children, is kept from doing miſchief. Although there may be nobler occu⯑pations than that conſidering the convolutions of a ſhell, yet there may be ſome who want the ambition to aſpire after ſuch arduous purſuits; there may be ſome unfit for them; there may be ſome who find their ambition fully gratified by the praiſe which the collectors of ſhells beſtow upon each other. Indeed, for a day or two, there is no mind that a cabinet of ſhells cannot furniſh with pleaſing employment. What can be more gratifying, as Pliny ſays^*, than to view Nature in all her irregularities, [12] and ſporting in her variety of ſhells! Such a dif⯑ference of colour do they exhibit; ſuch a dif⯑ference of figure; flat, concave, long, lunated, drawn round in a circle, the orbit cut in two; ſome are ſeen with a riſing on the back, ſome ſmooth, ſome wrinkled, toothed, ſtreaked, the point variouſly intorted, the mouth pointing like a dagger, folded back, bent inwards: all theſe variations, and many more, furniſh at once novelty, elegance, and ſpeculation.

With reſpect to the figure of ſhells, Ariſtotle has divided them into three kinds; and his method is, of all others, the moſt conformable to nature. Theſe are, firſt, the Univalve, or Turbinated, which conſiſt of one piece, like the box of a ſnail; ſecondly, the Bivalve, conſiſting of two pieces, united by a hinge, like an oyſter; and thirdly, the Multivalve, conſiſting of more than two pieces, as the acorn-ſhell, which has not leſs than twelve pieces that go to its compoſition. All theſe kinds are found in the ſea at different depths; and are valuable in proportion to their ſcarceneſs or beauty.

From the variety of the colours and figure of ſhells, we may paſs to that of their place and ſituation. Some are found in the ſea; ſome in freſh-water rivers; ſome alive upon land; and a ſtill greater quantity dead in the bowels of the [13] earth; But wherever ſhells are found, they are univerſally known to be compoſed of one and the ſame ſubſtance. They are formed of an ani⯑mal or calcarious earth, that ferments with vi⯑negar and other acids, and that burns into lime, and will not eaſily melt into glaſs. Such is the ſubſtance of which they are compoſed; and of their ſpoils, many philoſophers think that a great part of the ſurface of the earth is compoſed at preſent. It is ſuppoſed by them, that chalks, marles, and all ſuch earths as fer⯑ment with vinegar, are nothing more than a compoſition of ſhells, decayed, and crumbled down to one uniform maſs.

Sea-ſhells are either found in the depths of the ocean, or they are caſt empty and forſaken of their animals upon ſhore. Thoſe which are fiſhed up from the deep, are called by the Latin name Pelagii; thoſe that are caſt upon ſhore, are called Littorales. Many of the pelagii are never ſeen upon ſhore; they continue in the depths where they are bred; and we owe their capture only to accident. Theſe, there⯑fore, are the moſt ſcarce ſhells; and conſe⯑quently, the moſt valuable. The littorales are more frequent; and ſuch as are of the ſame kind with the pelagii are not ſo beautiful. As they are often empty and forſaken, and as [14] their animal is dead and perhaps putrid in the bottom of the ſhell, they by this means loſe the whiteneſs and the brilliancy of their colouring. They are not unfrequently alſo found eaten through, either by worms, or by each other; and they are thus rendered leſs valuable: but what decreaſes their price ſtill more is, when they are ſcaled and worn by lying too long empty at the bottom, or expoſed upon the ſhore. Upon the whole, however, ſea-ſhells exceed either land or foſſil ſhells in beauty; they receive the higheſt poliſh, and exhibit the moſt brilliant and various colouring.

Freſh-water ſhells are neither ſo numerous, ſo various, or ſo beautiful as thoſe belonging to the ſea. They want that ſolidity which the others have: their clavicle, as it is called, is neither ſo prominent nor ſo ſtrong; and not having a ſaline ſubſtance to tinge the ſurface of the ſhell, the colours are obſcure. In freſh-water there are but two kinds of ſhells; namely, the bivalved and the turbinated.

Living land ſhells are more beautiful, though not ſo various as thoſe of freſh-water; and ſome not inferior to ſea ſhells in beauty. They are indeed but of one kind, namely, the turbinated; but in that there are found four or five very beautiful varieties.

[15]Of foſſil, or, as they are called, extraneous ſhells, found in the bowels of the earth, there are great numbers, and as great a variety. In this claſs there are as many kinds as in the ſea itſelf. There are found the turbinated, the bi⯑valve, and the multivalve kinds; and of all theſe, many at preſent not to be found even in the ocean. Indeed, the number is ſo great, and the varieties ſo many, that it was long the opinion of naturaliſts, that they were merely the capricious productions of Nature, and had never given retreat to animals whoſe habitations they reſembled. They were found, not only of various kinds, but in different ſtates of pre⯑ſervation: ſome had the ſhell entire, compoſed, as in its primitive ſtate, of a white calcarious earth, and filled with earth, or even empty; others were found with the ſhell entire, but filled with a ſubſtance which was petrified by time; others, and theſe in great numbers, were found with the ſhell entirely mouldered away, but the petrified ſubſtance that filled it ſtill exhibiting the figure of the ſhell; others ſtill, that had been lodged near earth or ſtone, impreſſed their print upon theſe ſubſtances, and left the impreſſion, though they themſelves were de⯑cayed: laſtly, ſome ſhells were found half moul⯑dered away, their parts ſcaling off from each [16] other in the ſame order in which they were ori⯑ginally formed. However, theſe different ſtages of the ſhell, and even their fermenting with acids, were at firſt inſufficient to convince thoſe who had before aſſigned them a different origin. They were ſtill conſidered as accidentally and ſportively formed, and depoſited in the various repoſitories where they were found, but no way appertaining to any part of animated nature. This put ſucceeding enquirers upon more minute reſearches; and they ſoon began to find, that often where they dug up petrified ſhells or teeth, they could diſcover the petrified remains of ſome other bony parts of the body. They found that the ſhells which were taken from the earth, exhibited, the uſual defects and miſ⯑chances, which the ſame kind are known to receive at ſea. They ſhewed them not only tinctured with a ſalt water cruſt, but pierced in a peculiar manner by the ſea worms, that make the ſhells of fiſhes their favourite food. Theſe demonſtrations were ſufficient at laſt to convince all but a few philoſophers who died away, and whoſe erroneous ſyſtems died with them.

Every ſhell, therefore, wherever it is found, is now conſidered as the ſpoil of ſome animal, that once found ſhelter therein. It matters not by what unaccountable means they may [17] have wandered from the ſea; but they ex⯑hibit all, and the moſt certain marks of their origin. From their numbers and ſituation, we are led to conjecture, that the ſea reached the places where they are found; and from their varieties we learn how little we know of all the ſea contains at preſent; as the earth furniſhes many kinds which our moſt exact and induſtrious ſhell-collectors have not been able to fiſh up from the deep. It is moſt probable, that thouſands o [...] different forms ſtill remain at the bottom un⯑known; ſo that we may juſtly ſay with the phi⯑loſopher: ‘Ea quae ſcimus ſunt pars minima eorum quae ignoramus.’

It is well, however, for mankind, that the defect of our knowledge on this ſubject is, of all parts of learning, that which may be moſt eaſily diſpenſed with. An encreaſe in the number of ſhells, would throw but very few lights upon the hiſtory of the animals that inhabit them. For ſuch information we are obliged to thoſe men who contemplated ſomething more than the outſide of the objects before them. To Reaumur we are obliged for examining the manners of ſome with accuracy; but to Swam⯑merdam for more. In fact, this Dutchman has lent an attention to thoſe animals, that almoſt exceeds credibility: he has excelled even the [18] inſects he diſſected, in patience, induſtry, and perſeverance. It was in vain that this poor man's father diſſuaded him from what the world conſidered as a barren purſuit; it was in vain that an habitual diſorder, brought on by his application, interrupted his efforts; it was in vain that mankind treated him with ridicule while living, as they ſuffered his works to remain long unprinted and neglected when dead: ſtill the Dutch philoſopher went on, peeping into unwholſome ditches, wading through fens, diſſecting ſpiders, and enume⯑rating the blood-veſſels of a ſnail: like the bee, whoſe heart he could not only diſtinguiſh, but diſſect, he ſeemed inſtinctively impelled by his ruling paſſion, although he found nothing but ingratitude from man, and though his in⯑duſtry was apparently becoming fatal to him⯑ſelf. From him I will take ſome of the leading features in the hiſtory of thoſe animals which breed in ſhells; previouſly taking my diviſion from Ariſtotle, who, as was ſaid above, divides them into three claſſes: the Turbinated, or thoſe of the Snail Kind; the Bivalved, or thoſe of the Oyſter Kind; and the Multivalved, or thoſe of the A corn-ſhell Kind. Of each I will treat in diſtinct chapters.

CHAP. II. Of Turbinated Shell-Fiſh of the Snail Kind.

[19] TO conceive the manner in which thoſe ani⯑mals ſubſiſt that are hid from us at the bottom of the deep, we muſt again have recourſe to one of a ſimilar nature and formation, that we know. The hiſtory of the garden-ſnail has been more copiouſly conſidered than that of the ele⯑phant; and its anatomy is as well, if not better known: however, not to give any one object more room in the general picture of Nature than it is entitled to, it will be ſufficient to ob⯑ſerve, that the ſnail is ſurprizingly fitted for the life it is formed to lead. It is furniſhed with the organs of life in a manner almoſt as com⯑plete as the largeſt animal; with a tongue, brain, ſalival ducts, glands, nerves, ſtomach and in⯑teſtines; liver, heart and blood-veſſels: beſides this, it has a purple bag that furniſhes a red matter to different parts of the body, together with ſtrong muſcles that hold it to the ſhell, and which are hardened, like tendons, at their inſertion.

But theſe it poſſeſſes in common with other animals. We muſt now ſee what it has peculiar [20] to itſelf. The firſt ſtriking peculiarity is, that the animal has got its eyes on the points of its largeſt horns. When the ſnail is in motion, four horns are diſtinctly ſeen; but the two up⯑permoſt and longeſt deſerve peculiar conſi⯑deration, both on account of the various mo⯑tions with which they are endued, as well as their having their eyes fixed at the extreme ends of them. Theſe appear like two blackiſh points at their ends. When conſidered as taken out of the body, they are of a bulbous or tur⯑nip-like figure; they have but one coat; and the three humours which are common in the eyes of other animals, namely, the vitreous, the aqueous and the chryſtalline, are in theſe very indiſtinctly ſeen. The eyes the animal can direct to different objects at pleaſure, by a regular motion out of the body; and ſome⯑times it hides them, by a very ſwift con⯑traction into the belly. Under the ſmall horns is the animal's mouth; and though it may ap⯑pear too ſoft a ſubſtance to be furniſhed with teeth, yet it has not leſs than eight of them, with which it devours leaves, and other ſub⯑ſtances, ſeemingly harder than itſelf; and with which it ſometimes bites off pieces of its own ſhell.

But what is moſt ſurprizing in the formation of this animal, are the parts that ſerve for ge⯑neration. [21] Every ſnail is at once male and female; and while it impregnates another, is itſelf impregnated in turn. The veſſels ſup⯑plying the fluid for this purpoſe, are placed chiefly in the fore part of the neck, and extend themſelves over the body; but the male and female organs of generation, are always found united, and growing together. There is a large opening on the right ſide of the neck, which ſerves for very different purpoſes. As an anus it gives a paſſage to the excrements; as a mouth it ſerves for an opening for reſpiration; and alſo as an organ of generation, it dilates when the deſire of propagation begins. Within this each animal has thoſe parts, or ſomething ſimilar thereto, which continue the kind.

For ſome days before coition, the ſnails gather together, and lie quiet near each other, eating very little in the mean time; but they ſettle their bodies in ſuch a poſture, that the neck and head are placed upright. In the mean time, the apertures on the ſide of the neck being greatly dilated, two organs, reſem⯑bling inteſtines, are ſeen iſſuing from them, which ſome have thought to be the inſtruments of generation. Beſide the protruſion of theſe, each animal is poſſeſſed of another peculiarity; for, from the ſame aperture, they launch forth [22] a kind of dart at each other, which is pretty hard, barbed, and ending in a very ſharp point. This is performed when the apertures approach each other; and then the one is ſeen to ſhoot its weapon, which is received by the other, though it ſometimes falls to the ground: ſome minutes after, the ſnail which received the weapon, darts one of its own at its antagoniſt, which is received in like manner. They then ſoftly ap⯑proach ſtill nearer, and apply their bodies one to the other, as cloſely as the palms and fingers of the hands, when graſped together. At that time the horns are ſeen variouſly moving in all directions; and this ſometimes for three days together. The coupling of theſe animals is generally thrice repeated, at intervals of fif⯑teen days each; and, at every time, a new dart is mutually emitted.

At the expiration of eighteen days, the ſnails produce their eggs, at the opening of the neck, and hide them in the earth with the greateſt ſolicitude and induſtry. Theſe eggs are in great numbers, round, white, and covered with a ſoft ſhell: they are alſo ſtuck to each other by an imperceptible ſlime, like a bunch of grapes, of about the ſize of a ſmall pea.

When the animal leaves the egg, it is ſeen with a very ſmall ſhell on its back, which has but one convolution; but in proportion as it [23] grows, the ſhell encreaſes in the number of its circles. The ſhell always receives its additions at the mouth; the firſt centre ſtill remaining: the animal ſending forth from its body that ſlime which hardens into a ſtony ſubſtance, and ſtill is faſhioned into ſimilar volutions. The garden ſnail ſeldom exceeds four rounds and an half; but ſome of the ſea ſnails arrive even at ten.

The ſnail, thus fitted with its box, which is light and firm, finds itſelf defended in a very ample manner from all external injury. When⯑ever it is invaded, it is but retiring into this fortreſs, and waiting patiently till the danger is over. Nor is it poſſeſſed only of a power of retreating into its ſhell; but of mending it when broken. Sometimes theſe animals are cruſhed ſeemingly to pieces; and, to all appearance, utterly deſtroyed: yet ſtill they ſet themſelves to work, and, in a few days, mend all their numerous breaches. The ſame ſubſtance by which the ſhell is originally made, goes to the re-eſtabliſhment of the ruined habitation. But all the junctures are very eaſily ſeen, for they have a freſher colour than the reſt, and the whole ſhell in ſome meaſure reſembles an old coat, patched with new pieces. They are ſometimes ſeen with eight or ten of theſe patches; ſo that [24] the damage muſt have been apparently irrepa⯑rable. Still, however, though the animal is poſſeſſed of the power of mending its ſhell, it cannot, when come to its full growth, make a new one. Swammerdam tried the experiment: he ſtripped a ſnail of its ſhell, without hurting any of the blood-veſſels, retaining that part of the ſhell where the muſcles were inſerted; but it died in three days after it was ſtripped of its covering: not, however, without making efforts to build up a new ſhell; for, before its death, it preſſed out a certain membrane round the whole ſurface of its body. This membrane was entirely of the ſhelly nature; and was intended, by the animal, as a ſupply towards a new one.

As the ſnail is furniſhed with all the organs of life and ſenſation, it is not wonderful to ſee it very voracious. It chiefly ſubſiſts upon the leaves of plants and trees; but is very delicate in its choice. When the animal moves to ſeek its food, it goes forward by means of that broad muſcular ſkin which ſometimes is ſeen pro⯑jecting round the mouth of the ſhell; this is expanded before, and then contracted with a kind of undulating motion, like a man at⯑tempting to move himſelf forward by one arm, while lying on his belly. But the ſnail has ano⯑ther advantage, by which it not only ſmooths and planes its way, but alſo can aſcend in the [25] moſt perpendicular direction. This is by that ſlimy ſubſtance with which it is ſo copiouſly fur⯑niſhed, and which it emits wherever it moves. Upon this ſlime, as upon a kind of carpet, it proceeds ſlowly along, without any danger of wounding its tender body againſt the aſperities of the pavement; by means of this it moves upwards to its food upon trees; and by this deſcends, without danger of falling, and breaking its ſhell by the ſhock.

The appetite of theſe animals is very great; and the damage gardeners in particular ſuſtain from them, makes them employ every method for their deſtruction. Salt will deſtroy them, as well as ſoot; but a tortoiſe in a garden, is ſaid to baniſh them much more effectually.

At the approach of winter, the ſnail buries itſelf in the earth; or retires to ſome hole, to continue in a torpid ſtate, during the ſeverity of the ſeaſon. It is ſometimes ſeen alone; but more frequently in company in its retreat; ſeveral being uſually found together, appa⯑rently deprived of life and ſenſation. For the purpoſes of continuing in greater warmth and ſecurity, the ſnail forms a cover or lid to the mouth of its ſhell with its ſlime, which ſtops it up entirely, and thus protects it from every external danger. The matter of [26] which the cover is compoſed, is whitiſh, ſome⯑what like plaiſter, pretty hard and ſolid, yet at the ſame time porous and thin, to admit air, which the animal cannot live without. When the cover is formed too thick, the ſnail then breaks a little hole in it, which corrects the de⯑fect of that cloſeneſs, which proceeded from too much caution. In this manner, ſheltered in its hole from the weather, defended in its ſhell by a cover, it ſleeps during the winter; and, for ſix or ſeven months, continues without food or motion, until the genial call of ſpring breaks its ſlumber, and excites its activity.

The ſnail, having ſlept for ſo long a ſeaſon, wakes one of the firſt fine days of April; breaks open its cell, and ſallies forth to ſeek for nou⯑riſhment. It is not ſurprizing that ſo long a faſt ſhould have thinned it, and rendered it very voracious. At firſt, therefore, it is not very difficult in the choice of its food; almoſt any vegetable that is green, ſeems welcome; but the ſucculent plants of the garden are chiefly grateful; and the various kind of pulſe are, at ſome ſeaſons, almoſt wholly deſtroyed by their numbers. So great is the multiplication of ſnails at ſome years, that gardeners imagine they burſt from the earth. A wet ſeaſon is generally fa⯑vourable to their production; for this animal [27] cannot bear very dry ſeaſons, or dry places, as they cauſe too great a conſumption of its ſlime, without plenty of which it cannot ſubſiſt in health and vigour.

Such are the moſt ſtriking particulars in the hiſtory of this animal; and this may ſerve as a general picture, to which the manners and ha⯑bitudes of the other tribes of this claſs may be compared and referred. Theſe are, the ſea ſnail, of which naturaliſts have, from the apparent dif⯑ference of their ſhells, mentioned fifteen kinds^*; the freſh-water ſnail, of which there are eight kinds; and the land-ſnail, of which there are five. Theſe all bear a ſtrong reſemblance to the garden ſnail, in the formation of their ſhell, in their hermaphrodite natures, in the ſlimy ſubſtance with which they are covered, in the formation of their inteſtines, and the diſpoſition of the hole on the right ſide of the neck, which ſerves at once for the diſcharge of the faeces, for the lodging the inſtruments of generation, and for reſpiration, when the animal is under a neceſſity of taking in a new ſupply.

But in Nature, no two kinds of animals, however like each other in figure or conform⯑ation, are of manners entirely the ſame. Though the common garden ſnail bears a very ſtrong [28] reſemblance to that of freſh-water, and that of the ſea, yet there are differences to be found, and thoſe very conſiderable ones.

If we compare them with the freſh-water ſnail, though we ſhall find a general reſemblance, yet there are one or two remarkable diſtinctions: and firſt, the freſh-water ſnail, and, as I ſhould ſuppoſe, all ſnails that live in water, are pecu⯑liarly furniſhed with a contrivance by Nature, for riſing to the ſurface, or ſinking to the bot⯑tom. The manner in which this is performed, is by opening and ſhutting the orifice on the right ſide of the neck, which is furniſhed with muſcles for that purpoſe. The ſnail ſometimes gathers this aperture into an oblong tube, and ſtretches or portends it above the ſurface of the water, in order to draw in or expel the air, as it finds occaſion. This may not only be ſeen, but heard alſo by the noiſe which the ſnail makes in moving the water. By dilating this it riſes; by compreſſing it, the animal ſinks to the bot⯑tom. This is effected ſomewhat in the manner in which little images of glaſs are made to riſe or ſink in water, by preſſing the air contained at the mouth of the tubes, ſo that it ſhall drive the water into their hollow bodies, which before were filled only with air, and thus make them heavier than the element in which they ſwim. [29] In this manner does the freſh-water ſnail dive or ſwim, by properly managing the air con⯑tained in its body.

But what renders theſe animals far more worthy of notice is, that they are viviparous, and bring forth their young not only alive, but with their ſhells upon their backs. This ſeems ſurprizing; yet it is inconteſtably true: the young come to ſome degree of perfection in the womb of the parent; there they receive their ſtony coat; and from thence are excluded, with a complete apparatus for ſubſiſtence.

‘"On the twelfth of March," ſays Swam⯑merdam, "I began my obſervations upon this ſnail, and collected a great number of the kind, which I put into a large baſon filled with rain-water, and fed for a long time with pot⯑ter's earth, diſſolved in the water about them. On the thirteenth of the ſame month I opened one of theſe ſnails, when I found nine living ſnails in its womb: the largeſt of theſe were placed foremoſt, as the firſt candidates for excluſion. I put them into freſh-water, and they lived to the eighteenth of the ſame month, moving and ſwimming, like ſnails full grown: nay their manner of ſwimming was much more beautiful."’ Thus, at what⯑ever time of the year theſe ſnails are opened, [30] they are ſound pregnant with eggs, or with living ſnails; or with both together.

This ſtriking difference between the freſh-water and the garden ſnail, obtains alſo in ſome of the ſea kind; among which there are ſome that are found viviparous, while others lay eggs in the uſual manner. Of this kind are one or two of the Buccinums; within which living young have been frequently found, upon their diſſection. In general, however, the reſt of this numerous claſs bring forth eggs; from whence the animal burſts at a proper ſtate of maturity, completely equipped with an houſe, which the moiſtneſs of the element where it reſides does not prevent the inhabitant from enlarging. How the ſoft ſlime of the ſnail hardens, at the bottom of the ſea, into the ſtony ſubſtance of a ſhell, is not eaſy to conceive! This ſlime muſt at leaſt be poſſeſſed of very powerful petrifying powers.

All animals of the ſnail kind, as was ob⯑ſerved before, are hermaphrodites; each con⯑taining the inſtruments of generation double. But ſome of the ſea kinds copulate in a different manner from thoſe of the garden. The one im⯑pregnates the other; but, from the poſition of the parts, is incapable of being impregnated by the ſame in turn. For this reaſon it is ne⯑ceſſary [31] for a third to be admitted as a partner in this operation: ſo that, while one impreg⯑nates that before it, another does the ſame office by this; which is itſelf impregnated by a fourth. In this manner, Mr. Adanſon has ſeen vaſt numbers of ſea ſnails, united to⯑gether in a chain, impregnating each other. The bulin and the coret perform the offices of male and female at the ſame time. The orifices in theſe are two, both ſeparate from each other: the opening by which the animal performs the office of the male, being at the origin of the horns; that by which it is paſſive, as the female, being farther down upon the neck. It may alſo be obſerved as a general rule, that all animals that have this orifice, or verge, as ſome call it, on the right ſide, have their ſhells turned from the right to the left; on the contrary, thoſe which have it on the left ſide, have their ſhells turned from left to right, in a contrary direction to the former.

But this is not the only difference between land and ſea ſnails. Many of the latter en⯑tirely want horns; and none of them have above two. Indeed, if the horns of ſnails be fur⯑niſhed with eyes, and if, as ſome are willing to think, the length of the horn, like the tube of a teleſcope, aſſiſts viſion, theſe animals, that [32] chiefly reſide in the gloomy bottom of the deep, can have no great occaſion for them. Eyes would be unneceſſary to creatures whoſe food is uſually concealed in the darkeſt places; and who, poſſeſſed of very little motion, are obliged to grope for what they ſubſiſt on. To ſuch, I ſay, eyes would rather be an obſtruction than an advantage; and perhaps even thoſe that live upon land are without them!

Thoſe that have ſeen the ſhells of ſea ſnails, need not be told that the animal which produces them is larger than thoſe of the ſame denomi⯑nation upon land. The ſea ſeems to have the property of enlarging the magnitude of all its inhabitants; and the ſame proportion that a trout bears to a ſhark, is often ſeen to obtain between a ſhell bred upon the land, and one bred in the ocean. Its convolutions are more numerous. The garden ſnail has but five turns at the moſt; in the ſea ſnail the convolutions are ſometimes ſeen amounting to ten.

There is a difference alſo in the poſition of the mouth, in the garden and the water ſnail. In the former, the mouth is placed croſswiſe, as in quadrupedes; furniſhed with jaw-bones, lips and teeth. In moſt of the ſea ſnails, the mouth is placed longitudinally in the head; [33] and, in ſome, obliquely, or on one ſide. Others, of the Trochus kind, have no mouth whatſoever; but are furniſhed with a trunk, very long in ſome kinds, and ſhorter in others.

Snails of the Trochus kind, furniſhed thus with an inſtrument of offence, deſerve our par⯑ticular attention. The trunk of the Trochus is fleſhy, muſcular, ſupple, and hollow. Its extremity is bordered with a cartilage, and toothed like a ſaw. The ſnails that are pro⯑vided with this, may be conſidered as the pre⯑dacious tribe, among their fellows of the bottom. They are, among ſnails, what the tiger, the eagle or the ſhark is among beaſts, birds or fiſhes. The whole race of ſhelled animals avoid their approach; for their habitations, however powerfully and ſtrongly built, though never ſo well fortified, yield to the ſuperior force of theſe invaders. Though provided with a thick clumſy ſhell themſelves, yet they move with greater ſwiftneſs at the bottom than moſt other ſhell fiſh; and ſeize their prey with greater facility. No ſhell ſo large but they will boldly venture to attack; and, with their piercing augre-like trunk, will quickly bore it through. No efforts the other animal makes can avail: it expands itſelf, and riſes to the ſurface; but the enemy riſes with it: it again ſinks to the [34] bottom, but ſtill its deſtroyer cloſely adheres. In this manner the carnivorous ſhell-fiſh, as ſome naturaliſts call it, ſticks for ſeveral days, nay weeks, to its prey, until, with its trunk, it has ſucked out all ſubſtance, or until it drops off when the other begins to putrefy.

Thus it would ſeem throughout nature, that no animal is ſo well defended, but that others are found capable of breaking in upon its entrenchments. The garden ſnail ſeems tolerably well guarded; but the wall of its ſhell is paper itſelf, in compariſon with that which fortifies ſome of the ſea ſnail kind. Beſide this thick ſhell, many of them are alſo furniſhed with a lid, which covers the mouth of the ſhell, and which opens and ſhuts at the animal's pleaſure. When the creature hunts for food, it opens its box, gropes or ſwims about; and, when ſatisfied, drops its lid and ſinks to the bottom: there it might be ſuppoſed to remain in perfect ſecurity; but the trochus ſoon finds the way to break into the thickeſt part of its encloſure, and quickly deſtroys it with the moſt fatal induſtry.

The being liable to the attacks of the trochus ſeems to be a calamity to which moſt of this tribe are ſubject. Scarce a ſhell is met with entire and ſound to the end of its convolutions; but particularly the thinneſt ſhells are the moſt [35] ſubject to be thus invaded. As their ſhells are eaſily pierced, the predatory ſhell-fiſh, or the ſea-worm, chiefly ſeek them for ſubſiſtence; and of thoſe thin paper-like ſhells, not one in an hundred is found that has not ſuffered ſome diſaſter. As they are lighter than other ſhell-fiſh, they ſwim with greater eaſe; and this is the chief method of avoiding their heavier thick ſhelled purſuers. The food of all ſnails properly lies at the bottom; when, therefore, the nau⯑tilus, or other thin ſhelled fiſh, are ſeen buſily ſwimming at the ſurface, it may be, that, inſtead of ſporting or ſunning themſelves, as ſome are apt to ſuppoſe, they are actually labour⯑ing to eſcape their moſt deadly purſuers.

Of all ſea ſnails, that which is moſt frequently ſeen ſwimming upon the ſurface, and whoſe ſhell is the thinneſt and moſt eaſily pierced, is the Nautilus. Whether, upon theſe occaſions, it is employed in eſcaping its numerous enemies at the bottom, or ſeeking for food at the ſur⯑face, I will not venture to decide. It ſeems moſt probable, that the former is the cauſe of its frequently appearing; for, upon opening the ſtomach, it is found to contain chiefly that food which it finds at the bottom. This ani⯑mal's induſtry, therefore, may be owing to its [36] fears; and all thoſe arts of ſailing, which it has taught mankind, may have been originally the product of neceſſity. But the nautilus is too fa⯑mous not to demand a more ample deſcription.

Although there be ſeveral ſpecies of the nau⯑tilus, yet they all may be divided into two: the one with a white ſhell, as thin as paper, which it often is ſeen to quit, and again to reſume; the other with a thicker ſhell, ſome⯑times of a beautiful mother-of-pearl colour, and that quits its ſhell but rarely. This ſhell out⯑wardly reſembles that of a large ſnail, but is generally ſix or eight inches acroſs: within, it is divided into forty partitions, that commu⯑nicate with each other by doors, if I may ſo call them, through which one could not thruſt a gooſe-quill: almoſt the whole internal part of the ſhell is filled by the animal; the body of which, like its habitation, is divided into as many parts as there are chambers in its ſhell: all the parts of its body communicate with each other, through the doors or openings, by a long blood-veſſel, which runs from the head to the tail: thus the body of the animal, if taken out of the ſhell, may be likened to a number of ſoft bits of fleſh, of which there are forty, threaded upon a ſtring. From this extraordinary conformation, one would not be apt to ſuppoſe [37] that the nautilus ſometimes quitted its ſhell, and returned to it again; yet nothing, though ſeemingly more impoſſible, is more certain. The manner by which it contrives to diſengage every part of its body from ſo intricate an ha⯑bitation; by which it makes a ſubſtance, to ap⯑pearance as thick as one's wriſt, paſs through forty doors, each of which would ſcarcely admit a gooſe-quill, is not yet diſcovered: but the fact is certain; for the animal is often found without its ſhell; and the ſhell more frequently deſtitute of the animal. It is moſt probable, that it has a power of making the ſubſtance of one ſection of its body remove up into that which is next; and thus, by multiplied removals, it gets free.

But this, though very ſtrange, is not the pe⯑culiarity for which the nautilus has been the moſt diſtinguiſhed. Its ſpreading the thin oar, and catching the flying gale, to uſe the poet's deſcription of it, has chiefly excited human cu⯑rioſity. Theſe animals, particularly thoſe of the white, light kind, are chiefly found in the Me⯑diterranean; and ſcarce any who have ſailed on that ſea, but muſt often have ſeen them. When the ſea is calm, they are obſerved floating on the ſurface; ſome ſpreading their little ſail; [38] ſome rowing with their feet, as if for life and death; and others ſtill, floating upon their mouths, like a ſhip with the keel upward. If taken while thus employed, and examined, the extraordinary mechaniſm of their limbs for ſailing will appear more manifeſt. The nau⯑tilus is furniſhed with eight feet, which iſſue near the mouth, and may as properly be called barbs: theſe are connected to each other by a thin ſkin, like that between the toes of a duck, but much thinner and more tranſparent. Of theſe eight feet thus connected, ſix are ſhort, and theſe are held up as ſails to catch the wind in ſailing: the two others are longer, and are kept in the water; ſerving, like paddles, to ſteer their courſe by. When the weather is quite calm, and the animal is purſued from below, it is then ſeen expanding only a part of its ſail, and rowing with the reſt: whenever it is inter⯑rupted, or fears danger from above, it inſtantly furls the ſail, catches in all its oars, turns its ſhell mouth downward, and inſtantly ſinks to the bottom. Sometimes alſo it is ſeen pumping the water from its leaking hulk; and, when unfit for ſailing, deſerts its ſhell entirely. The forſaken hulk is ſeen floating along, till it daſhes, by a kind of ſhipwreck, upon the rocks or the ſhore.

[39]From the above deſcription, I think we may con⯑ſider this animal rather as attempting to ſave itſelf from the attacks of its deſtroyers, than as rowing in purſuit of food. Certain it is, that no creature of the deep has more numerous and more powerful enemies. Its ſhell is ſcarcely ever found in perfect preſervation; but is generally ſeen to bear ſome marks of hoſtile invaſion. Its little arts, therefore, upon the ſurface of the water, may have been given it for pro⯑tection; and it may be thus endued with com⯑parative ſwiftneſs, to avoid the crab, the ſea-ſcorpion, the trochus, and all the ſlower pre⯑dacious reptiles that lurk for it at the bottom of the water.

From this general view of ſnails, they appear to be a much more active, animated tribe, than from their figure one would at firſt con⯑ceive. They ſeem, to an inattentive ſpectator, as mere inert maſſes of ſoft fleſh, rather loaded than covered with a ſhell, ſcarcely capable of motion, and inſenſible to all the objects around them. When viewed more cloſely, they are found to be furniſhed with the organs of life and ſenſation in tolerable perfection: they are de⯑fended with armour, that is at once both light and ſtrong; they are as active as their neceſſities [40] require; and are poſſeſſed of appetites more poignant than thoſe of animals that ſeem much more perfectly formed. In ſhort, they are a fruitful induſtrious tribe; furniſhed, like all other animals, with the powers of eſcape and invaſion; they have their purſuits and their enmities; and, of all creatures of the deep, they have moſt to fear from each other.

CHAP. III. Of Bivalved Shell-Fiſh, or Shells of the Oyſter Kind.

IT may ſeem whimſical to make a diſtinction between the animal perfections of turbinated and bivalved ſhell-fiſh, or to grant a degree of ſu⯑periority to the ſnail above the oyſter. Yet this diſtinction ſtrongly and apparently obtains in nature; and we ſhall find the bivalved tribe of animals in every reſpect inferior to thoſe we have been deſcribing. Inferior in all their ſen⯑ſations; inferior in their powers of motion; but particularly inferior in their ſyſtem of animal generation. The ſnail tribe, as we ſaw, are hermaphrodite, but require the aſſiſtance of each other for fecundation; all the bivalve tribe are hermaphrodite in like manner, but they require no aſſiſtance from each other towards impregnation; and a ſingle muſcle or oyſter, if there were no other in the world, would quickly repleniſh the ocean. As the land ſnail from its being beſt known took the lead in the former claſs, ſo the freſh-water muſcle, for the ſame reaſon, may take lead in this. The life and manners of ſuch as belong to the ſea will be beſt diſplayed in the compariſon.

[42]The muſcle, as is well known, whether be⯑longing to freſh or ſalt-water, conſiſts of two equal ſhells, joined at the back by a ſtrong muſcular ligament that anſwers all the purpoſes of an hinge. By the elaſtic contraction of theſe, the animal can open its ſhells at pleaſure, about a quarter of an inch from each other. The fiſh is fixed to either ſhell by four tendons, by means of which it ſhuts them cloſe, and keeps its body firm from being cruſhed by any ſhock againſt the walls of its own habitation. It is furniſhed, like all other animals of this kind, with vital organs, though theſe are ſituated in a very extraordinary manner. It has a mouth furniſhed with two fleſhy lips; its inteſtine begins at the bottom of the mouth, paſſes through the brain, and makes a number of cir⯑cumvolutions through the liver; on leaving this organ, it goes on ſtraight into the heart, which it penetrates, and ends in the anus; near which the lungs are placed, and through which it breathes, like thoſe of the ſnail kind; and in this manner its languid circulation is carried on^*.

But the organs of generation are what moſt deſerve to excite our curioſity. Theſe conſiſt in each muſcle of two ovaries, which are the fe⯑male part of its furniture, and of two ſeminal [43] veſſels reſembling what are found in the male. Each ovary and each ſeminal veſſel has its own proper canal; by the ovary canal the eggs de⯑ſcend to the anus; and there alſo the ſeminal canals ſend their fluids to impregnate them. By this contrivance, one ſingle animal ſuffices for the double purpoſes of generation; and the eggs are excluded and impregnated by itſelf alone.

As the muſcle is thus furniſhed with a kind of ſelf-creating power, there are few places where it breeds that it is not found in great abundance. The ovaries uſually empty them⯑ſelves of their eggs in ſpring, and they are re⯑pleniſhed in autumn. For this reaſon they are found empty in ſummer and full in winter. They produce in great numbers, as all bivalved ſhell-fiſh are found to do. The fecundity of the ſnail kind is trifling in compariſon to the fertility of theſe. Indeed it may be aſſerted as a general rule in nature, that the more helpleſs and contemptible the animal, the more prolific it is always found. Thus all creatures that are in⯑capable of reſiſting their deſtroyers, have nothing but their quick multiplication, for the conti⯑nuation of their exiſtence.

The multitude of theſe animals in ſome places is very great; but, from their defencelefs ſtate, [44] the number of their deſtroyers are in equal proportion. The crab, the cray-fiſh, and many other animals, are ſeen to devour them; but the trochus is their moſt formidable enemy. When their ſhells are found deſerted, if we then obſerve cloſely, it is moſt probable we ſhall find that the trochus has been at work in piercing them. There is ſcarce one of them without a hole in it; and this probably was the avenue by which the enemy entered to deſtroy the inhabitant.

But notwithſtanding the number of this crea⯑ture's animated enemies, it ſeems ſtill more fearful of the agitations of the element in which it reſides; for if daſhed againſt rocks, or thrown far on the beach, it is deſtroyed without a power of redreſs. In order to guard againſt theſe, which are to this animal the commoneſt and the moſt fatal accidents, although it has a power of ſlow motion, which I ſhall preſently deſcribe, yet it endeavours to become ſtationary, and to attach itſelf to any fixed object it happens to be near. For this purpoſe it is furniſhed with a very ſingular capacity of binding itſelf by a number of threads to whatever object it approaches; and theſe Reaumur ſuppoſed it ſpun artificially, as ſpiders their webs which they faſten againſt a wall. Of this however, latter [45] philoſophers have found very great reaſon to doubt. It is therefore ſuppoſed that theſe threads, which are uſually called the beard of the muſcle, are the natural growth of the animal's body, and by no means produced at pleaſure. Indeed, the extreme length of this beard in ſome, which far exceeds the length of the body, ſeems impoſſible to be manufactured by the thruſting out and drawing in of the tongue, with the glutinous matter of which the French philoſopher ſuppoſed thoſe threads were form⯑ed. It is even found to encreaſe with the growth of the animal; and as the muſcle be⯑comes larger and older, the beard becomes longer and its filaments more ſtrong^*. Be this as it will, nothing is more certain than that the muſcle is found attached by theſe threads to every fixed object; ſometimes, indeed, for want of ſuch an object, theſe animals are found united to each other; and though thrown into a lake ſeparately, they are taken out in bunches of many together.

To have ſome fixed reſting place where the muſcle can continue, and take in its accidental food, ſeems the ſtate that this animal chiefly deſires. Its inſtrument of motion, by which [46] it contrives to reach the object it wants to bind itſelf to, is that muſcular ſubſtance reſembling a tongue, which is found long in proportion to the ſize of the muſcle. In ſome it is two inches long, in others not a third part of theſe dimen⯑ſions. This the animal has a power of thruſting out of its ſhell; and with this it is capable of making a ſlight furrow in the ſand at the bottom. By means of this furrow it can erect itſelf upon the edge of its ſhell; and thus continuing to make the furrow in proportion as it goes for⯑ward, it reaches out its tongue, that anſwers the purpoſe of an arm, and thus carries its ſhell edge-ways, as in a grove, until it reaches the point intended. There where it determines to take up its reſidence it fixes the ends of its beard, which are glutinous, to the rock or the object, whatever it be; and thus, like a ſhip at anchor, braves all the agitations of the water. Sometimes the animal is attached by a large number of threads; ſometimes but by three or four, that ſeem ſcarce able to retain it. When the muſcle is fixed in this manner, it lives upon the little earthy particles that the water tranſ⯑ports to its ſhells, and perhaps the fleſh of the moſt diminutive animals. However, it does not fail to grow conſiderably; and ſome of this kind have been found a foot long. I have ſeen [47] the beards a foot and an half; and of this ſub⯑ſtance the natives of Palermo ſometimes make gloves and ſtockings.

Theſe ſhell-fiſh are found in lakes, rivers, and in the ſea. Thoſe of the lake often grow to a very large ſize; but they ſeem a ſolitary animal, and are found generally ſeparate from each other. Thoſe of rivers are not ſo large, but yet in greater abundance; but the ſea muſcle of all others is perhaps the moſt plenty. Theſe are often bred artificially in ſalt-water marſhes that are overflowed by the tide; the fiſhermen throwing them in at the proper ſeaſons; and there being undiſturbed by the agitations of the ſea, and not preyed upon by their powerful enemies at the bottom, they caſt their eggs, which ſoon become perfect animals, and theſe are generally found in cluſters of ſeveral dozen together. It requires a year for the peopling a muſcle-bed; ſo that, if the number conſiſts of forty thouſand, a tenth part may annually be left for the peopling the bed anew. Muſcles are taken from their beds from the month of July to October; and they are ſold at a very moderate price.

From this animal the oyſter differs very little, except in the thickneſs of its ſhell, and its greater imbecility. The oyſter, like the muſcle, [48] is formed with organs of life and reſpiration, with inteſtines which are very voluminous, a liver, lungs, and heart. Like the muſcle, it is ſelf-impregnated; and the ſhell, which the animal ſoon acquires, ſerves it for its future habitation. Like the muſcle, it opens its ſhell to receive the influx of water; and like that animal is ſtrongly attached to its ſhells both above and below.

But it differs in many particulars. In the firſt place its ſhells are not equal, the one being cupped, the other flat; upon the cupped ſhell it is always ſeen to reſt; for if it lay upon the flat ſide it would then loſe all its water. It differs alſo in the thickneſs of its ſhells, which are ſo ſtrongly lined and defended, that no animal will attempt to pierce them. But though the oyſter be ſecured from the attacks of the ſmall reptiles at the bottom, yet it often ſerves as an object to which they are attached. Pipe⯑worms and other little animals fix their habi⯑tation to the oyſter's ſides, and in this manner continue to live in ſecurity. Among the number of theſe is a little red worm, that is often found upon the ſhell; which ſome, from never ſeeing oyſters copulate, erroneouſly ſuppoſed to be the male by which their ſpawn was impregnated.

The oyſter differs alſo from the muſcle in [49] being utterly unable to change its ſituation. The muſcle, as we have obſerved, is capable of erecting itſelf on an edge, and going forward with a ſlow laborious motion. The oyſter is wholly paſſive, and endeavours by all its powers to reſt fixed to one ſpot at the bottom. It is entirely without that tongue which we ſaw an⯑ſwering the purpoſes of an arm in the other animal; but nevertheleſs is often attached very firmly to any object it happens to approach. Rocks, ſtones, pieces of timber, or ſea-weeds, all ſeem proper to give it a fixture, and to ſe⯑cure it againſt the agitation of the waves. Nothing ſo common in the rivers of the tropical climates as to ſee oyſters growing even amidſt the branches of the foreſt. Many trees which grow along the banks of the ſtream often bend their branches into the water, and particularly the mangrove, which chiefly delights in a moiſt ſituation. To theſe the oyſters hang in cluſters, like apples upon the moſt fertile tree; and in proportion as the weight of the fiſh ſinks the plant into the water, where it ſtill continues growing, the number of oyſters encreaſe, and hang upon the branches. Thus there is nothing that theſe ſhell fiſh will not ſtick to; they are often even found to ſtick to each other. This is effected by means of a glue proper to [50] themſelves, which, when it cements, the join⯑ing is as hard as the ſhell, and is as diffi⯑cultly broken. The joining ſubſtance, however, is not always of glue; but the animal grows to the rocks, ſomewhat like the muſcle, by threads; although theſe are only ſeen to take root in the ſhell, and not, as in the muſcle, to ſpring from the body of the fiſh itſelf.

Oyſters uſually caſt their ſpawn in May, which at firſt appear like drops of candle-greaſe, and ſtick to any hard ſubſtance they fall upon. Theſe are covered with a ſhell in two or three days; and in three years the animal is large enough to be brought to market. As they invariably remain in the places where they are laid, and as they grow without any other ſeeming food than the afflux of ſea-water, it is the cuſtom at Colcheſter, and other parts of the kingdom, where the tide ſettles in marſhes on land, to pick up great quantities of ſmall oyſters along the ſhore, which when firſt gathered ſeldom exceed the ſize of a ſixpence. Theſe are depoſited in beds where the tide comes in, and in two or three years grow to a tolerable ſize. They are ſaid to be better taſted for being thus ſheltered from the agitations of the deep; and a mixture of freſh-water en⯑tering into theſe repoſitories, is ſaid to improve [51] their flavour, and to encreaſe their growth and fatneſs.

The oyſters, however, which are prepared in this manner, are by no means ſo large as thoſe found ſticking to rocks at the bottom of the ſea, uſually called rock-oyſters. Theſe are ſometimes found as broad as a plate, and are admired by ſome as excellent food. But what is the ſize of theſe compared to the oyſters of the Eaſt-Indies, ſome of whoſe ſhells I have ſeen two feet over! The oyſters found along the coaſt of Coromandel are capable of furniſhing a plentiful meal to eight or ten men; but it ſeems univerſally agreed that they are no way comparable to ours for delicacy or flavour.

Thus the muſcle and the oyſter appear to have but few diſtinctions except in their ſhape and the power of motion in the former. Other bivalved ſhell-fiſh, ſuch as the cockle, the ſcal⯑lop, and the razor ſhell, have differences equally minute. The power of changing place, which ſome of them effect in a manner quite peculiar to themſelves, makes their greateſt difference. The ſcallop is particularly remarkable for its method of moving forward upon land, or ſwimming upon the ſurface of the water. When this animal finds itſelf deſerted by the tide, it makes very remarkable efforts to regain the [52] water, moving towards the ſea in a moſt ſin⯑gular manner. It firſt gapes with its ſhell as widely as it can, the edges being often an inch aſunder; then it ſhuts them with a jerk, and by this the whole animal riſes five or ſix inches from the ground. It thus tumbles any how forward, and then renews the operation until it has attained its journey's end. When in the water it is capable of ſupporting itſelf upon the ſurface; and there opening and ſhutting its ſhells, it tumbles over and over, and makes its way with ſome celerity.

The Pivot or razor ſhell has a very different kind of motion. As the former moves labo⯑riouſly and ſlowly forward, ſo the razor ſhell has only a power of ſinking point downward. The ſhells of this animal reſemble nothing ſo much as the haft of a razor; and by this form it is better enabled to dive into the ſoft ſand at the bottom. All the motions of this little animal are confined to ſinking or riſing a foot downwards or upwards in the ſand, for it never leaves the ſpot where firſt it was planted. From time to time it is ſeen to riſe about half way out of its hole; but if any way diſturbed, it ſinks perpendicularly down again. Juſt over the place where the razor buries itſelf, there is a ſmall hole like a chimney, through which the animal breathes, [53] or imbibes the ſea-water. Upon the deſertion of the tide, theſe holes are eaſily diſtinguiſhed by the fiſhermen who ſeek for it; and their method of enticing the razor up from the depth of its retreat is by ſprinkling a little ſea-ſalt upon the hole. This melting, no ſooner reaches the razor below than it riſes inſtantly ſtraight upwards, and ſhews about half its length above the ſurface. This appearance however is inſtantaneous; and if the fiſher does not ſeize the opportunity, the razor buries itſelf with great eaſe to its former depth. There it continues ſecure; no ſalt can allure it a ſecond time; but it remains unmoleſted, unleſs the fiſher will be at the trouble of digging it out ſometimes two feet below the ſurface.

Such are the minute differences between bi⯑valved ſhell-fiſh; but in the great out-lines of their nature they exactly reſemble each other. It is particularly in this claſs of ſhell-fiſh that pearls are found in greateſt abundance; and it is in the internal parts of thoſe ſhells that are of a ſhining ſilvery colour that theſe gems are uſually generated; but the pearl is alſo found to breed as well in the muſcle or the ſcallop as in the oyſter. In fact it is found in all bi⯑valved ſhells, the inſides of which reſemble that well known ſubſtance called mother of pearl.

[54]Whether pearls be a diſeaſe or an accident in the animal is ſcarce worth enquiry. The com⯑mon opinion is, that they are a kind of calculous concretion in the body of the animal, ſomewhat reſembling a ſtone in the bladder, and are con⯑ſequently to be conſidered as a diſorder. It is ſaid, in confirmation of this opinion, that thoſe coaſts upon which pearls are fiſhed are very un⯑healthy; and therefore moſt probably oyſters ſhare the general influence of the climate; it is alſo added that thoſe oyſters in which pearls are found are always ill-taſted, which is a ſign of their being unfound; and laſtly, it is aſſerted that the pearl grows ſometimes ſo big as to keep the ſhells of the animal from ſhutting, and that thus it dies by being expoſed. It is eaſy to ſee the weakneſs of theſe aſſertions, which ſeem neither true nor amuſing. To anſwer them in their own way, if a ſtone in the bladder be a diſorder, a ſtone in the ſtomach of an oſtrich is a benefit, and ſo it may be in the ſhell of an oyſter. If the ſhores where the pearls are fiſhed be unwholeſome to man, that, inſtead of being diſadvantageous, is ſo much the more lucky for the oyſter. If the pearl oyſters are the worſt taſted, ſo are kites and ravens among birds; and yet we know that they are healthy and long-lived animals: if the oyſter had ever [55] its ſhell kept aſunder by the pearl within it, that would be a diſeaſe indeed: but this in reality never happens; for the oyſter that breeds a large pearl always breeds a large ſhell, and the ſhell itſelf indents to receive its impreſſion. The pearl upon the whole ſeems bred from no diſ⯑order in the animal, but accidentally produced by the ſame matter that goes to form the ſhell. This ſubſtance, which is ſoft at firſt, quickly hardens; and thus, by ſucceſſive coats, layer over layer, the pearl acquires its dimenſions. If cut through, it will be found to conſiſt of ſeveral coats, like an onion; and ſometimes a ſmall ſpeck is ſeen in the middle, upon which the coats were originally formed.

All oyſters, and moſt ſhell-fiſh, are found to contain pearls; but that which particularly obtains the name of the pearl oyſter, has a large ſtrong whitiſh ſhell, wrinkled and rough with⯑out, and within ſmooth and of a ſilver colour. From theſe the mother-of-pearl is taken, which is nothing more than the internal coats of the ſhell, reſembling the pearl in colour and con⯑ſiſtence. This is taken out and ſhaped into that variety of utenſils which are found ſo beautiful; but the pearl itſelf is chiefly prized; being found but in few oyſters, and generally adhering, ſometimes making a print in the body [56] of the ſhell, ſometimes at large within the ſub⯑ſtance of the fiſh.

There are a great number of pearl fiſheries in America and Aſia; but as pearls bear a worſe price than formerly, thoſe of America are in a great meaſure diſcontinued. The moſt famous of all the Aſiatic fiſheries is in the Perſian Gulph, near the Iſle of Bahren. There is another be⯑tween the coaſt of Madura and the Iſland of Ceylon; and there was a third on the coaſts of Japan: but as theſe noble iſlanders have a con⯑tempt for jewels, and an abhorrence for ſuch Europeans as come in purſuit of them, that fiſhery which is thought to be the moſt valuable of all others is diſcontinued. The diving bu⯑ſineſs is now carried on only in thoſe countries where the wretchedneſs of one part of mankind goes to ſupport the magnificence of the other.

The chief fiſhery, as was ſaid, is carried on in the Perſian Gulph, and the moſt valuable pearls are brought from thence. The value of theſe jewels encreaſes not only in proportion to their ſize, but alſo their figure and colour; for ſome pearls are white, others are yellowiſh, others of a lead colour; and ſome affirm they have been found as black as jet. What it is that gives theſe different tinctures to pearls is not known; Taverner aſcribes it to their lying [57] two or three weeks upon ſhore after the oyſter is taken; Reaumur thinks it proceeds from the colour of that part of the fiſh's body upon which the pearl lies It is moſt probable that this colour proceeds, like the ſpots frequently found on the internal ſurface of the ſhell itſelf, from ſome accident while the pearl is growing.

The beſt coloured pearls and the roundeſt are brought from the Eaſt; thoſe of America are neither ſo white nor ſo exactly oval. All pearls however in time become yellow; they may be conſidered as an animal ſubſtance con⯑verted into a ſtony hardneſs, and like ivory taking a tincture from the air. They have been even found to decay when kept in damp or vaulted places, and to moulder into a ſub⯑ſtance ſcarce harder than chalk. When the daughters of Stilicon, that were both betrothed, one after the other, to the emperor Honorius, were buried, much of their finery was alſo de⯑poſited with them in the ſame tomb. In this manner they remained buried for above eleven hundred years, till the foundations of the church of St. Peter were laying. Their tomb was then diſcovered, and all their finery was found in to⯑lerable preſervation except their pearls, which were converted by time and damps into a chalky powder.

[58]The wretched people that are deſtined to fiſh for pearls, are either Negroes of ſome of the pooreſt of the natives of Perſia. The inhabitants of this country are divided into tyrants and ſlaves. The divers are not only ſubject to the dangers of the deep, to tempeſts, to ſuffocation at the bottom, to being devoured by ſharks, but from their profeſſion univerſally labour under a ſpitting of blood, occaſioned by the preſſure of air upon their lungs in going down to the bottom. The moſt robuſt and healthy young men are choſen for this employment, but they ſeldom ſurvive it above five or ſix years. Their fibres become rigid; their eye⯑balls turn red; and they uſually die conſumptive.

It is amazing how very long they are ſeen to continue at the bottom. Some, as we are aſſured, have been known to continue three quarters of an hour under water without breathing; and to one unuſed to diving, ten minutes would ſuffo⯑cate the ſtrongeſt. Whether from ſome effort the blood burſts the old paſſage which it had in the foetus, and circulates without going through the lungs, it is not eaſy to tell; but certain it is that ſome bodies have been diſſected with this canal of communication open, and theſe extraordinary divers may be internally formed in that manner.

[59]Be this as it may, no way of life ſeems ſo laborious, ſo dangerous, or ſo painful. They fiſh for pearls, or rather the oyſters that contain them, in boats twenty-eight feet long; and of theſe there are ſometimes three or four hundred at a time, with each ſeven or eight ſtones, which ſerve for anchors. There are from five to eight divers belonging to each, that dive one after another. They are quite naked, except that they have a net hanging down from the neck to put their oyſters in, and gloves on their hands to defend them while they pick the oyſters from the holes in the rocks; for in this manner alone can they be gathered. Every diver is ſunk by means of a ſtone, weighing fifty pounds, tied to the rope by which he de⯑ſcends. He places his foot in a kind of ſtirrup, and laying hold of the rope with his left hand, with his right he ſtops his noſe to keep in his breath, as upon going down he takes in a very long inſpiration. They are no ſooner come to the bottom, but they give the ſignal to thoſe who are in the boat to draw up the ſtone; which done, they go to work, filling their net as faſt as they can; and then giving another ſignal, the boats above pull up the net loaded with oyſters, and ſhortly after the diver himſelf to take a new inſpiration. They dive [60] to the depth of fifteen fathoms, and ſeldom go deeper. They generally go every morning by break of day to this fatiguing employment, taking the land wind to waft them out to ſea, and returning with the ſea-breeze at night. The owners of the boats uſually hire the divers, and the reſt of the boats crew, as we do our la⯑bourers, at ſo much a day. All the oyſters are brought on ſhore, where they are laid in a great heap till the pearl fiſhery is over, which continues during the months of November and December. When opportunity ſerves, they then examine every oyſter, and it is accidental whe⯑ther the capture turns out advantageous. In⯑deed no human being can wiſh well to a com⯑merce, which thus chains ſuch a number of fellow creatures to the bottom, to pluck up a glittering mouldering pebble.

CHAP. IV. Of Multivalve Shell-fiſh.

[61]MULTIVALVE SHELL-FISH may be con⯑ſidered as animals ſhut up in round boxes. To view their habitations externally, one would be little apt to conſider them as the retreats of living creatures; and ſtill leſs, to ſuppoſe that ſome of them carry their boxes with a tolerable ſhare of ſwiftneſs, ſo as to eſcape their purſuers. Of theſe there are principally two kinds; ſuch as move, and ſuch as are ſtationary: the firſt are uſually known in our cabinets by the name of ſea-eggs; the others are as often admired, from the cavities which they ſcoop out for their habitation in the hardeſt marble. The firſt are called, by naturaliſts, Echini, or Urchins: the latter are called Pholades, or File Fiſh. Of both there are ſeveral ſorts; but, by deſcribing theſe two, we ſhall have a competent idea of all the reſt.

It is generally ſaid of inſects, that thoſe which have the greateſt number of legs, always move the ſloweſt: but this animal ſeems to be an ex⯑ception to the rule; for though furniſhed with two thouſand ſpines, and twelve hundred horns, all ſerving for legs, and from their number ſeeming to impede each other's motion, yet it runs with ſome ſhare of ſwiftneſs at the bottom, and it is ſometimes no eaſy matter to overtake it. It is often taken upon the ebb, by following it in ſhallow water, either in an ozier baſket, or ſimply with the hand. Both the ſpines and the horns aſſiſt its motion; and the animal is uſually ſeen running with the mouth down⯑ward.

Some kinds of this animal are as good eating as the lobſter; and its eggs, which are of a deep red, are conſidered as a very great deli⯑cacy. But of others the taſte is but indifferent; and in all places, except the Mediterranean, they are little ſought for, except as objects of curioſity.

[64]Very different in motion, though not much different in ſhape from theſe, are the Acorn Shell-Fiſh, the Thumb-footed Shell-Fiſh, and the Imaginary Barnacle. Theſe are fixed to one ſpot, and appear to vegetate from a ſtalk. Indeed, to an inattentive ſpectator, each actually ſeems to be a kind of fungus that grows in the deep, deſtitute of animal life as well as motion. But the enquirer will ſoon change his opinion, when he comes to obſerve this muſhroom-like figure more minutely. He will then ſee that the animal reſiding within the ſhell has not only life, but ſome degree of voraciouſneſs; that it has a cover, by which it opens and ſhuts its ſhell at pleaſure; that it has twelve long crooked arms, furniſhed with hair, which it thruſts forth for its prey; and eight ſmaller, which are generally kept in the ſhell. They are ſeen ad⯑hering to every ſubſtance that is to be met with in the ocean; rocks, root of trees, ſhips bot⯑toms, whales, lobſters, and even crabs; like bunches of grapes, clung to each other. It is amuſing enough to behold their operations^*. They for ſome time remain motionleſs within their ſhell; but when the ſea is calm, they are ſeen opening the lid, and peeping about them. They then thruſt out their long neck, look [65] round them for ſome time, and then abruptly retreat back into their box, ſhut their lid, and lurk in darkneſs and ſecurity. Some people eat them; but they are in no great repute at the tables of the luxurious, where their deformed figure would be no objection to their being introduced.

Of all animals of the ſhelly tribe, the Pholades are the moſt wonderful. From their great powers of penetration, compared with their apparent imbecility, they juſtly excite the aſtoniſhment of the curious obſerver. Theſe animals are found in different places; ſometimes cloathed in their proper ſhell, at the bottom of the water; ſome⯑times concealed in lumps of marly earth; and ſometimes lodged, ſhell and all, in the body of the hardeſt marble. In their proper ſhell they aſſume different figures; but, in general, they ſomewhat reſemble a muſcle, except that their ſhell is found actually compoſed of five or more pieces, the ſmaller valves ſerving to cloſe up the openings left by the irregular meeting of the two principal ſhells. But their penetration into rocks, and their reſidence there, makes up the moſt wonderful part of their hiſtory.

This animal, when diveſted of its ſhell, re⯑ſembles a roundiſh, ſoft pudding, with no in⯑ſtrument that ſeems in the leaſt fitted for boring [66] into ſtones, or even penetrating the ſofteſt ſub⯑ſtances. It is furniſhed with two teeth indeed; but theſe are placed in ſuch a ſituation as to be incapable of touching the hollow ſurface of its ſtony dwelling: it has alſo two covers to its ſhell, that open and ſhut at either end; but theſe are totally unſerviceable to it as a miner. The in⯑ſtrument with which it performs all its ope⯑rations, and buries itſelf in the hardeſt rocks, is only a broad fleſhy ſubſtance, ſomewhat re⯑ſembling a tongue, that is ſeen iſſuing from the bottom of its ſhell. With this ſoft, yielding inſtrument, it perforates the moſt ſolid mar⯑bles; and having, while yet little and young, made its way, by a very narrow entrance, into the ſubſtance of the ſtone, it then begins to grow bigger, and thus to enlarge its apartment.

The ſeeming unfitneſs, however, of this ani⯑mal for penetrating into rocks, and there form⯑ing an habitation, has induced many philo⯑ſophers to ſuppoſe that they entered the rock while it was yet in ſoft ſtate, and from the petrifying quality of the water, that the whole rock afterwards hardened round them by de⯑grees. Thus any penetrating quality, it was thought, was unjuſtly aſcribed to them, as they only bored into a ſoft ſubſtance, that was har⯑dened by time. This opinion, however, has been [67] confuted, in a very ſatisfactory manner, by Doctor Bohads, who obſerved, that many of the pillars of the temple of Serapis at Puteoli were penetrated by theſe animals. From thence he very juſtly concludes, that the pholas muſt have pierced into them ſince they were erected; for no workmen would have laboured a pillar into form; if it had been honey-combed by worms in the quarry. In ſhort, there can be no doubt but that the pillars were perfectly ſound when erected; and that the pholades have attacked them, during that time in which they continued buried under water, by means of the earthquake that ſwallowed up the city^*.

From hence it appears that, in all nature, there is not a greater inſtance of perſeverance and patience than what this animal is ſeen to exhibit. Furniſhed with the blunteſt and ſofteſt augre, by ſlow, ſucceſſive applications, it effects what other animals are incapable of performing by force; penetrating the hardeſt bodies only with its tongue. When, while yet naked and very ſmall, it has effected an entrance, and has buried its body in the ſtone, it there continues for life at its eaſe; the ſea water that enters at the little aperture ſupplying it with luxurious plenty. When the animal has taken too great a quan⯑tity [68] of water, it is ſeen to ſpurt it out of its hole with ſome violence. Upon this ſeemingly thin diet, it quickly grows larger, and ſoon finds itſelf under a neceſſity of enlarging its habitation and its ſhell. The motion of the pholas is ſlow beyond conception; its progreſs keeps pace with the growth of its body; and, in proportion as it becomes larger, it makes its way farther into the rock. When it has got a certain way in, it then turns from its former direction, and hollows downward; till, at laſt, when its habitation is completed, the whole apartment reſembles the bole of a tobacco pipe; the hole in the ſhank being that by which the animal entered.

Thus immured, the pholas lives in darkneſs, indolence, and plenty; it never removes from the narrow manſion into which it has penetrated; and ſeems perfectly content with being incloſed in its own ſepulchre. The influx of the ſea-water, that enters by its little gallery, ſatisfies all its wants; and, without any other food, it is found to grow from ſeven to eight inches long, and thick in proportion.

But they are not ſupplied only with their rocky habitation; they have alſo a ſhell to pro⯑tect them: this ſhell grows upon them in the body of the rock, and ſeems a very unneceſſary addition to their defence, which they have pro⯑cured [69] themſelves by art. Theſe ſhells take dif⯑ferent forms, and are often compoſed of a different number of valves; ſometimes ſix; ſometimes but three; ſometimes the ſhell re⯑ſembles a tube with holes at either end, one for the mouth, and the other for voiding the ex⯑crements.

Yet the pholas thus ſhut up, is not ſo ſolitary an animal as it would at firſt appear; for though it is immured in its hole without egreſs, though it is impoſſible for the animal, grown to a great ſize, to get out by the way it made in, yet many of this kind often meet in the heart of the rock, and, like miners in a ſiege, who ſometimes croſs each other's galleries, they frequently break in upon each other's retreats. Whether their thus meeting be the work of accident or of choice, few can take upon them to determine; certain it is, they are moſt commonly found in numbers in the ſame rock; and ſometimes above twenty are diſcovered within a few inches of each other.

As to the reſt, this animal is found in greateſt numbers at Ancona, in Italy; it is found along the ſhores of Normandy and Poitou, in France; it is found alſo upon ſome of the coaſts of Scot⯑land: and, in general, is conſidered as a very great delicacy, at the tables of the luxurious.

CHAP. I. Of Frogs and Toads in General.

IF we emerge from the deep, the firſt and moſt obvious claſs of amphibious animals that occur upon land are frogs and toads. Theſe, wherever they reſide, ſeem equally adapted for living upon land and in the water, having their hearts formed in ſuch a manner as to diſpenſe with the aſſiſtance of the lungs in carrying on the circulation. The frog and the toad there⯑fore can live ſeveral days under water, without any danger of ſuffocation; they want but little air at the bottom; and, what is wanting, is ſup⯑plied by lungs, like bladders, which are generally diſtended with wind, and anſwer all the purpoſes of a reſervoir from whence to breathe.

To deſcribe the form of animals ſo well known would be ſuperfluous; to mark thoſe differences that diſtinguiſh them from each other may be neceſſary. The frog moves by leaping; the toad crawls along the ground: the frog is in general leſs than the toad; its colour is brighter, and with a more poliſhed ſurface: the toad is brown, rough and duſty. The frog is light and active, and its belly com⯑paratively [74] ſmall; the toad is ſlow, ſwolen, and incapable of eſcaping. The frog, when taken, contracts itſelf ſo as to have a lump on its back; the toad's back is ſtraight and even. Their in⯑ternal parts are nearly the ſame, except that the lungs of the toad are more compact than thoſe of the frog; they have fewer air-bladders, and of conſequence the animal is leſs fitted for living under water. Such are the differences with reſpect to figure and conformation; their habi⯑tudes and manners exhibit a greater variety, and require a ſeparate deſcription.

CHAP. II. Of the Frog and its Varieties.

THE external figure of the Frog is too well known to need a deſcription. Its power of taking large leaps is remarkably great, com⯑pared to the bulk of its body. It is the beſt ſwimmer of all four-footed animals; and Nature hath finely adapted its parts for thoſe ends, the arms being light and active, the legs and thighs long, and furniſhed with very ſtrong muſcles.

If we examine this animal internally, we ſhall find that it has a very little brain for its ſize; a very wide ſwallow; a ſtomach ſeemingly ſmall, but capable of great diſtenſion. The heart in the frog, as in all other animals that are truly amphibious, has but one ventricle; ſo that the blood can circulate without the aſſiſtance of the lungs, while it keeps under water. The lungs reſemble a number of ſmall bladders joined together, like the cells of a honey⯑comb: they are connected to the back by muſcles, and can be diſtended or exhauſted at the animal's pleaſure. The male has two teſticuli lying near the kidnies; and the female has two ovaries, lying near the ſame place: but [76] neither male nor female have any of the external inſtruments of generation; the anus ſerving for that purpoſe in both. Such are the moſt ſtriking peculiarities in the anatomy of a frog; and in theſe it agrees with the toad, the lizard, and the ſerpent. They are all formed internally pretty much in the ſame manner, with ſpongy lungs, a ſimple heart, and are deſtitute of the ex⯑ternal inſtruments that ſerve to continue the kind.

Of all thoſe who have given hiſtories of the frog, Mr. Raeſel, of Nuremberg, ſeems the moſt accurate and entertaining. His plates of this animal are well known; his aſſiduity and ſkil⯑fulneſs in obſerving its manners are ſtill more deſerving our eſteem. Inſtead, therefore, of following any other, I will take him for my guide; and though it be out of my power to amuſe the reader with his beautiful deſigns, yet there will be ſome merit in tranſcribing his hiſtory.

The Common Brown Frog begins to couple early in the ſeaſon, and as ſoon as the ice is thawed from the ſtagnating waters. In ſome places the cold protracts the irgenial appetite till April; but it generally begins about the middle of March. The male is uſually of a greyiſh brown colour; the female is more inclining to yellow, ſpeckled with brown. When they [77] couple, the colours of both are nearly alike on the back; but as they change their ſkins almoſt every eighth day, the old one falling off in the form of a mucous, the male grows yellower, and the female more brown. In the males the arms and legs are much ſtronger than in the females; and, at the time of coupling, they have, upon their thumbs, a kind of fleſhy excreſcence, which they fix firmly to the breaſt of the female. This Linnaeus ſuppoſed to be the male inſtrument of generation; but, by cloſer inſpection, it is found only of ſervice in holding the female in a more ſtrict embrace. It may be cut off, and the impregnation con⯑tinue unimpaired: it is ſometimes found in the oppoſite ſex; and ſome of the males are found entirely without it: however, when it is cut off, the male cannot hold the female ſo ſtrongly as before.

The ſex couple only once a year; and then continue united ſometimes for four days to⯑gether. At this time they both have their bellies greatly ſwolen; that of the female being filled with eggs: the male having the ſkin of the whole body diſtended with a limpid water, which is ejected in impregnation. As ſoon as the male has leaped upon the female, he throws his fore legs round her breaſt, and cloſes them ſo firmly that it is impoſſible with the naked [78] hands to looſe them. The male claſps his fingers between each other, in the ſame manner as people when they are praying; the thumbs preſs with their thickeſt ſides againſt the breaſt of the female; and though ſhe ſhould ſtruggle ever ſo much, nothing can induce him to let go his hold. The graſp ſeems involuntary and convulſive; they cannot be eaſily torn aſunder; and they ſwim, creep, and live united for ſome days ſucceſſively, till the female has ſhed her ſpawn, which at length ſhe does almoſt in an inſtant. But how the impregnation is performed, without any apparent inſtruments of generation, has long been an object of enquiry; and ſtill continues in great obſcurity. To inve⯑ſtigate the difficulty as carefully as poſſible, our German philoſopher continued to examine their mutual congreſs for three years together, and availed himſelf of all the lights that the knife, or analogy, could furniſh.

After having choſen twelve couple of frogs that were thus joined to each other, and having placed each couple in a glaſs veſſel with water, he ſcarce let them out of his ſight day or night, and even ſate up two nights together to examine their operations. The firſt day he obſerved no⯑thing that deſerved remark; but the ſecond they began to be agitated more than before; the males made a noiſe ſomewhat reſembling the [79] grunting of a hog; the females only kept ſinking and riſing in the water.

The male of the firſt couple ejected the hu⯑midity with which his body was ſwolen, by which the water in the glaſs was made muddy; and he ſoon after quitted the female. Our philoſopher continued for twelve hours to obſerve whether the female would caſt her ſpawn; but finding her tardy, he diſſected both her and the male: in the latter, the ſpermatic veſſels were quite empty, as might naturally have been ſuppoſed; but for the female, her ſpawn ſtill remained in her body. Upon its being extracted, and put into water, it periſhed without producing any animal whatever. From hence he juſtly concluded, that it required that the eggs ſhould be ejected from the body of the female before they could be at all prolific. In another pair the male quitted the female, who did not eject her ſpawn till ſixteen days after; and theſe, like the former, came to nothing. But it was very different with ſome of the reſt. The females ejected their ſpawn, while the male ſtill remained in his ſtation, and impregnated the maſſes at different intervals as they fell from her; and theſe all brought forth animals in the uſual courſe of generation. From theſe obſervations it was eaſy to infer, that the female was impreg⯑nated [80] neither by the mouth, as ſome philo⯑ſophers imagined, nor by the excreſcence at the thumbs, as was the opinion of Linnaeus, but by the inſperſion of the male ſeminal fluid upon the eggs as they proceeded from the body.

A ſingle female produces from ſix to eleven hundred eggs at a time; and, in general, ſhe throws them all out together by a ſingle effort; though ſometimes ſhe is an hour in performing this taſk. While ſhe is thus bringing forth, it may be obſerved, that the male acts the part of a midwife, and promotes the expulſion of the eggs by working with his thumbs, and compreſſing the female's body more cloſely. The eggs which were compreſſed in the womb, upon being emitted, expand themſelves into a round form, and drop to the bottom of the water, while the male ſwims off, and ſtrikes with his arms as uſual, though they had continued ſo long in a ſtate of violent contraction.

The egg, or little black globe, which pro⯑duces a tadpole, is ſurrounded with two different kinds of liquor. That which immediately ſur⯑rounds the globe is clear and tranſparent, and contained in its proper membrane; that which ſurrounds the whole is muddy and mucous. The tranſparent liquor ſerves for the nouriſhment of the tadpole from time to time; and anſwers [81] the ſame purpoſes that the white of the egg does to birds. The tadpoles, when this mem⯑brane is broken, are found to adhere with their mouth to part of it; and when they get free, they immediately ſink to the bottom of the water, never being able to get to the top after while they continue in their tadpole form.

But to return—When the ſpawn is emitted and impregnated by the male, it drops, as was ſaid, to the bottom, and there the white quickly and ſenſibly encreaſes. The eggs, which during the four firſt hours ſuffer no perceptible change, begin then to enlarge and grow lighter; by which means they mount to the ſurface of the water. At the end of eight hours, the white in which they ſwim grows thicker, the eggs loſe their Blackneſs, and as they encreaſe in ſize, ſome⯑what of their ſpherical form. The twenty-firſt day the egg is ſeen to open a little on one ſide, and the beginning of a tail to peep out, which becomes more and more diſtinct every day. The thirty-ninth day the little animal begins to have motion; it moves at intervals its tail; and it is perceived that the liquor in which it is circumfuſed, ſerves it for nouriſh⯑ment. In two days more, ſome of theſe little creatures fall to the bottom; while others remain ſwimming in the fluid around them, [82] while their vivacity and motion is ſeen to en⯑creaſe. Thoſe which fall to the bottom re⯑main there the whole day; but having length⯑ened themſelves a little, for hitherto they are doubled up, they mount at intervals to the mucous which they had quitted, and are ſeen to feed upon it with great vivacity. The next day they acquire their tadpole form. In three days more they are perceived to have two little fringes, that ſerve as fins beneath the the head; and theſe in four days after aſſume a more perfect form. It is then alſo that they are ſeen to feed very greedily upon the pond⯑weed with which they are to be ſupplied; and, leaving their former food, on this they continue to ſubſiſt till they arrive at maturity. When they come to be ninety-two days old, two ſmall feet are ſeen beginning to burgeon near the tail; and the head appears to be ſeparate from the body. The next day, the legs are con⯑ſiderably enlarged; four days after they refuſe all vegetable food; their mouth appears fur⯑niſhed with teeth; and their hinder legs are completely formed. In two days more the arms are completely produced; and now the frog is every way perfect, except that it ſtill continues to carry the tail. In this odd ſituation the animal, reſembling at once both a frog [83] and a lizard, is ſeen frequently riſing to the ſurface, not to take food but to breathe. In this ſtate it continues for about ſix or eight hours; and then the tail dropping off by de⯑grees, the animal appears in its moſt perfect form.

Thus the frog, in leſs than a day, having changed its figure, is ſeen to change its appe⯑tites alſo. So extraordinary is this transformation, that the food it fed upon ſo greedily but a few days before, is now utterly rejected; it would even ſtarve if ſupplied with no other. As ſoon as the animal acquires its perfect ſtate, from having fed upon vegetables it becomes carni⯑vorous, and lives entirely upon worms and in⯑ſects. But as the water cannot ſupply theſe, it is obliged to quit its native element, and ſeek for food upon land, where it lives by hunt⯑ing worms and taking inſects by ſurprize. At firſt, being feeble and unable to bear the warmth of the ſun, it hides among buſhes and under ſtones; but when a ſhower comes to re⯑freſh the earth, then the whole multitude are ſeen to quit their retreats, in order to enjoy the grateful humidity. Upon many occaſions the ground is ſeen perfectly blackened with their numbers; ſome hunting for prey, and ſome ſeeking ſecure lurking places. From the myriads [84] that offer on ſuch occaſions, ſome have been induced to think that theſe animals were gene⯑rated in the clouds, and thus ſhowered down on the earth. But had they, like Derham, traced them to the next pool, they would have found out a better ſolution for the difficulty.

The frog lives for the moſt part out of the water; but when the cold nights begin to ſet in, it returns to its native element, always chuſing ſtagnant waters, where it can lie without danger concealed at the bottom. In this manner it continues torpid, or with but very little motion, all the winter: like the reſt of the dormant race, it requires no food; and the circulation is ſlowly carried on without any aſſiſtance from the air.

It is at the approach of ſpring that all theſe animals are rouzed from a ſtate of ſlumber to a ſtate of enjoyment. A ſhort time after they riſe from the bottom they begin to pair, while thoſe that are as yet too young come upon land before the reſt. For this reaſon, while the old ones continue concealed in the beginning of ſpring, the ſmall ones are more frequently ſeen; the former remaining in the lake to propagate, while the latter are not yet arrived at a ſtate of maturity.

The difference of ſexes, which was mentioned above, is not perceivable in theſe animals, until [85] they have arrived at their fourth year; nor do they begin to propagate, till they have com⯑pleted that period. By comparing their ſlow growth with their other habitudes, it would ap⯑pear, that they live about twelve years; but having ſo many enemies, both by land and water, it is probable that few of them arrive at the end of their term.

Frogs live upon inſects of all kinds; but they never eat any, unleſs they have motion. They continue fixed and immovable till their prey ap⯑pears; and juſt when it comes ſufficiently near, they jump forward with great agility, dart out their tongues, and ſeize it with certainty. The tongue, in this animal, as in the toad, lizard and ſerpent kinds, is extremely long, and formed in ſuch a manner that it ſwallows the point down its throat; ſo that a length of tongue is thus drawn out, like a ſword from its ſcabbard, to aſſail its prey. This tongue is furniſhed with a glutinous ſubſtance; and whatever inſect it touches, infallibly adheres, and is thus held faſt till it is drawn into the mouth.

As the frog is thus ſupplied with the power of catching its prey, it is alſo very vivacious, and able to bear hunger for a very long time. I have known one of them continue a month in ſummer without any other food than the turf [86] on which it was placed in a glaſs veſſel. We are told of a German ſurgeon, that kept one eight years in a glaſs veſſel, covered with a net. Its food was at all times but ſparing; in ſummer he gave it freſh graſs, which it is ſaid to have fed upon; and, in the winter, hay, a little moiſtened: he likewiſe now and then put flies into the glaſs, which it would follow with an open mouth, and was very expert in catching them. In winter, when the flies were difficult to be found, it uſually fell away, and grew very lean; but, in the ſummer, when they were plenty, it ſoon grew fat again. It was kept in a warm room, and was always lively and ready to take its prey; however, in the eighth winter, when there were no flies to be found, it fell away and died. It is not certain how long it might have lived, had it been ſupplied with proper nouriſhment; but we are certain, that a very little food is capable of ſufficing its neceſſities.

Nor is the frog leſs tenacious of life. It will live and jump about ſeveral hours after its head has been cut off. It will continue active, though all its bowels are taken out; and it can live ſome days, though entirely ſtripped of its ſkin. This cruel trick, which is chiefly practiſed among ſchool-boys, of ſkinning frogs, an operation which is done in an inſtant, ſeems for ſome hours [87] no way to abate their vigour. I am aſſured that ſome of them get a new ſkin, and recover after this painful experiment.

The croaking of frogs is well known; and from thence, in ſome countries, they are diſtin⯑guiſhed by the ludicrous title of Dutch Night⯑ingales. Indeed, the aquatic frogs of Holland are loud beyond what one would imagine. We could hardly conceive that an animal, not bigger than one's fiſt, ſhould be able to ſend forth a note that is heard at three miles diſtance; yet ſuch is actually the caſe^*. The large water frogs have a note as loud as the bellowing of a bull; and, for this purpoſe, puff up their cheeks to a ſur⯑prizing magnitude. Of all frogs, however, the male only croaks; the female is ſilent, and the voice in the other ſeems to be the call to court⯑ſhip. It is certain, that at theſe times when they couple, the loudneſs of their croaking is in ſome places very troubleſome; for then the whole lake ſeems vocal; and a thouſand diſſonant notes per⯑fectly ſtun the neighbourhood. At other times alſo, before wet weather, their voices are in full exertion; they are then heard with unceaſing aſſiduity, ſending forth their call, and welcoming the approaches of their favourite moiſture. No weather-glaſs was ever ſo true as a frog in fore⯑telling [88] an approaching change; and, in fact, the German ſurgeon, mentioned above, kept his frog for that purpoſe. It was always heard to croak at the approach of wet weather; but was as mute as a fiſh, when it threatened a con⯑tinuance of fair. This may probably ſerve to explain an opinion which ſome entertain, that there is a month in the year, called Paddock Moon, in which the frogs never croak: the whole ſeems to be no more than that, in the hot ſeaſon, when the moiſture is dried away, and conſequently when theſe animals neither enjoy the quantity of health or food that at other times they are ſupplied with, they ſhew, by their ſilence, how much they are diſpleaſed with the weather. All very dry weather is hurt⯑ful to their health, and prevents them from getting their prey. They ſubſiſt chiefly upon worms and ſnails; and as drought prevents theſe from appearing, the frog is thus ſtinted in its proviſions, and alſo wants that grateful humidity which moiſtens its ſkin, and renders it alert and active.

As frogs adhere cloſely to the backs of their own ſpecies, ſo it has been found, by repeated experience, they will alſo adhere to the backs of fiſhes. Few that have ponds, but know that theſe animals will ſtick to the backs of carp, and fix their fingers in the corner of each eye. In [89] this manner they are often caught together; the carp blinded and waſted away. Whether this proceeds from the deſires of the frog, diſ⯑appointed of its proper mate, or whether it be a natural enmity between frogs and fiſhes, I will not take upon me to ſay. A ſtory told us by Walton, might be apt to incline us to the latter opinion.

‘"As Dubravius, a biſhop of Bohemia, was walking with a friend by a large pond in that country, they ſaw a frog, when the pike lay very ſleepily and quiet by the ſhore ſide, leap upon his head, and the frog having expreſſed malice or anger by his ſwolen cheeks and ſtaring eyes, did ſtretch out his legs, and embraced the pike's head, and preſently reached them to his eyes, tearing with them and his teeth thoſe tender parts; the pike, irritated with anguiſh, moves up and down the water, and rubs himſelf againſt weeds, and whatever he thought might quit him of his enemy; but all in vain, for the frog did continue to ride triumphantly, and to bite and torment the pike till his ſtrength failed, and then the frog ſunk with the pike to the bottom of the water: then preſently the frog appeared again at the top and croaked, and ſeemed to rejoice like a conqueror; after [90] which he preſently retired to his ſecret hole. The biſhop that had beheld the battle, called his fiſherman to fetch his nets, and by all means to get the pike, that they might de⯑clare what had happened. The pike was drawn forth, and both his eyes eaten out; at which, when they began to wonder, the fiſh⯑erman wiſhed them to forbear, and aſſured them he was certain that pikes were often ſo ſerved."’

CHAP. III. Of the Toad and its Varieties.

IF we regard the figure of the Toad, there ſeems nothing in it that ſhould diſguſt more than that of the frog. Its form and proportions are nearly the ſame; and it chiefly differs in colour, which is blacker; and its ſlow and heavy motion, which exhibits nothing of the agility of the frog: yet ſuch is the force of habit, be⯑gun in early prejudice, that thoſe who conſider the one as an harmleſs, playful animal, turn from the other with horror and diſguſt. The frog is conſidered as a uſeful aſſiſtant, in ridding our grounds of vermin; the toad, as a ſecret enemy, that only wants an opportunity to infect us with its venom.

The imagination, in this manner biaſſed by its terrors, paints out the toad in the moſt hi⯑deous colouring, and cloaths it in more than natural deformity. Its body is broad; its back flat; covered with a duſky, pimpled hide; the belly is large and ſwagging; the pace laboured and crawling; its retreat gloomy and filthy; and its whole appearance calculated to excite diſguſt and horror: yet upon my firſt ſeeing a [92] toad, none of all theſe deformities in the leaſt affected me with ſenſations of loathing: born, as I was, in a country where there are no toads, I had prepared my imagination for ſome dread⯑ful object; but there ſeemed nothing to me more alarming in the ſight, than in that of a com⯑mon frog; and indeed, for ſome time, I miſtook and handled the one for the other. When firſt informed of my miſtake, I very well remember my ſenſations: I wondered how I had eſcaped with ſafety, after handling and diſſecting a toad, which I had miſtaken for a frog. I then began to lay in a fund of horror againſt the whole tribe, which, though convinced they are harm⯑leſs, I ſhall never get rid of. My firſt imagi⯑nations were too ſtrong not only for my reaſon, but for the conviction of my ſenſes.

As the toad bears a general reſemblance of figure to the frog, ſo alſo it reſembles that ani⯑mal in its nature and appetites. Like the frog, the toad is amphibious; like that animal, it lives upon worms and inſects, which it ſeizes by dart⯑ing out its length of tongue; and in the ſame manner alſo it crawls about in moiſt weather. The male and female couple as in all the frog kind; their time of propagation being very early in the ſpring. Sometimes the females are ſeen upon land, oppreſſed by the males; but [93] more frequently they are coupled in the water. They continue together ſome hours, and adhere ſo faſt as to tear the very ſkin from the parts they ſtick to. In all this they entirely reſemble the frog; but the aſ⯑ſiſtance which the male lends the female, in bringing forth, is a peculiarity in this ſpecies that muſt not be paſſed over in ſilence. ‘"In the evening of a ſummer's day, a French gentleman, being in the king's gardens at Paris, perceived two toads coupled together, and he ſtopped to examine them. Two facts equally new ſurprized him: the firſt was the extreme difficulty the female had in laying her eggs; the ſecond was the aſſiſtance lent her by the male for this purpoſe. The eggs of the female lie in her body, like beads on a ſtring; and after the firſt, by great effort, was excluded, the male caught it with his hinder paws, and kept working it till he had thus extracted the whole chain. In this man⯑ner the animal performed, in ſome meaſure, the functions of a midwife; impregnating, at the ſame time, every egg as it iſſued from the body."’

It is probable, however, that this difficulty in bringing forth, obtains only upon land; and that the toad, which produces its ſpawn in the [94] water, performs it with as much eaſe as a frog. They propagate in England, exactly in the manner of frogs; and the female, inſtead of retiring to dry holes, goes to the bottom of ponds, and there lies torpid all the winter, preparing to propagate in the beginning of ſpring. On theſe occaſions, the number of males is found greatly to ſurpaſs that of the other ſex, there being above thirty to one; and twelve or fourteen are often ſeen clinging to the ſame female.

When, like the frog, they have undergone all the variations of their tadpole ſtate, they forſake the water; and are often ſeen, in a moiſt ſummer's evening, crawling up, by myriads, from fenny places, into drier ſitu⯑ations. There, having found out a retreat, or having dug themſelves one with their mouth and hands, they lead a patient, ſolitary life, ſeldom venturing out, except when the moiſture of a ſummer's evening invites them abroad. At that time the graſs is filled with ſnails, and the pathways covered with worms, which make their principal food. Inſects alſo of every kind they are fond of; and we have the authority of Linnaeus for it, that they ſometimes continue immovable, with the mouth open, at the bot⯑tom of ſhrubs, where the butterflies, in ſome [95] meaſure faſcinated, are ſeen to fly down their throats^*.

In a letter from Mr. Arſcott, there are ſome curious particulars relating to this animal, which throws great light upon its hiſtory. ‘"Con⯑cerning the toad," ſays he, "that lived ſo many years with us, and was ſo great a fa⯑vourite, the greateſt curioſity was its be⯑coming ſo remarkably tame: it had fre⯑quented ſome ſteps before our hall door ſome years before my acquaintance commenced with it, and had been admired by my father for its ſize (being the largeſt I ever met with) who conſtantly paid it a viſit every evening. I knew it myſelf above thirty years; and by conſtantly feeding it, brought it to be ſo tame, that it always came to the candle and looked up, as if expecting to be taken up and brought upon the table, where I always fed it with in⯑ſects of all ſorts. It was fondeſt of fleſh mag⯑gots, which I kept in bran; it would follow them, and when within a proper diſtance, would fix his eyes and remain motionleſs for near a quarter of a minute, as if preparing for the ſtroke, which was an inſtantaneous throwing its tongue at a great diſtance upon [96] the inſect, which ſtuck to the tip by a glutinous matter. The motion is quicker than the eye can follow. I cannot ſay how long my father had been acquainted with the toad, before I knew it; but when I was firſt acquainted with it, he uſed to mention it as the old toad I have known ſo many years. I can anſwer for thirty-ſix years. This old toad made its appearance as ſoon as the warm weather came; and I al⯑ways concluded it retired to ſome dry bank, to repoſe till ſpring. When we new layed the ſteps, I had two holes made in the third ſtep, on each with a hollow of more than a yard long for it; in which I imagine it ſlept, as it came from thence at its firſt appearance. It was ſeldom provoked. Neither that toad, nor the multitudes I have ſeen tormented with great cruelty, ever ſhewed the leaſt de⯑ſire of revenge, by ſpitting or emitting any juice from their pimples. Sometimes, upon taking it up, it would let out a great quantity of clear water, which, as I have often ſeen it do the ſame upon the ſteps when quite quiet, was certainly its urine, and no more than a natural evacuation. Spiders, millepedes, and fleſh maggots, ſeem to be this animal's favourite food. I imagine if a bee was to be put before a toad, it would certainly eat it [97] to its coſt^*; but as bees are ſeldom ſtir⯑ring at the ſame time that toads are, they rarely come in their way; as they do not ap⯑pear after ſun-riſing, or before ſun-ſet. In the heat of the day they will come to the mouth of their hole, I believe for air. I once, from my parlour window, obſerved a large toad I had in the bank of a bowling-green, about twelve at noon, a very hot day, very buſy and active upon the graſs. So un⯑common an appearance made me go out to ſee what it was; when I found an innu⯑merable ſwarm of winged ants had dropped round his hole; which temptation was as ir⯑reſiſtible as a turtle would be to a luxurious alderman. In reſpect to its end, had it not been for a tame raven, I make no doubt but it would have been now living. This bird, one day ſeeing it at the mouth of its hole, pulled it out, and, although I reſcued it, pulled out one eye, and hurt it ſo, that not⯑withſtanding its living a twelve-month, it never enjoyed itſelf, and had a difficulty of taking its food, miſſing the mark for want of its eye. Before that accident, it had all the appearance of perfect health."’

[98]To this account of the toad's inoffenſive qualities, I will add another from Valiſnieri, to ſhew that, even taken internally, the toad is no way dangerous. ‘"In the year 1692, ſome German ſoldiers, who had taken poſſeſſion of the caſtle of Arceti, finding that the peaſants of the country often amuſed themſelves in catching frogs, and dreſſing them for the table; reſolved to provide themſelves with a like entertainment, and made preparations for frog fiſhing, in the ſame manner. It may eaſily be ſuppoſed that the Italians and their German gueſts were not very fond of each other; and indeed it is natural to think that the ſoldiers gave the poor people of the country many good reaſons for diſcontent. They were not a little pleaſed, therefore, when they ſaw them go to a ditch where toads inſtead of frogs were found in abundance. The Germans, no way diſtinguiſhing, in their ſport caught them in great numbers; while the peaſants kept looking on, ſilently flat⯑tering themſelves with the hopes of ſpeedy revenge. After being brought home, the toads were dreſſed up, after the Italian faſhion; the peaſants quite happy at ſeeing their tyrants devour them with ſo good an appetite, and expecting every moment to ſee [99] them drop down dead: But what was their ſurprize to find, that the Germans continued as well as ever, and only complained of a ſlight excoriation of the lips, which probably aroſe from ſome other cauſe than that of their repaſt."’

I will add another ſtory, from Solenander; who tells us, that a tradeſman of Rome and his wife had long lived together with mutual diſ⯑content; the man was dropſical, and the woman amorous: this ill-matched ſociety promiſed ſoon, by the very infirm ſtate of the man, to have an end; but the woman was unwilling to wait the progreſs of the diſorder; and therefore con⯑cluded that, to get rid of her huſband, nothing was left her but poiſon. For this purpoſe, ſhe choſe out a doſe that ſhe ſuppoſed would be the moſt effectual; and having calcined ſome toads, mixed their powder with his drink. The man, after taking a hearty doſe, found no conſiderable inconvenience, except that it greatly promoted urine. His wife, who con⯑ſidered this as a beginning ſymptom of the venom, reſolved not to ſtint the next doſe, but gave it in greater quantites than before. This alſo encreaſed the former ſymptom; and, in a few days, the woman had the mortification to ſee her deteſted huſband reſtored to perfect [100] health; and remained in utter deſpair of ever being a widow.

From all this it will appear with what in⯑juſtice this animal has hitherto been treated. It has undergone every reproach; and mankind have been taught to conſider as an enemy, a creature that deſtroys that infect tribe which are their real invaders. We are to treat, therefore, as fables, thoſe accounts that repreſent the toad as poſſeſſed of poiſon to kill at a diſtance; of its ejecting its venom, which burns wherever it touches; of its infecting thoſe vegetables near which it reſides; of its exceſſive fondneſs for ſage, which it renders poiſonous by its ap⯑proach: theſe, and an hundred others of the ſame kind, probably took riſe from an anti⯑pathy which ſome have to all animals of the kind. It is an harmleſs, defenceleſs creature, torpid and unvenemous, and ſeeking the darkeſt retreats, not from the malignity of its nature, but the multitude of its enemies.

Like all of the frog kind, the toad is torpid in winter. It chuſes then for a retreat either the hollow root of a tree, the cleft of a rock, or ſometimes the bottom of a pond, where it is found in a ſtate of ſeeming inſenſibility. As it is very long lived, it is very difficult to be killed; its ſkin is tough and cannot be eaſily [101] pierced; and, though covered with wounds, the animal continues to ſhew ſigns of life, and every part appears in motion. But what ſhall we ſay to its living for centuries lodged in the boſom of a rock, or caſed within the body of an oak tree, without the ſmalleſt acceſs on any ſide either for nouriſhment or air, and yet taken out alive and perfect! Stories of this kind it would be as raſh to contradict as difficult to believe; we have the higheſt authorities bearing wit⯑neſs to their truth, and yet the whole ana⯑logy of nature ſeems to arraign them of falſehood. Bacon aſſerts that toads are found in this manner; Doctor Plot aſſerts the ſame; there is to this day a marble chimney-piece at Chatſworth with the print of the toad upon it, and a tradition of the manner in which it was found. In the Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences there is an account of a toad found alive and healthy in the heart of a very thick elm, without the ſmalleſt entrance or egreſs^*. In the year 1731 there was another found near Nants in the heart of an old oak, without the ſmalleſt iſſue to its cell; and the diſcoverer was of opinion, from the ſize of the tree, that the animal could not have been confined there leſs than eighty or a hundred years, without ſuſte⯑nance [102] and without air. To all theſe we can only oppoſe the ſtrangeneſs of the facts; the ne⯑ceſſity this animal appears under of receiving air; and its dying like all others in the air-pump, when deprived of this all-ſuſtaining fluid. But whether theſe be objections to weigh againſt ſuch reſpectable and diſintereſted authority, I will not pretend to determine; certain it is that, if kept in a damp place, the toad will live for ſeveral months without any food whatſoever.

To this extraordinary account, which is doubtful, I will add another not leſs ſo; which is that of toads ſucking cancerous breaſts, and thus extracting the venom and performing a cure. The firſt account we have of this is in a letter to the Biſhop of Carliſle from Doctor Pitfield, who was the firſt perſon of conſequence that attended the experiment. His letter is as follows.

‘"Your lordſhip muſt have taken notice of a paragraph in the papers with regard to the application of toads to a cancered breaſt. A patient of mine has ſent to the neighbourhood of Hungerford, and brought down the very woman on whom the cure was done. I have, with all the attention I am capable of, at⯑tended the operation for eighteen or twenty days, and am ſurprized at the phenomenon. [103] I am in no expectation of any great ſervice from the application; the age, conſtitution, and thoroughly cancerous condition of the perſon, being unconquerable barriers to it. How an ailment of that kind, abſolutely local, in an otherwiſe ſound habit and of a likely age, might be relieved I cannot ſay. But as to the operation, thus much I can aſſert, that there is neither pain nor nauſeouſneſs in it. The animal is put into a linen bag all but its head, and that is held to the part. It has generally inſtantly laid hold of the fouleſt part of the ſore, and ſucked with greedineſs until it dropped off dead. It has frequently happened that the creature has ſwolen immediately, and from its agonies appeared to be in great pain. I have weighed them for ſeveral days together, before and after the application, and found their encreaſe of weight, in the different degrees, from a drachm to near an ounce. They frequently ſweat exceedingly, and turn quite pale; ſometimes they diſgorge, recover, and be⯑come lively again: I think the whole ſcene is ſurprizing, and a very remarkable piece of natural hiſtory. From the conſtant inof⯑fenſiveneſs which I have obſerved in them, I almoſt queſtion the truth of their poiſonous [104] ſpitting. Many people here expect no great good from the application of toads to cancers; and where the diſorder is not abſolutely local none is to be expected. When it is ſeated in any part not to be well come at for extir⯑pation, I think it is hardly to be imagined, but that the having it ſucked clean as often as you pleaſe, muſt give great relief. Every body knows that dogs licking of ſores cures them, which is I ſuppoſe chiefly by keeping them clean. If there is any credit to be given to hiſtory, poiſons have been ſucked out. ‘Pallentina vulnera lambit ore venena trakens,’ are the words of Lucan on the occa⯑ſion. If the people to whom theſe words are applied did their cure by immediately following the injection of the poiſon, the local confinement of another poiſon brings the caſe to a great degree of ſimilarity. I hope I have not tired your Lordſhip with my long tale: as it is a true one, and in my appre⯑henſion a curious piece of natural hiſtory, I could not forbear communicating it to you. I own I thought the ſtory in the papers to be an invention; and when I conſidered the inſtructive principle in all animals of ſelf-preſervation, I was confirmed in my diſbelief: but what I have related I ſaw; and all theory [105] muſt yield to fact. It is only the Rubeth, the land toad, which has the property of ſucking: I cannot find any the leaſt mention of the property in any one of the old natu⯑raliſts. My patient can bear to have but one applied in twenty-four hours. The woman who was cured had them on day and night without intermiſſion for five weeks. Their time of hanging at the breaſt has been from one to ſix hours."’

Other remarks made upon their method of performing this extraordinary operation are as follow. ‘"Some toads die very ſoon after they have ſucked; others live about a quarter of an hour, and ſome much longer. For ex⯑ample, one that was applied about ſeven o'clock ſucked till ten, and died as ſoon as it was taken from the breaſt: another that immediately ſucceeded continued till three o'clock, but dropped dead from the wound: each ſwelled exceedingly, and of a pale colour. They do not ſeem to ſuck greedily, and often turn their heads away; but during the time of their ſucking, they were heard to ſmack their lips like a young child^*."’

From this circumſtantial account of the pro⯑greſs of this extraordinary application, one could [106] hardly ſuppoſe that any doubt could remain of the ingenious obſerver's accuracy; and yet, from informations which I have received, from authority ſtill more reſpectable, there is much reaſon as yet to ſuſpend our aſſent. A lady, who was under the care of the preſent preſident of the college of phyſicians, was induced, by her friends, to try the experiment; and as he ſaw the caſe was deſperate, and that it would quiet her mind as well as theirs, he permitted the trial. During the whole continuance of their application, ſhe could never thoroughly perceive that they ſucked her; but that did not prevent their ſwelling and dying, as in the former inſtances. Once indeed, ſhe ſaid, ſhe thought that one of them ſeemed to ſuck; but the phyſician, and thoſe who attended, could not perceive any appearance of it. Thus, after all, it is a doubt whether theſe animals die by the internal or the external application of the cancerous poiſon.

[108]It would be a tedious, as well as a uſeleſs taſk, to enter into all the minute diſcriminations of theſe animals, as found in different countries or places; but the Pipal, or the Surinam Toad, is too ſtrange a creature, not to require an ex⯑act deſcription. There is not perhaps, in all nature, a more extraordinary phenomenon, than that of an animal breeding and hatching its young in its back; from whence, as from a kind of hot bed, they crawl, one after the other, when come to maturity.

The pipal is in form more hideous than even the common toad, Nature ſeeming to have marked all thoſe ſtrange mannered ani⯑mals with peculiar deformity. The body is flat and broad; the head ſmall; the jaws, like thoſe of a mole, are extended, and evidently formed for rooting in the ground: the ſkin of the neck forms a ſort of wrinkled collar: the colour of the head is of a dark cheſnut, and the eyes are ſmall: the back, which is very broad, is of a lightiſh grey, and ſeems covered over with a number of ſmall eyes, which are round, and placed at nearly equal diſtances. Theſe eyes are very different from what they ſeem; they are the animal's eggs, covered with their ſhells, and placed there for hatching. Theſe eggs are buried deep in the ſkin, and in [109] the beginning of incubation but juſt appear; and are very viſible when the young animal is about to burſt from its confinement. They are of a reddiſh, ſhining yellow colour; and the ſpaces between them are full of ſmall warts, reſembling pearls.

This is their ſituation, previous to their coming forth; but nothing ſo much demands our admiration, as the manner of their pro⯑duction. The eggs, when formed in the ovary, are ſent, by ſome internal canals, which ana⯑tomiſts have not hitherto deſcribed, to lie and come to maturity under the bony ſubſtance of the back: in this ſtate they are impregnated by the male, whoſe ſeed finds its way by pores very ſingularly contrived, and pierces not only the ſkin but the perioſteum: the ſkin, however, is ſtill apparently entire, and forms a very thick covering over the whole brood; but as they advance to maturity, at different intervals, one after another, the egg ſeems to ſtart forward and burgeon from the back, becomes more yellow, and at laſt breaks; when the young one puts forth its head: it ſtill, however, keeps its ſituation, until it has acquired a proper degree of ſtrength, and then it leaves the ſhell, but ſtill continues to keep upon the back of the parent. In this manner the pipal is ſeen travelling with [110] her wonderous family on her back, in all the different ſtages of maturity. Some of the ſtrange progeny, not yet come to ſufficient per⯑fection, appear quite torpid, and as yet without life in the egg: others ſeem juſt beginning to riſe through the ſkin; here peeping forth from the ſhell; and there, having entirely forſaken their priſon: ſome are ſporting at large upon the parent's back; and others deſcending to the ground, to try their own fortune below.

Such is the deſcription given us of this ſtrange production, by Seba; in which he dif⯑fers from Ruyſch, who affirms, that the young ones are bred in the back of the male only, where the female lays her eggs. I have fol⯑lowed Seba, however; not becauſe he is better authority, but becauſe he is more poſitive of the truth of his account, and aſſerts, aſſuredly, that the eggs are found on the back of the female only. Many circumſtances, however, are wanting towards completing his inform⯑ation; ſuch as a deſcription of the paſſage by which the egg finds its way into the back; the manner of its fecundation; the time of geſta⯑tion; as alſo an hiſtory of the manners of this ſtrange animal itſelf: but, by a prolixity that too much prevails among naturaliſts at preſent, he leaves the moſt intereſting object of curioſity, [111] to give us a detailed deſcription of the legs and claws of the pipal, about which we have very little concern.

The male pipal is every way larger than the female, and has the ſkin leſs tightly drawn round the body. The whole body is covered with puſtules, reſembling pearls; and the belly, which is of a bright yellow, ſeems as if it were ſewed up from the throat to the vent, a ſeam being ſeen to run in that direction. This ani⯑mal, like the reſt of the frog kind, is moſt pro⯑bably harmleſs; though we are told of terrible effects reſulting from its powder when calcined. This, however, muſt certainly be falſe: no creature whatever, when calcined, can be poi⯑ſonous; for the fire burns away whatever might have been dangerous in their compoſition: all animal ſubſtances, when calcined, being entirely the ſame.

CHAP. IV. Of Lizards in General.

THERE is ſcarce a naturaliſt that has treated of Lizards, but has a particular manner of ranking them, in the ſcale of animated nature. Ray, rather ſtruck with the number of their legs, than their habits and conformation, has ex⯑alted them among quadrupedes; while Linnaeus, attentive only to their long ſlender forms, has degraded them among ſerpents. Briſſon gives them a diſtinct claſs by themſelves, under the name of Reptiles. Klein gives them a claſs inferior to beaſts, under the name of Naked Quadrupedes. Some, in ſhort, from their ſcaly covering, and fondneſs for the water, have given them to the fiſhes; while there have not been wanting naturaliſts who have claſſed them with inſects, as the ſmaller kinds of this claſs ſeem to demand.

It is indeed no eaſy matter to tell to what claſs in nature lizards are chiefly allied. They are unjuſtly raiſed to the rank of beaſts, as they bring forth eggs, diſpenſe with breathing, and are not covered with hair. They cannot be placed among fiſhes, as the majority of them [113] live upon land: they are excluded from the ſerpent tribe, by their feet, upon which they run with ſome celerity; and from the inſects, by their ſize; for though the Newt may be looked upon in this contemptible light, a Cro⯑codile would be a terrible inſect indeed. Thus lizards are, in ſome meaſure, excluded from every rank; while they exhibit ſomewhat of the properties of all; the legs and celerity of the quadrupede; a facility of creeping through narrow and intricate ways, like the ſerpent; and a power of living in the water, like fiſhes: however, though endued with theſe various powers, they have no real advantages over any other claſs of animated nature; for what they gain in aptitude for one element, they loſe in their fitneſs for another. Thus, between both, they are an aukward, ungainly tribe; neither ſo alert upon land, nor ſo nimble in the water, as the reſpective inhabitants of either abode: and, indeed, this holds through all nature, that, in proportion as the ſeeming advantages of inferior animals are multiplied, their real ones are abridged; and all their inſtincts are weakened and loſt, by the variety of channels into which they are divided.

As lizards thus differ from every other claſs of animals, they alſo differ widely from each [114] other. With reſpect to ſize, no claſs of beings has its ranks ſo oppoſite. What, for inſtance, can be more removed than the ſmall Cameleon, an inch long, and the Alligator of the river Amazons, above twenty-ſeven feet? To an in⯑attentive obſerver, they would appear entirely of different kinds; and Seba wonders how they ever came to be claſſed together.

The colour of theſe animals alſo is very va⯑rious, as they are found of a hundred different hues, green, blue, red, cheſnut, yellow, ſpot⯑ted, ſtreaked, and marbled. Were colour alone capable of conſtituting beauty, the lizard would often pleaſe; but there is ſomething ſo repreſſing in the animal's figure, that the brilliancy of its ſcales, or the variety of its ſpots, only tend to give an air of more exquiſite venom of greater malignity. The figure of theſe animals is not leſs various: ſometimes ſwolen in the belly; ſometimes purſed up at the throat; ſometimes with a rough ſet of ſpines on the back, like the teeth of a ſaw; ſometimes with teeth, at others with none; ſometimes venomous, at others harmleſs, and even philanthropic: ſometimes ſmooth and even; ſometimes with a long, ſlen⯑der tail; and often with a ſhorter blunt one.

But their greateſt diſtinction ariſes from their manner of bringing forth their young. Firſtly, [115] ſome of them are viviparous. Secondly, ſome are oviparous; and which may be conſidered in three diſtinct ways. Thirdly, ſome bring forth ſmall ſpawn, like fiſhes. The Crocodile, the Iguana, and all the larger kinds, bring forth eggs, which are hatched by the heat of the ſun: the animals that iſſue from them are complete upon leaving the ſhell; and their firſt efforts are to run to ſeek food in their pro⯑per element. The viviparous kinds, in which are all the ſalamanders, come forth alive from the body of the female, perfect and active, and ſuffer no ſucceeding change. But thoſe which are bred in the water, and, as we have reaſon to think, from ſpawn, ſuffer a very conſiderable change in their form. They are produced with an external ſkin or covering, that ſometimes encloſes their feet, and gives them a ſerpentine appearance. To this falſe ſkin, fins are added, above and below the tail, that ſerve the animal for ſwimming; but when the falſe ſkin drops off, theſe drop off alſo; and then the lizard, with its four feet, is completely formed, and forſakes the water.

From hence it appears, that of this tribe there are three diſtinct kinds, differently pro⯑duced, and moſt probably very different in their formation. But the hiſtory of theſe animals is [116] very obſcure; and we are as yet incapable of laying the line that ſeparates them. All we know, as was ſaid before, is, that the great animals of this kind are moſtly produced perfect from the egg; the ſalamanders are generally vi⯑viparous; and ſome of the water lizards imper⯑fectly produced. In all theſe moſt unfiniſhed productions of Nature, if I may ſo call them, the varieties in their ſtructure encreaſes in pro⯑portion to their imperfections. A poet would ſay, that Nature grew tired of the nauſeous formation; and left accident to finiſh the reſt of her handy work.

However, the three kinds have many points of ſimilitude; and, in all their varieties of figure, colour, and production, this tribe is eaſily diſtinguiſhed, and ſtrongly marked. They have all four ſhort legs; the two fore feet ſomewhat reſembling a man's hand and arm. They have tails almoſt as thick as the body at the beginning, and that generally run tapering to a point. They are all amphibious alſo; equally capable of living upon land and water; and formed internally in the ſame manner with the tortoiſe, and other animals, that can continue a long time without reſpira⯑tion: in other words, their lungs are not ſo neceſſary to continue life and circulation, [117] but that their play may be ſtopped for ſome conſiderable time, while the blood performs its circuit round the body by a ſhorter commu⯑nication.

Theſe are differences that ſufficiently ſeparate lizards from all other animals; but it will be very difficult to fix the limits that diſtinguiſh the three kinds from each other. The crocodile tribe, and its affinities, are ſufficiently diſtin⯑guiſhed from all the reſt, by their ſize and fierce⯑neſs; the ſalamander tribe is diſtinguiſhed by their deformity, their frog-like heads, the ſhortneſs of their ſnouts, their ſwolen belly, and their viviparous production. With regard to the reſt, which we may denominate the cameleon or lizard kind, ſome of which bring forth from the egg, and ſome of which are im⯑perfectly formed from ſpawn, we muſt groupe them under one head, and leave time to unravel the reſt of their hiſtory.

CHAP. V. Of the Crocodile and its Affinities.

THE Crocodile is an animal placed at a happy diſtance from the inhabitants of Europe, and formidable only in thoſe regions where men are ſcarce, and arts are but little known. In all the cultivated and populous parts of the world, the great animals are entirely baniſhed, or rarely ſeen. The appearance of ſuch raiſes at once a whole country up in arms to oppoſe their force; and their lives generally pay the forfeit of their temerity. The crocodile, therefore, that was once ſo terrible along the banks of the river Nile, is now neither ſo large, nor its numbers ſo great as formerly. The arts of mankind have, through a courſe of ages, powerfully operated to its deſtruction; and, though it is ſometimes ſeen, it appears comparatively ti⯑morous and feeble.

Of this terrible animal there are two kinds; the Crocodile, properly ſo called, and the Cay⯑man or Alligator. Travellers, however, have rather made the diſtinction than Nature; for in the general outline, and in the nature of theſe two animals they are entirely the ſame. It would be ſpeaking more properly to call theſe animals the Crocodiles of the eaſtern and the weſtern world; for in books of voyages, they are ſo entirely confounded together, that there is no knowing whether the Aſiatic animal be the cro⯑codile of Aſia, or the alligator of the weſtern world. The diſtinctions uſually made between [120] the crocodile and alligator are theſe: the body of the crocodile is more ſlender than that of the alligator; its ſnout runs off tapering from the forehead, like that of a greyhound; while that of the other is indented, like the noſe of a lap-dog. The crocodile has a much wider ſwallow, and is of an aſh-colour; the alligator is black, varied with white, and is thought not to be ſo miſchievous. All theſe diſtinctions, however, are very ſlight, and can be reckoned little more than minute variations.

This animal grows to a great length, being ſometimes found thirty feet long, from the tip of the ſnout to the end of the tail: its moſt uſual length, however, is eighteen. One which was diſſected by the Jeſuits at Siam was of the latter dimenſions; and as the deſcription which is given of it, both externally and inter⯑nally, is the moſt accurate known of this noted animal, I muſt beg leave to give it as I find it, though ſomewhat tedious. It was eighteen feet and an half, French meaſure, in length; of which the tail was no leſs than five feet and an half, and the head and neck above two feet and an half. It was four feet nine inches in circumference, where thickeſt. The fore legs had the ſame parts and conformation as the arms of a man, both within and without. The [121] hands, if they may be ſo called, had five fingers; the two laſt of which had no nails, and were of a conical figure. The hinder legs, including the thigh and paw, were two feet two inches long; the paws, from the joint to the extremity of the longeſt claws, were above nine inches: they were divided into four toes, of which three were armed with large claws, the longeſt of which was an inch and an half: theſe toes were united by a membrane, like thoſe of a duck, but much thicker. The head was long, and had a little riſing at the top; but the reſt was flat, and eſpecially towards the extremity of the jaws. It was covered by a ſkin, which adhered firmly to the ſkull and to the jaws. The ſkull was rough and unequal in ſeveral places; and about the middle of the forehead there were two bony creſts, about two inches high: the ſkull between theſe two creſts was proof againſt a muſquet-ball; for it only rendered the part a little white that it ſtruck againſt. The eye was very ſmall, in proportion to the reſt of the body, and was ſo placed within its orbit, that the outward part, when the lid was cloſed, was only an inch long, and the line running parallel to the opening of the jaws. It was covered with a double lid, one within and one without: that within, like the nictitating membrane in birds, was folded in the great corner of the eye, and had [122] a motion towards the tail, but being tranſ⯑parent, it covered the eye without hindering the ſight. The iris was very large in proportion to the globe of the eye, and was of a yellowiſh grey colour. Above the eye the ear was placed, which opened from above downwards, as if it were by a kind of ſpring, by means of a ſolid, thick, cartilaginous ſubſtance. The noſe was placed in the middle of the upper jaw, near an inch from its extremity, and was perfectly round and flat, being near two inches in diameter, of a black, ſoft, ſpongy ſubſtance, not unlike the noſe of a dog. The jaws ſeemed to ſhut one within another; and nothing can be more falſe than that the animal's under jaw is without mo⯑tion; it moves, like the lower jaw in all other animals, while the upper is fixed to the ſkull and abſolutely immoveable. The animal had twenty-ſeven cutting teeth in the upper jaw, and fifteen in the lower, with ſeveral void ſpaces between them: they were thick at the bottom, and ſharp at the point, being all of different ſizes, except ten large hooked ones, ſix of which were in the lower jaw, and four in the upper. The mouth was fifteen inches in length, and eight and an half in breadth, where broadeſt. The diſtance of the two jaws, when opened as wide as they could be, was fifteen inches and an half: this is a very wide yawn, and could eaſily enough take in the [123] body of a man. The colour of the body was of a dark brown on the upper part, and of a whitiſh citron below, with large ſpots of both colours on the ſides. From the ſhoulders to the extremity of the tail, the animal was covered with large ſcales, of a ſquare form, diſpoſed like parallel girdles, and fifty-two in num⯑ber; but thoſe near the tail were not ſo thick as the reſt. The creature was covered not only with theſe, but all over with a coat of armour; which, however, was not proof againſt a muſ⯑quet-ball, contrary to what has been commonly aſſerted: however, it muſt be confeſſed, that the attitude in which the animal was placed, might contribute to render the ſkin more penetrable; for probably if the ball had ſtruck obliquely againſt the ſhell, it would have flown off. Thoſe parts of the girdles underneath the belly were of a whitiſh colour, and were made up of ſcales of divers ſhapes, but not ſo hard as thoſe on the back.

With reſpect to the internal parts of the ani⯑mal, the gullet was large in proportion to the mouth; and a ball of wood, as large as one's head, readily ran down, and was drawn up again. The guts were but ſhort, in compariſon, being not ſo long as the animal's body. The tongue, which ſome have erroneouſly aſſerted [124] this animal was without, conſiſted of a thick ſpongy ſoft fleſh, and was ſtrongly connected to the lower jaw. The heart was of the ſize of a calf's, of a bright red colour, the blood paſſing as well from the veins to the aorta as into the lungs. There was no bladder; but the kidneys ſent the urine to be diſcharged by the anus. There were ſixty-two joints in the back-bone, which, though very cloſely united, had ſufficient play to enable the animal to bend like a bow to the right and the left; ſo that what we hear of eſcaping the creature by turning out of the right line, and of the animal's not being able to wheel readily after its prey, ſeems to be fa⯑bulous. It is moſt likely the crocodile can turn with great eaſe, for the joints of its back are not ſtiffer than thoſe of other animals which we know by experience can wheel about very nimbly for their ſize.

Such is the figure and conformation of this formidable animal, that unpeoples countries, and makes the moſt navigable rivers deſart and dangerous. They are ſeen, in ſome places, ly⯑ing for whole hours, and even days, ſtretched in the ſun, and motionleſs; ſo that one not uſed to them, might miſtake them for trunks of trees, covered with a rough and dry bark; but the miſtake would ſoon be fatal, if not pre⯑vented: [125] for the torpid animal, at the near approach of any living thing, darts upon it with inſtant ſwiftneſs, and at once drags it down to the bottom. In the times of an inun⯑dation, they ſometimes enter the cottages of the natives, where the dreadful viſitant ſeizes the firſt animal it meets with. There have been ſeveral examples of their taking a man out of a canoe in the ſight of his companions, with⯑out their being able to lend him any aſſiſtance.

The ſtrength of every part of the crocodile is very great; and its arms, both offenſive and defenſive, irreſiſtible. We have ſeen, from the ſhortneſs of its legs, the amazing ſtrength of the tortoiſe: but what is the ſtrength of ſuch an animal, compared to that of the crocodile, whoſe legs are very ſhort and whoſe ſize is ſo ſuperior. The back-bone is jointed in the firmeſt manner; the muſcles of the fore and hinder legs are vigorous and ſtrong; and its whole form calculated for force. Its teeth are ſharp, numerous and formidable; its claws are long and tenaceous; but its principal inſtrument of deſtruction is the tail: with a ſingle blow of this it has often overturned a canoe, and ſeized upon the poor ſavage its conductor.

Though not ſo powerful, yet it is very ter⯑rible even upon land. The crocodile ſeldom, [126] except when preſſed by hunger, or with a view of depoſiting its eggs, leaves the water. Its uſual method is to float along upon the ſurface and ſeize whatever animals come within its reach; but when this method fails, it then goes cloſer to the bank. Diſappointed of its fiſhy prey, it there waits covered up among the ſedges, in patient expectation of ſome land animal that comes to drink; the dog, the bull, the tiger, or man himſelf. Nothing is to be ſeen of the inſiduous deſtroyer as the animal approaches; nor is its retreat diſcovered till it be too late for ſafety. It ſeizes the victim with a ſpring, and goes at a bound much faſter than ſo unwieldy an animal could be thought capable of exerting; then having ſecured the creature with both teeth and claws, it drags it into the water, inſtantly ſinks with it to the bottom, and in this manner quickly drowns it.

Sometimes it happens that the creature the crocodile has thus ſurprized eſcapes from its graſp wounded, and makes off from the river⯑ſide. In ſuch a caſe, the tyrant purſues with all its force, and often ſeizes it a ſecond time; for though ſeemingly heavy, the crocodile runs with great celerity. In this manner it is ſome⯑times ſeen above half a mile from the bank, in [127] purſuit of an animal wounded beyond the power of eſcaping, and then dragging it back to the river-ſide, where it feaſts in ſecurity.

It often happens, in its depredations along the bank, that the crododile ſeizes on a crea⯑ture as formidable as itſelf, and meets with a moſt deſperate reſiſtance. We are told of fre⯑quent combats between the crocodile and the tiger. All creatures of the tiger kind are con⯑tinually oppreſſed by a parching thirſt that keeps them in the vicinity of great rivers, whither they deſcend to drink very frequently. It is upon theſe occaſions that they are ſeized by the crocodile; and they die not unrevenged. The inſtant they are ſeized upon, they turn with the greateſt agility, and force their claws into the crocodile's eyes, while he plunges with his fierce antagoniſt into the river. There they continue to ſtruggle for ſome time, till at laſt the tiger is drowned.

In this manner the crocodile ſeizes and deſtroys all animals, and is equally dreaded by all. There is no animal but man alone that can com⯑bat it with ſucceſs. We are aſſured by Labat, that a Negro, with no other weapons than a knife in his right hand, and his left arm wrapped round with a cow hide, ventures boldly to at⯑tack this animal in its own element. As ſoon [128] as he approaches the crocodile, he preſents his left arm, which the animal ſwallows moſt gree⯑dily; but ſticking in its throat, the Negro has time to give it ſeveral ſtabs under the throat; and the water alſo getting in it at the mouth, which is held involuntarily open, the creature is ſoon bloated up as big as a tun, and expires.

To us who live at a diſtance from the rapacity of theſe animals, theſe ſtories appear ſtrange, and yet moſt probably are true. From not having ſeen any thing ſo formidable or bold in the circle of our own experience, we are not to determine upon the wonderful tranſactions in diſtant climates. It is probable that theſe, and a number of more dreadful encounters, happen every day among thoſe foreſts and in thoſe rivers where the moſt formidable animals are known to reſide; where the elephant and the rhinoceros, the tiger and the hipopotamos, the ſhark and the crocodile, have frequent op⯑portunities of meeting, and every day of re⯑newing their engagements.

Whatever be the truth of theſe accounts, certain it is that crocodiles are taken by the Siameſe in great abundance. The natives of that empire ſeem particularly fond of the capture of all the great animals with which their country abounds. We have already ſeen their ſucceſs [129] in taking and taming the elephant; nor are they leſs powerful in exerting their dominion over the crocodile. The manner of taking it in Siam is by throwing three or four ſtrong nets acroſs a river, at proper diſtances from each other; ſo that if the animal breaks through the firſt, it may be caught by one of the reſt. When it is firſt taken, it employs the tail, which is the grand inſtrument of ſtrength, with great force; but after many unſucceſsful ſtruggles, the animal's ſtrength is at laſt exhauſted. Then the natives approach their priſoner in boats, and pierce him with their weapons in the [...] tender parts till he is weakened with the loſs of blood. When he has done ſtirring, they begin by tying up his mouth, and with the ſame cord they faſten his head to his tail, which laſt they bend back like a bow. However, they are not yet perfectly ſecure from his fury; but, for their greater ſafety, they tie his fore feet as well as thoſe behind to the top of his back. Theſe precautions are not uſeleſs; for if they were to omit them, the crocodile would ſoon recover ſtrength enough to do a great deal of miſ⯑chief.

The crocodile thus brought into ſubjection, or bred up young, is uſed to divert and enter⯑tain the great men of the eaſt. It is often [130] managed like an horſe; a curb is put into its mouth, and the rider directs it as he thinks pro⯑per. Though aukwardly formed, it does not fail to proceed with ſome degree of ſwiftneſs; and is thought to move as faſt as ſome of the moſt unwieldy of our own animals, the hog or the cow. Some, indeed, aſſert that no animal could eſcape it, but for its difficulty in turning; but to this reſource we could wiſh none would truſt who are ſo unhappy as to find themſelves in danger.

Along the rivers of Africa this animal is ſome⯑times taken in the ſame manner as the ſhark. Several Europeans go together in a large boat, and throw out a piece of beef upon a hook and ſtrong fortified line, which the cro⯑codile ſeizing and ſwallowing, is drawn along, floundering and ſtruggling until its ſtrength is quite exhauſted, when it is pierced in the belly, which is its tendereſt part; and thus after num⯑berleſs wounds is drawn aſhore. In this part of the world alſo, as well as at Siam, the cro⯑codile makes an object of ſavage pomp near the palaces of their monarchs. Philips informs us that at Sabi, on the ſlave coaſt, there are two pools of water near the royal palace, where cro⯑codiles are bred as we breed carp in our ponds in Europe.

[131]Hitherto I have been deſcribing the crocodile as it is found in unpeopled countries, and un⯑diſturbed by frequent encounters with mankind. In this ſtate it is fierce and cruel, attacking every object that ſeems endued with motion: but in Egypt, and other countries long peopled, where the inhabitants are civilized and the rivers fre⯑quented, this animal is ſolitary and fearful. So far from coming to attack a man, it ſinks at his ap⯑proach with the utmoſt precipitation; and, as if ſenſible of ſuperior power, ever declines the en⯑gagement. We have ſeen more than one in⯑ſtance in animated nature of the contempt which at firſt the lower orders of the creation have for man, till they have experienced his powers of de⯑ſtruction. The lion and the tiger among beaſts, the whale among fiſhes, the albatroſs and the penguin among birds, meet the firſt encounters of man without dread or apprehenſion; but they ſoon learn to acknowledge his ſuperiority; and take refuge from his power in the deepeſt faſtneſſes of nature. This may account for the different characters which have been given us of the crocodile and the alligator by travellers at different times: ſome deſcribing them as harmleſs and fearful, as ever avoiding the ſight of a man, and preying only upon fiſhes; others ranking them among the deſtroyers of [132] nature; deſcribing them as furniſhed with ſtrength and impelled by malignity to do miſ⯑chief; repreſenting them as the greateſt ene⯑mies of mankind, and particularly deſirous of human prey. The truth is, the animal has been juſtly deſcribed by both; being ſuch as it is found in places differently peopled or dif⯑ferently civilized. Wherever the crocodile has reigned long unmoleſted, it is there fierce, bold, and dangerous; wherever it has been harraſſed by mankind, its retreats invaded, and its numbers deſtroyed, it is there timorous and inoffenſive.

In ſome places, therefore, this animal, inſtead of being formidable, is not only inoffenſive, but is cheriſhed and admired. In the river San Do⯑mingo, the crocodiles are the moſt inoffenſive animals in nature; the children play with them, and ride about on their backs; they even beat them ſometimes without receiving the ſmalleſt injury. It is true the inhabitants are very careful of this gentle breed, and conſider them as harmleſs domeſtics.

It is probable that the ſmell of muſk, which all theſe animals exhale, may render them agreeable to the ſavages of that part of Africa. They are often known to take the part of this animal which contains the muſk and wear it as a per⯑fume [133] about their perſons. Travellers are not agreed in what part of the body theſe muſk⯑bags are contained; ſome ſay in the ears; ſome, in the parts of generation; but the moſt pro⯑bable opinion is, that this muſky ſubſtance is amaſſed in glands under the legs and arms. From whatſoever part of the body this odour proceeds, it is very ſtrong and powerful, tinc⯑turing the fleſh of the whole body with its taſte and ſmell. The crocodile's fleſh is at beſt very bad tough eating; but unleſs the muſk-bags be ſeparated it is inſupportable. The Negroes themſelves cannot well digeſt the fleſh; but then, a crocodile's egg is to them the moſt delicate morſel in the world. Even ſa⯑vages exhibit their epicures as well as we; and one of true taſte will ſpare neither pains nor danger to furniſh himſelf with his favourite re⯑paſt. For this reaſon, he often watches the places where the female comes to lay her eggs, and upon her retiring ſeizes the booty.

All crocodiles breed near freſh waters; and though they are ſometimes found in the ſea, yet that may be conſidered rather as a place of excurſion than abode. They produce their young by eggs, as was ſaid above; and for this purpoſe the female when ſhe comes to lay, chooſes a place by the ſide of a river, or ſome [134] freſh water lake, to depoſit her brood in. She always pitches upon an extenſive ſandy ſhore, where ſhe may dig a hole without danger of de⯑tection from the ground being freſh turned up. The ſhore muſt alſo be gentle and ſhelving to the water, for the greater convenience of the animal's going and returning; and a convenient place muſt be found near the edge of the ſtream, that the young may have a ſhorter way to go. When all theſe requiſites are adjuſted, the animal is ſeen cautiouſly ſtealing up on ſhore to depoſit her burthen. The preſence of a man, a beaſt, or even a bird, is ſufficient to deter her at that time; and if ſhe perceives any creature looking on, ſhe infallibly returns. If, however, nothing appears, ſhe then goes to work, ſcratching up the ſand with her fore paws, and making a hole pretty deep in the ſhore. There ſhe de⯑poſits from eighty to an hundred eggs, of the ſize of a tennis-ball, and of the ſame figure, covered with a tough white ſkin like parchment. She takes above an hour to perform this taſk; and then covering up the place ſo artfully that it can ſcarcely be perceived, ſhe goes back to return again the next day. Upon her return, with the ſame precaution as before, ſhe lays about the ſame number of eggs; and the day following alſo a like number. Thus having [135] depoſited her whole quantity, and having co⯑vered them cloſe up in the ſand, they are ſoon vivified by the heat of the ſun; and at the end of thirty days, the young ones begin to break open the ſhell. At this time the female is in⯑ſtinctively taught that her young ones want relief; and ſhe goes up on land to ſcratch away the ſand and ſet them free. Her brood quickly avail themſelves of their liberty; a part run unguided to the water; another part aſcend the back of the female, and are carried thither in greater ſafety. But the moment they arrive at the water, all natural connexion is at an end: when the female has introduced her young to their natural element, not only ſhe, but the male, become among the number of their moſt formidable enemies, and devour as many of them as they can. The whole brood ſcatters into different parts at the bottom; by far the greateſt number are deſtroyed; and the reſt find ſafety in their agility or minuteneſs.

But it is not the crocodile alone that is thus found to thin their numbers; the eggs of this animal are not only a delicious feaſt to the ſavage, but are eagerly ſought after by every beaſt and bird of prey. The ichneumon was erected into a deity among the ancients for its ſucceſs in deſtroying the eggs of theſe monſters: [136] at preſent that ſpecies of the vulture called the Gallinazo is their moſt prevailing enemy. All along the banks of great rivers, for thouſands of miles, the crocodile is ſeen to propagate in numbers that would ſoon over-run the earth, but for the vulture, that ſeems appointed by Providence to abridge its fecundity. Theſe birds are ever found in greateſt numbers where the crocodile is moſt numerous; and hiding themſelves within the thick branches of the trees that ſhade the banks of the river, they watch the female in ſilence, and permit her to lay all her eggs without interruption. Then when ſhe has retired, they encourage each other with cries to the ſpoil; and flocking all together upon the hidden treaſure, tear up the eggs, and devour them in a much quicker time than they were depoſited. Nor are they leſs diligent in at⯑tending the female while ſhe is carrying her young to the water; for if any one of them happens to drop by the way, it is ſure to receive no mercy.

Such is the extraordinary account given us by late travellers of the propagation of this animal; an account adopted by Linnaeus and the moſt learned naturaliſts of the age^*. Yet, if one might argue from the general analogy [137] of nature, the crocodile's devouring her own young when ſhe gets to the water ſeems doubtful. This may be a ſtory raiſed from the general idea of this animal's rapacious cruelty; when, in fact, the crocodile only ſeems more cruel than other animals becauſe it has more power to do miſchief. It is probable that it is not more diveſted of parental tenderneſs than other creatures; and I am the more led to think ſo from the peculiar formation of one of the crocodile kind. This is called the Open Bellied Crocodile, and is furniſhed with a falſe belly like the opoſſum, where the young creep out and in as their dangers or neceſſities require. The crocodile thus furniſhed at leaſt cannot be ſaid to be an enemy to her own young, ſince ſhe thus gives them more than parental protection. It is probable alſo that this Open Bellied Cro⯑codile is viviparous, and foſters her young that are prematurely excluded in this ſecond womb, until they come to proper maturity.

How long the crocodile lives we are not certainly informed; if we may believe Ariſtotle, it lives the age of a man; but the ancients ſo much amuſed themſelves in inventing fables concerning this animal, that even truth from them is ſuſpicious. What we know for certain from the ancients is, that among the various [138] animals that were produced to fight in the am⯑phitheatre at Rome, the combat of the cro⯑codile was not wanting^*. Marcus Scaurus produced them living in his unrivalled exhi⯑bitions; and the Romans conſidered him as the beſt citizen, becauſe he furniſhed them with the moſt expenſive entertainments. But entertain⯑ment at that corrupt time was their only occu⯑pation.

CHAP. VI. Of the Salamander.

THE ancients have deſcribed a lizard that is bred from heat, that lives in the flames, and feeds upon fire as its proper nouriſhment. As they ſaw every other element, the air, the earth and water, inhabited, fancy was ſet to work to find or make an inhabitant in fire; and thus to people every part of nature. It will be need⯑leſs to ſay that there is no ſuch animal exiſting; and that, of all others, the modern Salamander has the ſmalleſt affinity to ſuch an abode.

Whether the animal that now goes by the name of the ſalamander be the ſame with that deſcribed by Pliny, is a doubt with me; but this is not a place for the diſcuſſion. It is ſuf⯑ficient to obſerve, that the modern ſalamander is an animal of the lizard kind, and under this name is comprehended a large tribe that all go by the ſame name. There have been not leſs than ſeven ſorts of this animal deſcribed by Seba; and to have ſome idea of the peculiarity of their figure, if we ſuppoſe the tail of a lizard applied to the body of a frog, we ſhall not be far from preciſion. The common lizard is long, ſmall [140] and taper; the ſalamander, like the frog, has its eyes towards the back of the head; like the frog, its ſnout is round and not pointed, and its belly thick and ſwolen. The claws of its toes are ſhort and feeble; its ſkin rough; and the tongue, unlike that of the ſmalleſt of the lizard kind, in which it is long and forked, is ſhort, and adhering to the under jaw.

But it is not in figure that this animal chiefly differs from the reſt of the lizard tribe; for it ſeems to differ in nature and conformation. In nature it is unlike, being an heavy, torpid ani⯑mal; whereas the lizard tribe are active, reſtleſs, and ever in motion: in conformation it is un⯑like, as the ſalamander is produced alive from the body of its parent, and is completely formed the moment of its excluſion. It differs from them alſo in its general reputation of being ve⯑nomous; however, no trials that have been hi⯑therto made ſeem to confirm the truth of the report.

Not only this, but many others of the lizard tribe are ſaid to have venom; but it were to be wiſhed that mankind, for their own happineſs, would examine into the foundation of this re⯑proach. By that means many of them, that are now ſhunned and deteſted, might be found in⯑offenſive; their figure, inſtead of exciting either [141] horror or diſguſt, would then only tend to ani⯑mate the general ſcene of nature; and ſpecu⯑lation might examine their manners in con⯑fidence and ſecurity. Certain it is, that all of the lizard kind with which we are acquainted in this country, are perfectly harmleſs; and it is equally true that, for a long time, till our prejudices were removed, we conſidered not only the Newt, but the Snake and the Blind⯑worm, as fraught with the moſt deſtructive poiſon. At preſent we have got over theſe pre⯑judices; and, it is probable, that, if other nations made the ſame efforts for information, it would be found, that the malignity of moſt, if not all, of the lizard tribe, was only in the imagination.

With reſpect to the Salamander, the whole tribe, from the Moron to the Gekko, are ſaid to be venomous to the laſt degree; yet, when experiments have been tried, no arts, no pro⯑vocations, could excite theſe animals to the rage of biting. They ſeem timid and inoffenſive, only living upon worms and inſects; quite deſtitute of fangs, like the viper; their teeth are ſo very ſmall, that they are hardly able to inflict a wound. But as the teeth are thus in⯑capable of offending, the people of the coun⯑tries where they are found have recourſe to a venomous ſlaver, which, they ſuppoſe, iſſues [142] from the animal's mouth; they alſo tell us of a venom iſſuing from the claws: even Linnaeus ſeems to acknowledge the fact; but thinks it a probable ſuppoſition that this venom may proceed from their urine.

Of all animals, the Gekko is the moſt no⯑torious for its powers of miſchief: yet, we are told by thoſe who load it with that calumny, that it is very friendly to man, and though ſup⯑plied with the moſt deadly virulence, is yet never known to bite. It would be abſurd in us, without experience, to pronounce upon the noxious or inoffenſive qualities of animals: yet it is moſt probable, from an inſpection of the teeth of lizards, and from their inoffenſive qua⯑lities in Europe, that the gekko has been un⯑juſtly accuſed; and that its ſerpent-like figure has involved it in one common reproach with ſerpents.

The ſalamander beſt known in Europe, is from eight to eleven inches long, uſually black, ſpotted with yellow; and when taken in the hand, feeling cold to a great degree. There are ſeveral kinds. Our Black Water Newt is reckoned among the number. The idle report of its being inconſumable in fire, has cauſed many of theſe poor animals to be burnt; but we cannot ſay as philoſophical martyrs; ſince ſcarce any [143] philoſopher could think it neceſſary to make the experiment. When thrown into the fire, the animal is ſeen to burſt with the heat of its ſituation, and to eject its fluids. We are gravely told, in the Philoſophical Tranſactions, that this is a method the animal takes to extinguiſh the flames.

When examined internally, the ſalamander exhibits little different from other animals of the lizard kind. It is furniſhed with lungs that ſometimes ſerve for the offices of breathing; with a heart that has its communications open, ſo that the animal cannot eaſily be drowned. The ovary in the female is double the ſize of what it is in others of this tribe; and the male is furniſhed with four teſticuli inſtead of two. But what deſerves particular notice is the manner of this animal's bringing forth its young alive^*. ‘"The ſalamander," ſays my author, "begins to ſhew itſelf in ſpring, and chiefly during heavy rains. When the warm weather re⯑turns, it diſappears; and never leaves its hole, during either great heats or ſevere colds, both which it equally fears. When taken in the hand, it appears like a lump of ice; it conſequently loves the ſhade, and is found [144] at the feet of old trees ſurrounded with bruſh⯑wood at the bottom. It is fond of running along new plowed grounds; probably to ſeek for worms, which are its ordinary food. One of theſe," continues my author, "I took alive ſome years ago in a ditch that had been lately made. I laid it at the foot of the ſtairs upon coming home, and there it diſgorged from the throat a worm three inches long, that lived for an hour after, though wounded as I ſuppoſe by the teeth of the animal. I afterwards cut up another of theſe lizards, and ſaw not leſs than fifty young ones, re⯑ſembling the parent, come from its womb, all alive, and actively running about the room."’ It were to be wiſhed the author had uſed another word beſide that of worm; as we now are in doubt whether he means a real worm, or a young animal of the lizard ſpecies: had he been more explicit, and had it appeared that it was a real young lizard, which I take to be his meaning, we might here ſee a wonder of Nature, brought to the proof which many have aſſerted, and many have thought proper to deny:—I mean the refuge which the young of the ſhark, the lizard, and the viper kinds, are ſaid to take, by running down the throat of the parent, and there finding a temporary ſecurity. [145] The fact indeed, ſeems a little extraordinary; and yet it is ſo frequently atteſted by ſome, and even believed by others, whoſe authority is re⯑ſpectable, among the number of whom we find Mr. Penant, that the argument of ſtrangeneſs muſt give way to the weight of authority.

However this be, there is no doubt of the animal's being viviparous, and producing above fifty at a time. They come from the parent in full perfection, and quickly leave her to ſhift for themſelves. Theſe animals, in the lower ranks of nature, want ſcarce any help when excluded; they ſoon complete the little circle of their education; and in a day or two are capable of practiſing all the arts of ſubſiſtence and evaſion practiſed by their kind.

They are all amphibious, or at leaſt are found capable of ſubſiſting in either element, when placed there: if thoſe taken from land are put into water, they continue there in ſeeming health; and, on the contrary, thoſe taken from the water will live upon land. In water, however, they exhibit a greater variety in their appearance; and what is equally won⯑derful with the reſt of their hiſtory, during the whole ſpring and ſummer this water lizard changes its ſkin every fourth or fifth day; and during the winter every fifteen days. This [146] operation they perform by means of the mouth and the claws; and it ſeems a work of no ſmall difficulty and pain. The caſt ſkins are fre⯑quently ſeen floating on the ſurface of the water: they are ſometimes ſeen alſo with a part of their old ſkin ſtill ſticking to one of their limbs, which they have not been able to get rid of; and thus, like a man with a boot half drawn, in ſome meaſure crippled in their own ſpoils. This alſo often corrupts, and the leg drops off; but the animal does not ſeem to feel the want of it, for the loſs of a limb to all the lizard kind is but a trifling calamity. They can live ſeveral hours even after the loſs of their head: and for ſome time under diſſection, all the parts of this animal ſeem to retain life: but the tail is the part that longeſt retains its motion. Salt ſeems to be much more efficacious in deſtroying theſe animals, than the knife; for, upon being ſprink⯑led with it, the whole body emits a viſcous li⯑quor, and the lizard dies in three minutes, in great agonies.

The whole of the lizard kind are alſo te⯑nacious of life in another reſpect, and the ſala⯑mander among the number. They ſuſtain the want of food in a ſurprizing manner. One of them, brought from the Indies, lived nine months, without any other food than what it [147] received from licking a piece of earth on which it was brought over^*: another was kept by Seba in an empty vial for ſix months, with⯑out any nouriſhment; and Redi talks of a large one, brought from Africa, that lived for eight months, without taking any nouriſh⯑ment whatever. Indeed, as many of this kind, both ſalamanders and lizards, are torpid, or nearly ſo, during the winter, the loſs of their appetite for ſo long a time is the leſs ſurprizing.

CHAP. VII. Of the Cameleon, the Iguana, and Lizards of different Kinds.

IT were to be wiſhed that animals could be ſo claſſed, that by the very mentioning their rank, we ſhould receive ſome inſight into their hiſtory. This I have endeavoured in moſt in⯑ſtances; but in the preſent chapter all method is totally unſerviceable. Here diſtribution gives no general ideas: for ſome of the animals to be here mentioned produce by eggs; ſome by ſpawn; and ſome are viviparous. The peculiar manner of propagating in each, is very in⯑diſtinctly known. The Iguana and the Came⯑leon, we know bring forth eggs; ſome others alſo produce in the ſame manner: but of the reſt, which naturaliſts make amount to above fifty, we have but very indiſtinct information.

In the former diviſions of this tribe, we had to obſerve upon animals, formidable from their ſize, or diſguſting from their frog-like head and appearance; in the preſent diviſion, all the animals are either beautiful to the eye, or grateful to the appetite. The lizards, properly ſo called, are beautifully painted and mottled; [149] their frolicſome agility is amuſing to thoſe who are familiar with their appearance; and the great affection which ſome of them ſhew to man, ſhould, in ſome meaſure, be repaid with kind⯑neſs. Others, ſuch as the Iguana, though not poſſeſſed of beauty, are very ſerviceable, fur⯑niſhing one of the moſt luxurious feaſts the tropical climates can boaſt of. Thoſe treated of before were objects of curioſity, becauſe they were apparently objects of danger: moſt of thoſe here mentioned have either uſe or beauty to engage us.

Directly deſcending from the crocodile, we find the Cordyle, the Tockay and the Teju⯑guacu, all growing leſs in order, as I have named them. Theſe fill up the chaſm to be found between the crocodile and the African iguana.

The Iguana, which deſerves our notice, is about five feet long, and the body about as thick as one's thigh: the ſkin is covered with ſmall ſcales, like thoſe of a ſerpent; and the back is furniſhed with a row of prickles, that ſtand up, like the teeth of a ſaw: the eyes ſeem to be but half opened, except when the animal is angry, and then they appear large and ſparkling: both the jaws are full of very ſharp teeth, and the bite is dangerous though [150] not venomous, for it never lets looſe till it is killed. The male has a ſkin hanging under his throat, which reaches down to his breaſt; and, when diſpleaſed, he puffs it up like a bladder: he is one third larger and ſtronger than the fe⯑male; though the ſtrength of either avails them little towards their defence. The males are aſh-coloured, and the females are green.

The fleſh of theſe may be conſidered as the greateſt delicacy of Africa and America; and the ſportſmen of thoſe climates go out to hunt the iguana, as we do in purſuit of the pheaſant or the hare. In the beginning of the ſeaſon, when the great floods of the tropical climates are paſt away, and vegetation ſtarts into uni⯑verſal verdure, the ſportſmen are ſeen, with a nooze and a ſtick, wandering along the ſides of the rivers, to take the iguana. This animal, though apparently formed for combat, is the moſt harmleſs creature of all the foreſt; it lives among the trees, or ſports in the water, without ever offering to offend: there, having fed upon the flowers of the mahot, and the leaves of the mapou, that grow along the banks of the ſtream, it goes to repoſe upon the branches of the trees that hang over the water. Upon land the animal is ſwift of foot; but when once in poſ⯑ſeſſion of a tree, it ſeems conſcious of the ſecu⯑rity [151] of its ſituation, and never offers to ſtir. There the ſportſman eaſily finds it, and as eaſily faſtens his nooze round its neck: if the head be placed in ſuch a manner that the nooze cannot readily be faſtened, by hitting the animal a blow on the noſe with the ſtick, it lifts the head, and offers it in ſome meaſure to the nooze. In this manner, and alſo by the tail, the iguana is dragged from the trees, and killed by repeat⯑ed blows on the head.

The Cameleon is a very different animal; and as the iguana ſatisfies the appetites of the epicure, this is rather the feaſt of the philoſopher. Like the crocodile, this little animal proceeds from an egg; and it alſo nearly reſembles that for⯑midable creature in form: but it differs widely in its ſize and its appetites; being not above eleven inches long, and delighting to ſit upon trees, being afraid of ſerpents, from which it is unable to eſcape on the ground.

The head of a large cameleon is almoſt two inches long; and from thence to the beginning of the tail, four and an half: the tail is five inches long, and the feet two and an half: the thickneſs of the body is different at different times; for ſometimes, from the back to the belly, it is two inches, and ſometimes but one; for it can blow itſelf up, and contract itſelf, at [152] pleaſure. This ſwelling and contraction is not only of the back and belly, but of the legs and tail.

Theſe different tumours do not proceed from a dilatation of the breaſt in breathing, which riſes and falls by turns; but are very irregular, and ſeem adopted merely from caprice. The ca⯑meleon is often ſeen, as it were, blown up for two hours together; and then it continues growing leſs and leſs inſenſibly; for the dilatation is always more quick and viſible than the contraction. In this laſt ſtate the animal ap⯑pears extremely lean; the ſpine of the back ſeems ſharp, and all the ribs may be counted; likewiſe the tendons of the legs and arms may be ſeen very diſtinctly.

This method of puffing itſelf up, is ſimilar to that in pigeons, whoſe crops are ſometimes greatly diſtended with air. The cameleon has a power of driving the air it breathes over every part of the body: however, it only gets between the ſkin and the muſcles; for the muſcles them⯑ſelves are never ſwolen. The ſkin is very cold to the touch; and though the animal ſeems ſo lean, there is no feeling the beating of the heart. The ſurface of the ſkin is unequal, and has a grain not unlike ſhagreen, but very ſoft, be⯑cauſe each eminence is as ſmooth as if it were [153] poliſhed. Some of theſe little protuberances are as large as a pin's head, on the arms, legs, belly and tail; but on the ſhoulders and head they are of an oval figure, and a little larger: thoſe under the throat are ranged in the form of a chaplet, from the lower lip to the breaſt. The colour of all theſe eminences, when the cameleon is at reſt in a ſhady place, is of a bluiſh grey, and the ſpaces between is of a pale red and yellow.

But when the animal is removed into the ſun, then comes the wonderful part of its hiſtory. At firſt it appears to ſuffer no change of colour, its greyiſh ſpots ſtill continuing the ſame: but the whole ſurface ſoon ſeems to imbibe the rays of light; and the ſimple colouring of the body changes into a variety of beautiful hues. Wherever the light comes upon the body, it is of a tawny brown; but that part of the ſkin on which the ſun does not ſhine, changes into ſe⯑veral brighter colours, pale yellow, or vivid crimſon; which form ſpots of the ſize of half one's finger: ſome of theſe deſcend from the ſpine half way down the back; and others appear on the ſides, arms and tail. When the ſun has done ſhining, the original grey colour returns by degrees, and covers all the body. Sometimes the animal becomes all over [154] ſpotted with brown ſpots, of a greeniſh caſt. When it is wrapped up in a white linen cloth for two or three minutes, the natural colour becomes much lighter; but not quite white, as ſome authors have pretended: however, from hence it muſt not be concluded that the ca⯑meleon aſſumes the colour of the objects which it approaches; this is entirely an error, and pro⯑bably has taken its riſe from the continual changes it appears to undergo.

Le Bruyn, in his Voyage to the Levant, has given us a very ample deſcription of the came⯑leon. During his ſtay at Smyrna, he bought ſeveral of this kind, and, to try how long they could live, kept four of them in a cage, per⯑mitting them at times to run about the houſe. The freſh ſea-breeze ſeemed to give them moſt ſpirits and vivacity; they opened their mouths to take it in: he never perceived that they eat any thing, except now and then a fly, which they took half an hour to ſwallow: he obſerved their colour often to change, three or four times ſucceſſively, without being able to find out any cauſe for ſuch alterations: their common colour he found to be grey, or rather a pale mouſe colour; but its moſt frequent changes were into a beautiful green, ſpotted with yellow: ſome⯑times the animal was marked all over with dark [155] brown; and this often changed into a lighter brown: ſome colours, however, it never aſ⯑ſumed; and, contrary to what was ſaid above, he found red to be among the number.

Though our traveller took the utmoſt care, he was unable to preſerve any of them alive above five months; and many of them died in four. When the cameleon changes place, and attempts to deſcend from an eminence, it moves with the utmoſt precaution, advancing one leg very deliberately before the other, ſtill ſecuring itſelf by holding whatever it can graſp by the tail. It ſeldom opens the mouth, except for freſh air; and when that is ſupplied, diſcovers its ſatisfaction by its motions, and the frequent changes of its colour. The tongue is ſometimes darted out after its prey, which is flies; and this is as long as the whole body. The eyes are remarkably little, though they ſtand out of the head: they have a ſingle eye-lid, like a cap with a hole in the middle, through which the ſight of the eye appears, which is of a ſhining brown; and round it there is a little circle of a gold colour: but the moſt extraordinary part of their conformation is, that the animal often moves one eye, when the other is entirely at reſt; nay, ſometimes one eye will ſeem to look directly forward, while the other looks back⯑ward; [156] and one will look upwards, while the other regards the earth.

To this claſs of lizards, we may refer the Dragon, a moſt terrible animal, but moſt pro⯑bably not of Nature's formation. Of this death-dealing creature all people have read; and the moſt barbarous countries, to this day, paint it to the imagination in all its terrors, and fear to meet it in every foreſt. It is not enough that Nature has furniſhed thoſe countries with poi⯑ſons of various malignity; with ſerpents forty feet long; with elephants, lions and tigers, to make their ſituation really dangerous; the ca⯑pricious imagination is ſet at work to call up new terrors; and ſcarce a ſavage is found, that does not talk of winged ſerpents of immoderate length, flying away with the camel or the rhino⯑ceros, or deſtroying mankind by a ſingle glare. Happily, however, ſuch ravagers are no where found to exiſt at preſent; and the whole race of dragons is dwindled down to the Flying Lizard, a little harmleſs creature, that only preys upon inſects, and even ſeems to embelliſh the foreſt with its beauty.

The Flying Lizard of Java perches upon fruit-trees, and feeds upon flies, ants, but⯑terflies, and other ſmall inſects. It is a very harmleſs creature, and does no miſchief in [157] any reſpect. Gentil, in his Voyage round the World, affirms, that he has ſeen theſe lizards, at the iſland of Java, in the Eaſt Indies. He obſerved they flew very ſwiftly from tree to tree; and having killed one, he could not but admire the ſkin, which was painted with ſeveral beautiful colours: it was a foot in length, and had four paws, like the common lizards; but its head was flat, and had a ſmall hole in the middle; the wings were very thin, and reſembled thoſe of a flying fiſh. About the neck were a ſort of wattles, not unlike thoſe of cocks, which gave it no diſagreeable appearance. He intended to have preſerved it, in order to bring it into Europe; but it was corrupted by the heat, before the cloſe of the day: however, they have ſince been brought into England, and are now com⯑mon enough in the cabinets of the curious.

The laſt animal of the lizard kind that I ſhall mention, is the Chalcidian Lizard of Aldro⯑vandus, very improperly called the Seps, by modern hiſtorians. This animal ſeems to make the ſhade that ſeparates the lizard from the ſerpent race. It has four legs, like the lizard; but ſo ſhort, as to be utterly unſerviceable in walking: it has a long ſlender body, like the ſerpent; and it is ſaid to have the ſerpent's ma⯑lignity alſo. The fore legs are very near the [158] head; the hind legs are placed far backward; but before and behind they ſeem rather uſeleſs incumbrances, than inſtruments ſerving to aſſiſt the animal in its motions, or in providing for its ſubſiſtence. Theſe animals are found above three feet long, and thick in proportion, with a large head and pointed ſnout. The whole body is covered with ſcales; and the belly is white, mixed with blue. It has four crooked teeth; as alſo a pointed tail, which, however, can inflict no wound. Whether the teeth be ſimilar to the viper's fangs, we are not told; though Volateranus ſays, they are covered with a membrane; by which I am apt to think he means a venom-bag, which is found at the root of the teeth of all ſerpents that are poi⯑ſonous. It is viviparous; fifteen young ones having been taken alive out of its belly. Upon the whole, it appears to bear a ſtrong affinity to the viper; and, like that animal, its bite may be dangerous.

CHAP. VIII. Of Serpents in General.

WE now come to a tribe that not only their deformity, their venom, their ready malignity, but alſo our prejudices, and our very religion, have taught us to deteſt. The ſerpent has from the beginning been the enemy of man; and it has hitherto continued to terrify and annoy him, notwithſtanding all the arts which have been practiſed to deſtroy it. Formidable in itſelf, it deters the invader from the purſuit; and from its figure capable of finding ſhelter in a little ſpace, it is not eaſily diſcovered by thoſe who would venture to try the encounter. Thus poſſeſſed at once of potent arms and inacceſſible or ſecure retreats, it baffles all the arts of man though never ſo earneſtly bent upon its de⯑ſtruction.

For this reaſon, there is ſcarce a country in the world that does not ſtill give birth to this poiſonous brood, that ſeem formed to quell human pride, and repreſs the boaſts of ſecurity. Mankind have driven the lion, the tiger and the wolf from their vicinity; but the ſnake and the viper ſtill defy their power, and frequently puniſh their inſolence.

[160]Their numbers, however, are thinned by human aſſiduity; and it is poſſible ſome of the kinds are wholly deſtroyed. In none of the countries of Europe are they ſufficiently nume⯑rous to be truly terrible; the philoſopher can meditate in the fields without danger, and the lover ſeek the grove without fearing any wounds but thoſe of metaphor. The various malignity that has been aſcribed to European ſerpents of old, is now utterly unknown; there are not above three or four kinds that are dangerous, and their poiſon operates in all in the ſame manner. A burning pain in the part, eaſily re⯑movable by timely applications, is the worſt effect that we experience from the bite of the moſt venomous ſerpents of Europe. The drowſy death, the ſtarting of the blood from every pore, the inſatiable and burning thirſt, the melting down the ſolid maſs of the whole form into one heap of putrefaction, theſe are horrors with which we are entirely unacquainted.

But though we have thus reduced theſe dan⯑gers, having been incapable of wholly remov⯑ing them, in other parts of the world they ſtill rage with all their ancient malignity. Nature ſeems to have placed them as centinels to deter mankind from ſpreading too widely, and from ſeeking new abodes till they have thoroughly [161] cultivated thoſe at home. In the warm coun⯑tries that lie within the tropic, as well as in the cold regions of the north, where the inhabitants are few, the ſerpents propagate in equal pro⯑portion. But of all countries, thoſe regions have them in the greateſt abundance where the fields are unpeopled and fertile, and where the climate ſupplies warmth and humidity. All along the ſwampy banks of the river Niger or Oroonoko, where the ſun is hot, the foreſts thick, and the men but few, the ſerpents cling among the branches of the trees in infinite num⯑bers, and carry on an unceaſing war againſt all other animals in their vicinity. Travellers have aſſured us that they have often ſeen large ſnakes twining round the trunk of a tall tree, encom⯑paſſing it like a wreath, and thus riſing and de⯑ſcending at pleaſure. In theſe countries, there⯑fore, the ſerpent is too formidable to become an object of curioſity, for it excites much more violent ſenſations.

We are not, therefore, to reject as wholly fa⯑bulous, the accounts left us by the ancients of the terrible devaſtations committed by a ſingle ſer⯑pent. It is probable, in early times, when the arts were little known, and mankind were but thinly ſcattered over the earth, that ſerpents, conti⯑nuing undiſturbed poſſeſſors of the foreſt, grew [162] to an amazing magnitude; and every other tribe of animals fell before them. It then might have happened, that ſerpents reigned the tyrants of a diſtrict for centuries together. To animals of this kind, grown by time and rapacity to an hundred or an hundred and fifty feet in length, the lion, the tiger, and even the elephant itſelf, were but feeble opponents. The dreadful mon⯑ſter ſpread deſolation round him; every creature that had life was devoured, or fled to a diſtance. That horrible faetor which even the commoneſt and the moſt harmleſs ſnakes are ſtill found to diffuſe, might, in theſe larger ones, become too powerful for any living being to withſtand; and while they preyed without diſtinction, they might thus alſo have poiſoned the atmoſphere around them. In this manner, having for ages lived in the hidden and unpeopled foreſt, and finding, as their appetites were more powerful, the quantity of their prey decreaſing, it is poſſible they might venture boldly from their retreats, into the more cultivated parts of the country, and carry conſternation among mankind, as they had before deſolation among the lower ranks of nature. We have many hiſtories of antiquity, preſenting us ſuch a picture; and exhibiting a whole nation ſinking under the ravages of a ſingle ſerpent. At that time man had not learned the art of uniting the efforts of [163] many, to effect one great purpoſe. Oppoſing multitudes only added new victims to the ge⯑neral calamity, and encreaſed mutual embar⯑raſſment and terror. The animal was therefore to be ſingly oppoſed by him who had the greateſt ſtrength, the beſt armour, and the moſt un⯑daunted courage. In ſuch an encounter, hun⯑dreds muſt have fallen; till one, more lucky than the reſt, by a fortunate blow, or by taking the monſter in its torpid interval, and ſurcharged with ſpoil, might kill, and thus rid his country of the deſtroyer. Such was the original oc⯑cupation of heroes; and thoſe who firſt obtained that name, from their deſtroying the ravagers of the earth, gained it much more deſervedly than their ſucceſſors, who acquired their repu⯑tation only for their ſkill in deſtroying each other. But as we deſcend into more enlightened anti⯑quity, we find theſe animals leſs formidable, as being attacked in a more ſucceſsful manner. We are told, that while Regulus led his army along the banks of the river Bagrada in Africa, an enormous ſerpent diſputed his paſſage over. We are aſſured by Pliny, who ſays that he himſelf ſaw the ſkin, that it was an hundred and twenty feet long, and that it had deſtroyed many of the army. At laſt, however, the battering engines were brought out againſt it; and theſe aſſailing [164] it at a diſtance, it was ſoon deſtroyed. Its ſpoils were carried to Rome, and the general was de⯑creed an ovation for his ſucceſs. There are, perhaps, few facts better aſcertained in hiſtory than this: an ovation was a remarkable honour; and was given only for ſome ſignal exploit, that did not deſerve a triumph: no hiſtorian would offer to invent that part of the ſtory at leaſt, without being ſubject to the moſt ſhameful de⯑tection. The ſkin was kept for ſeveral years after in the Capitol; and Pliny ſays, he ſaw it there: now, though Pliny was a credulous writer, he was by no means a falſe one; and whatever he ſays he has ſeen, we may very ſafely rely on. At preſent, indeed, ſuch ravages from ſerpents are ſcarce ſeen in any part of the world; not but that in Africa and America, ſome of them are powerful enough to brave the aſſaults of men to this day.

But happily for us, we are placed at ſuch a diſtance as to take a view of this tribe, without fearing for our ſafety; we can ſurvey their impo⯑tent malignity with the ſame delight with which the poet deſcribes the terrors of a dead monſter.

To us their ſlender form, their undulating motion, their vivid colouring, their horrid ſtench, their forky tongue, and their envenomed [165] fangs, are totally harmleſs; and in this country their uſes even ſerve to counterbalance the miſ⯑chief they ſometimes occaſion.

If we take a ſurvey of ſerpents in general, they have marks by which they are diſtinguiſhed from all the reſt of animated nature. They have the length and the ſuppleneſs of the eel, but want fins to ſwim with; they have the ſcaly covering and pointed tail of the lizard, but they want legs to walk with; they have the crawling motion of the worm, but, unlike that animal, they have lungs to breathe with: like all the reptile kind, they are reſentful when of⯑fended; and Nature has ſupplied them with terrible arms to revenge every injury.

Though they are poſſeſſed of very different degrees of malignity, yet they are all formidable to man, and have a ſtrong ſimilitude of form to each other; and it will be proper to mark the general characters before we deſcend to par⯑ticulars. With reſpect to their conformation, all ſerpents have a very wide mouth, in pro⯑portion to the ſize of the head; and what is very extraordinary, they can gape and ſwallow the head of another animal which is three times as big as their own. I have ſeen a toad taken out of the belly of a ſnake, at Lord Spencer's, near London, the body of which was thrice the [166] diameter of the animal that ſwallowed it. How⯑ever, it is no way ſurprizing that the ſkin of the ſnake ſhould ſtretch to receive ſo large a morſel; the wonder ſeems how the jaws could take it in. To explain this, it muſt be obſerved that the jaws of this animal do not open as ours, in the manner of a pair of hinges, where bones are applied to bones and play upon one another; on the contrary, the ſerpent's jaws are held together at the roots by a ſtretching muſcular ſkin; by which means they open as widely as the animal chuſes to ſtretch them, and admit of a prey much thicker than the ſnake's own body. The throat, like ſtretching leather, dilates to admit the morſel; the ſtomach receives it in part; and the reſt remains in the gullet, till putrefac⯑tion and the juices of the ſerpent's body unite to diſſolve it.

As to the teeth, I will talk more of them when I come to treat of the viper's poiſon; it will be ſufficient here to obſerve, that ſome ſerpents have fangs, or canine teeth, and others are without them. The teeth in all are crooked and hollow; and, by a peculiar contrivance, are capable of being erected or depreſſed at pleaſure.

The eyes of all ſerpents are ſmall, if compared to the length of the body; and though dif⯑ferently coloured in different kinds, yet the [167] appearance of all is malign and heavy; and from their known qualities, they ſtrike the imagination with the idea of a creature me⯑ditating miſchief. In ſome, the upper eye-lid is wanting, and the ſerpent winks only with that below; in others, the animal has a nicti⯑tating membrane or ſkin, reſembling that which is found in birds, which keeps the eye clean and preſerves the ſight. The ſubſtance of the eye in all is hard and horny; the chry⯑ſtaline humour occupying a great part of the globe.

The holes for hearing are very viſible in all: but there are no conduits for ſmelling; though it is probable that ſome of them enjoy that ſenſe in tolerable perfection.

The tongue in all theſe animals is long and forky. It is compoſed of two long fleſhy ſub⯑ſtances, which terminate in ſharp points, and are very pliable. At the root it is connected very ſtrongly to the neck by two tendons, that give it a variety of play. Some of the viper kind have tongues a fifth part of the length of their bodies; they are continually darting them out, but they are entirely harmleſs, and only terrify thoſe who are ignorant of the real ſitua⯑tion of their poiſon.

If from the jaws we go on to the gullet, we [168] ſhall find it very wide for the animal's ſize, and capable of being diſtended to a great degree; at the bottom of this lies the ſtomach, which is not ſo capacious, and receives only a part of the prey, while the reſt continues in the gullet for digeſtion. When the ſubſtance in the ſto⯑mach is diſſolved into chyle, it paſſes into the inteſtines, and from thence goes to nouriſhment, or to be excluded by the vent.

Like moſt other animals, ſerpents are fur⯑niſhed with lungs, which I ſuppoſe are ſervice⯑able in breathing, though we cannot perceive the manner in which this operation is per⯑formed; for though ſerpents are often ſeen ap⯑parently to draw in their breath, yet we cannot find the ſmalleſt ſigns of their ever reſpiring it again. Their lungs however are long and large, and doubtleſs are neceſſary to promote their languid circulation. The heart is formed as in the tortoiſe, the frog, and the lizard kinds, ſo as to work without the aſſiſtance of the lungs. It is ſingle, the greateſt part of the blood flowing from the great vein to the great artery by the ſhorteſt courſe. By this contrivance of Nature we eaſily gather two conſequences; that ſnakes are amphibious, being equally capable of living on land and in the water; and, that alſo they are torpid in winter, like the bat, the [169] lizard, and other animals formed in the ſame manner.

The vent in theſe animals ſerves for the emiſſion of the urine and the faeces, and for the purpoſes of generation. The inſtrument of generation in the male is double, being forked like the tongue; the ovaries in the female are double alſo; and the aperture is very large, in order to receive the double inſtrument of the male. They copulate in their retreats; and it is ſaid by the ancients, that in this ſituation they appear like one ſerpent with two heads; but how far this remark is founded in truth, I do not find any of the moderns that can reſolve me.

As the body of this animal is long, ſlender, and capable of bending in every direction, the number of joints in the back-bone are numerous beyond what one would imagine. In the gene⯑rality of quadrupedes, they amount to not above thirty or forty; in the ſerpent kind they amount to an hundred and forty-five from the head to the vent, and twenty-five more from that to the tail^*. The number of theſe joints muſt give the back-bone a ſurprizing degree of pliancy; but this is ſtill encreaſed by the manner in which each of theſe joints are locked into the [170] other. In man and quadrupedes, the flat ſur⯑faces of the bones are laid one againſt the other, and bound tight by ſinews; but in ſerpents the bones play one within the other like ball and ſocket, ſo that they have full motion upon each other in every direction^*. Thus if a man were to form a machine compoſed of ſo many joints as are found in the back of a ſerpent, he would find it no eaſy matter to give it ſuch ſtrength and pliancy at the ſame time. The chain of a watch is but a bungling piece of workmanſhip in compariſon.

Though the number of joints in the back⯑bone is great, yet that of the ribs is ſtill greater; for, from the head to the vent, there are two ribs to every joint, which makes their number two hundred and ninety in all. Theſe ribs are furniſhed with muſcles; four in number; which being inſerted into the head, run along to the end of the tail, and give the animal great ſtrength and agility in all its motions.

The ſkin alſo contributes to its motions, being compoſed of a number of ſcales, united to each other by a tranſparent membrane, which grows harder as it grows older, until the animal changes, which is generally done twice a year. This cover then burſts near the head, and the ſerpent [171] creeps from it, by an undulatory motion, in a new ſkin, much more vivid than the former. If the old ſlough be then viewed, every ſcale will be diſtinctly ſeen, like a piece of net-work, and will be found greateſt where the part of the body they covered was largeſt.

There is much geometrical neatneſs in the diſpoſal of the ſerpent's ſcales, for aſſiſting the animal's ſinuous motion. As the edges of the foremoſt ſcales lie over the ends of their following ſcales, ſo thoſe edges, when the ſcales are erected, which the animal has a power of doing in a ſmall degree, catch in the ground, like the nails in the wheel of a chariot, and ſo promote and facilitate the animal's progreſſive motion. The erecting theſe ſcales is by means of a multitude of diſtinct muſcles, with which each is ſupplied, and one end of which is tacked each to the middle of the foregoing.

In ſome of the ſerpent kind there is the ex⯑acteſt ſymmetry in theſe ſcales; in others they are diſpoſed more irregularly. In ſome there are larger ſcales on the belly, and often an⯑ſwering to the number of ribs; in others, how⯑ever, the animal is without them. Upon this ſlight difference, Linnaeus has founded his di⯑ſtinctions of the various claſſes of the ſerpent tribe. Human curioſity, however, and even human in⯑tereſt, [172] ſeem to plead for a very different method of diſtribution. It is not the number of ſcales on a formidable animal's belly, nor their mag⯑nitude or variety, that any way excite our con⯑cern. The firſt queſtion that every man will naturally aſk, when he hears of a ſnake, is, whether it be large: the ſecond, whether it be venomous? In other words, the ſtrongeſt lines in the animal's hiſtory are thoſe that firſt excite our attention; and theſe it is every hiſtorian's buſineſs to diſplay.

When we come to compare ſerpents with each other, the firſt great diſtinction appears in their ſize; no other tribe of animals differing ſo widely in this particular. What, for inſtance, can be ſo remotely ſeparated as the Great Ly⯑boija of Surinam, that grows to thirty-ſix feet long; and the Little Serpent, at the Cape of Good Hope and the north of the river Senegal, that is not above three inches, and covers whole ſandy deſarts with its multitudes! This tribe of animals, like that of fiſhes, ſeems to have no bounds put to their growth: their bones are in great meaſure cartilaginous, and they are con⯑ſequently capable of great extenſion; the older, therefore, a ſerpent becomes, the larger it grows; and as they ſeem to live to a great age, they arrive at an enormous ſize.

[173]Leguat aſſures us, that he ſaw one in Java, that was fifty feet long. Carli mentions their growing to above forty feet; and we have now the ſkin of one in the Muſaeum, that meaſures thirty-two. Mr. Wentworth, who had large concerns in the Brebices in America, aſſures me, that, in that country, they grow to an enormous length. He one day ſent out a ſol⯑dier, with an Indian, to kill wild fowl for the table; and they accordingly went ſome miles from the fort: in purſuing their game, the In⯑dian, who generally marched before, beginning to tire, went to reſt himſelf upon the fallen trunk of a tree, as he ſuppoſed it to be; but when he was juſt going to ſit down, the enor⯑mous monſter began to move, and the poor ſavage perceiving that he had approached a Li⯑boya, the greateſt of all the ſerpent kind, dropped down in an agony. The ſoldier, who perceived at ſome diſtance what had hap⯑pened, levelled at the ſerpents head, and, by a lucky aim, ſhot it dead: however he con⯑tinued his fire until he was aſſured that the ani⯑mal was killed; and then going up to reſcue his companion, who was fallen motionleſs by its ſide, he, to his aſtoniſhment, found him dead likewiſe, being killed by the fright. Upon his return to the fort, and telling what had hap⯑pened, [174] Mr. Wentworth ordered the animal to be brought up, when it was meaſured, and found to be thirty-ſix feet long. He had the ſkin ſtuffed, and then ſent to Europe, as a pre⯑ſent to the Prince of Orange, in whoſe cabinet it is now to be ſeen at the Hague; but the ſkin has ſhrunk, by drying, two or three feet.

In the Eaſt Indies they grow alſo to an enormous ſize; particularly in the Iſland of Java, where, we are aſſured, that one of them will deſtroy and devour a buffalo. In a letter, printed in the German Ephemerides, we have an account of a combat between an enormous ſerpent and a buffalo, by a perſon, who aſſures us, that he was himſelf a ſpectator. The ſer⯑pent had for ſome time been waiting near the brink of a pool, in expectation of its prey; when a buffalo was the firſt that offered. Hav⯑ing darted upon the affrighted animal, it in⯑ſtantly began to wrap it round with its volu⯑minous twiſtings; and at every twiſt the bones of the buffalo were heard to crack almoſt as loud as the report of a cannon. It was in vain that the poor animal ſtruggled and bellowed; its enormous enemy entwined it too cloſely to get free; till at length, all its bones being maſhed to pieces, like thoſe of a malefactor on the wheel, and the whole body reduced to one [175] uniform maſs, the ſerpent untwined its folds to ſwallow its prey at leiſure. To prepare for this, and in order to make the body ſlip down the throat more glibly, it was ſeen to lick the whole body over, and thus cover it with its mucous. It then began to ſwallow it at that end that offered leaſt reſiſtance; while its length of body was dilated to receive its prey, and thus took in at once a morſel that was three times its own thickneſs. We are aſſured by travellers, that theſe animals are often found with the body of a ſtag in their gullet, while the horns, which they are unable to ſwallow, keep ſticking out at their mouths.

But it is happy for mankind that the rapacity of theſe frightful creatures is often their puniſh⯑ment; for whenever any of the ſerpent kind have gorged themſelves in this manner, when⯑ever their body is ſeen particularly diſtended with food, they then become torpid, and may be approached and deſtroyed with ſafety. Pa⯑tient of hunger to a ſurprizing degree, when⯑ever they ſeize and ſwallow their prey, they ſeem, like ſurfeited gluttons, unwieldy, ſtupid, helpleſs, and ſleepy: they at that time ſeek ſome retreat, where they may lurk for ſeveral days together, and digeſt their meal in ſafety: the ſmalleſt effort at that time is capable of de⯑ſtroying them; they can ſcarce make any reſiſt⯑ance; [176] and they are equally unqualified for flight or oppoſition: that is the happy opportunity of attacking them with ſucceſs; at that time the naked Indian himſelf does not fear to aſſail them. But it is otherwiſe when this ſleepy in⯑terval of digeſtion is over; they then iſſue, with famiſhed appetites, from their retreats, and with accumulated terrors, while every ani⯑mal of the foreſt flies before them.

Carli deſcribes the Long Serpent of Congo, making its track through the tall graſs, like mowers in a ſummer's day. He could not with⯑out terror behold whole lines of graſs lying le⯑velled under the ſweep of its tail. In this man⯑ner it moved forward with great rapidity, until it found a proper ſituation frequented by its prey: there it continued to lurk, in patient ex⯑pectation, and would have remained for weeks together, had it not been diſturbed by the natives.

Other creatures have a choice in their pro⯑viſion; but the ſerpent indiſcriminately preys upon all; the buffalo, the tiger, and the gazelle. One would think that the porcupine's quills might be ſufficient to protect it; but whatever has life, ſerves to appeaſe the hunger of theſe devouring creatures: porcupines, with all their quills, have frequently been found in their ſto⯑machs, when killed and opened; nay, they moſt frequently are ſeen to devour each other.

[177]A life of ſavage hoſtility in the foreſt, offers the imagination one of the moſt tremendous pictures in nature. In thoſe burning countries, where the ſun dries up every brook for hundreds of miles round; when what had the appearance of a great river in the rainy ſeaſon, becomes, in ſummer, one dreary bed of ſand; in thoſe countries, I ſay, a lake that is never dry, or a brook that is perennial, is conſidered by every animal as the greateſt convenience of nature. As to food, the luxuriant landſcape ſupplies that in ſufficient abundance: it is the want of water that all animals endeavour to remove; and inwardly parched by the heat of the cli⯑mate, traverſe whole deſarts to find out a ſpring. When they have diſcovered this, no dangers can deter them from attempting to ſlake their thirſt. Thus the neighbourhood of a rivulet, in the heart of the tropical continents, is generally the place where all the hoſtile tribes of nature draw up for the engagement. On the banks of this little envied ſpot, thouſands of animals of va⯑rious kinds are ſeen venturing to quench their thirſt, or preparing to ſeize their prey. The elephants are perceived in a long line, marching from the darker parts of the foreſt; the buffalos are there, depending upon numbers for ſecurity; the gazells relying ſolely upon their ſwiftneſs; [178] the lion and tiger waiting a proper opportunity to ſeize; but chiefly the larger ſerpents are upon guard there, and defend the acceſſes of the lake. Not an hour paſſes without ſome dread⯑ful combat; but the ſerpent, defended by its ſcales, and naturally capable of ſuſtaining a multitude of wounds, is, of all others, the moſt formidable. It is the moſt wakeful alſo; for the whole tribe ſleep with their eyes open, and are conſequently for ever upon the watch: ſo that, till their rapacity is ſatisfied, few other animals will venture to approach their ſtation.

But though theſe animals are, of all others, the moſt voracious, and though the morſel which they ſwallow without chewing, is greater than what any other creature, either by land or water, the whale itſelf not excepted, can devour, yet no animals upon earth bear abſtinence ſo long as they. A ſingle meal, with many of the ſnake kind, ſeems to be the adventure of a ſea⯑ſon; it is an occurrence for which they have been for weeks, nay ſometimes for months, in pa⯑tient expectation of. When they have ſeized their prey, their induſtry for ſeveral weeks is entirely diſcontinued; the fortunate capture of an hour, often ſatisfies them for the remaining period of their annual activity. As their blood is colder than that of moſt other terreſtial ani⯑mals, and as it circulates but ſlowly through [179] their bodies, ſo their powers of digeſtion are but feeble. Their prey continues, for a long time, partly in the ſtomach, partly in the gullet; and is often ſeen a part hanging out of the mouth. In this manner it digeſts by degrees; and in proportion as the part below is diſſolved, the part above is taken in. It is not therefore till this tedious operation is entirely performed, that the ſerpent renews its appetite and its activity. But ſhould any accident prevent it from iſſuing once more from its cell, it ſtill can continue to bear famine, for weeks, months, nay for years together. Vipers are often kept in boxes for ſix or eight months, without any food whatever; and there are little ſerpents ſometimes ſent over to Europe, from Grand Cairo, the name of which I have not been able to learn, that live for ſeveral years in glaſſes, and never eat at all, nor even ſtain the glaſs with their excrements. Thus the ſerpent tribe unite in themſelves two very oppoſite qualities; won⯑derful abſtinence, and yet incredible rapacity.

If leaving the conſideration of their appetites, we come to compare ſerpents as to their voices, ſome are found ſilent, ſome have a peculiar cry, but hiſſing is the ſound which they moſt com⯑monly ſend forth, either as a call to their kind, or as a threat to their enemies. In the countries [180] where they abound, they are generally ſilent in the middle of the day, when they are obliged to retire from the heat of the climate; but as the cool of the evening approaches, they are then heard iſſuing from their cells, with con⯑tinued hiſſings; and ſuch is the variety of their notes, that ſome have aſſured me they very much reſemble the muſic of an Engliſh grove. This, ſome will hardly credit: at any rate, ſuch notes, however pleaſing, can give but very little de⯑light, when we call to mind the malignity of the minſtrel. If conſidered indeed, as they anſwer the animal's own occaſions, they will be found well adapted to its nature, and fully an⯑ſwering the purpoſes of terrifying ſuch as would venture to offend it.

With reſpect to motion, ſome ſerpents, par⯑ticularly thoſe of the viper kind, move ſlowly; while others, ſuch as the Ammodytes, dart with amazing ſwiftneſs. The motion in all is ſimilar; but the ſtrength of body in ſome gives a very different appearance. The viper, that is but a ſlow, feeble-bodied animal, makes way in a heavy undulating manner; advancing its head, then drawing up its tail behind, and bending the body into a bow; then from the ſpot where the head and tail were united, advancing the head forward as before. This, which is the [181] motion of all ſerpents, is very different from that of the earth-worm, or the naked ſnail. The ſer⯑pent, as was ſaid above, has a back-bone, with numerous joints; and this bone the animal has a power of bending in every direction, but without being able to ſhorten or lengthen it at pleaſure. The earth-worm, on the other hand, has no back-bone; but its body is compoſed of rings, which, like a barber's puff, it can lengthen or ſhorten as it finds neceſſary. The earth-worm, therefore, in order to move forward, lengthens the body; then, by the fore part clings to the ground, where it has reached, and then con⯑tracts and brings up its rear: then, when the body is thus ſhortened, the fore part is length⯑ened again for another progreſſion; and ſo on. The ſerpent, inſtead of ſhortening the body, bends it into an arch; and this is the principal difference between ſerpentine and vermicular progreſſion.

I have inſtanced this motion in the viper, as moſt eaſily diſcerned; but there are many ſer⯑pents that dart with ſuch amazing ſwiftneſs, that they appear rather to leap than crawl. It is moſt probable, however, that no ſerpent can dart upon even ground farther than its own length at one effort. Our fears indeed, may encreaſe the force of their ſpeed, which is ſome⯑times [182] found ſo fatal. We are told by ſome, that they will dart to a very great diſtance; but this my enquiries have never been able to aſcer⯑tain. The manner of progreſſion in the ſwifteſt ſerpent we know, which is the Jaculus, is by inſtantly coiling itſelf upon its tail, and darting from thence to its full extent; then carrying the tail, as quick as lightening, to the head; coiling and darting again: and by this means proceeding, with extreme rapidity, without ever quitting the ground. Indeed, if we conſider the length and the weakneſs of the back-bone in all theſe animals; if we regard the make of their vertebrae, in which we ſhall find the junctures all formed to give play, and none to give power; we cannot be of opinion that they have a faculty of ſpringing from the ground, as they entirely want a fulcrum, if I may ſo expreſs it, from whence to take their ſpring; the whole body being compoſed of unſupported muſcles and joints that are yielding. It muſt be con⯑feſſed, that they dart down from trees upon their prey; but their weight alone is ſufficient for that purpoſe, without much effort of their own.

Though all ſerpents are amphibious, ſome are much fonder of the water than others; and though deſtitute of fins or gills, remain at the bottom, or ſwim along the ſurface with great eaſe. From their internal ſtructure, juſt ſketched [183] above, we ſee how well adapted they are for either element; and how capable their blood is of circulating at the bottom, as freely as in the frog or the tortoiſe. They can, however, en⯑dure to live in freſh-water only; for ſalt is an effectual bane to the whole tribe. The greateſt ſerpents are moſt uſually found in freſh-water, either chuſing it as their favourite element, or finding their prey in ſuch places in the greateſt abundance. But that all will live and ſwim in liquids, appears from the experiment of Redi; who put a ſerpent into a large glaſs veſſel of wine, where it lived ſwimming about ſix hours; though, when it was by force immerſed and kept under that liquid, it lived only one hour and an half. He put another in common water, where it lived three days; but when it was kept under water, it lived only about twelve hours^*. Their motion there, however, is perfectly the reverſe of what it is upon land; for, in order to ſupport themſelves upon an element lighter than their bodies, they are obliged to encreaſe their ſurface in a very artificial manner. On earth their windings are perpendicular to the ſurface; in water they are parallel to it: in other words, if I ſhould wave my hand up and down, it will give an idea of the animal's progreſs on land; if [184] I ſhould wave it to the right and left, it will give ſome idea of its progreſs on the water.

Some ſerpents have a moſt horrible faetor at⯑tending them, which is alone capable of intimi⯑dating the brave. This proceeds from two glands near the vent, like thoſe in the weaſel or polecat; and, like thoſe animals, in proportion as they are excited by rage or by fear, the ſcent grows ſtronger. It would ſeem, however, that ſuch ſerpents as are moſt venomous, are leaſt of⯑fenſive in this particular; ſince the rattleſnake and the viper have no ſmell whatever: nay, we are told, that at Calecut and Cranganon, in the Eaſt Indies, there are ſome very noxious ſer⯑pents, who are ſo far from being diſagreeable, that their excrements are ſought after, and kept as the moſt pleaſing perfume. The Eſculapian Serpent is alſo of this number.

Some ſerpents bring forth their young alive; as the viper: ſome bring forth eggs, which are hatched by the heat of their ſituation; as the Common Black Snake, and the majority of the ſerpent tribe. When a reader, ignorant of anatomy, is told, that ſome of thoſe animals produce their young alive, and that ſome pro⯑duce eggs only, he is apt to ſuppoſe a very great difference in the internal conformation, which makes ſuch a variety in the manner of [185] bringing forth. But this is not the caſe: theſe animals are internally alike, in whatever manner they produce their young; and the variety in their bringing forth, is rather a ſlight than a real diſcrimination. The only difference is, that the viper hatches her eggs, and brings them to maturity within her body; the ſnake is more premature in her productions, and ſends her eggs into the light, ſome time before the young ones are capable of leaving the ſhell. Thus, if either are opened, the eggs will be found in the womb, covered with their mem⯑branous ſhell, and adhering to each other, like large beads on a ſtring. In the eggs of both the young ones will be found, though at different ſtages of maturity: thoſe of the viper will crawl and bite in the moment the ſhell that encloſes them is broke open; thoſe of the ſnake are not yet arrived at their perfect form.

Father Labat took a ſerpent of the viper kind, that was nine feet long, and ordered it to be opened in his preſence. He then ſaw the manner in which the eggs of theſe animals lie in the womb. In this creature there were ſix eggs, each of the ſize of a gooſe egg, but longer, more pointed, and covered with a membranous ſkin, by which alſo they were united to each other. Each of theſe eggs con⯑tained from thirteen to fifteen young ones, [186] about ſix inches long, and as thick as a gooſe⯑quill. Though the female from whence they were taken was ſpotted, the young ſeemed to have a variety of colours very different from the parent; and this led the traveller to ſuppoſe that the colour was no characteriſtic mark among ſerpents. Theſe little miſchievous animals were no ſooner let looſe from the ſhell, than they crept about, and put themſelves into a threatening poſture, coiling themſelves up and biting the ſtick with which he was deſtroying them. In this manner he killed ſeventy-four young ones; thoſe that were contained in one of the eggs eſcaped at the place where the female was killed, by the burſting of the egg and their getting among the buſhes.

The laſt diſtinction that I ſhall mention, but the moſt material among ſerpents is, that ſome are venomous and ſome inoffenſive. If we conſider the poiſon of ſerpents as it relates to man, there is no doubt but that it is a ſcourge and an affliction. The various calamities that the poiſon of ſerpents is capable of producing, are not only inflicted by the animal itſelf, but by men more miſchievous even than ſerpents, who pre⯑pare their venom to deſtroy each other. With this the ſavages poiſon their arms, and alſo pre⯑pare their revengeful potions. The ancients were known to preſerve it for the purpoſes of ſuicide; [187] and even among ſemi barbarous countries at this day, the venom of ſnakes is uſed as a philtre.

But. though the poiſon be juſtly terrible to us, it has been given to very good purpoſes for the animal's own proper ſupport and defence. Without this, ſerpents of all other animals would be the moſt expoſed and defenceleſs; without feet for eſcaping a purſuit; without teeth capable of inflicting a dangerous wound, or without ſtrength for reſiſtance; incapable, from their ſize, of finding ſecurity in very ſmall retreats like the earth-worm, and diſguſting all from their deformity, nothing was left for them but a ſpeedy extirpation. But furniſhed as they are with powerful poiſon, every rank of animals approach them with dread, and never ſeize them but at an advantage. Nor is this all the advantage they derive from it. The malignity of a few ſerves for the protection of all. Though not above a tenth of their number are actually venomous, yet the ſimilitude they all bear to each other excites a general terror of the whole tribe; and the uncertainty of their enemies in which the poiſon chiefly reſides, makes even the moſt harmleſs formidable. Thus Providence ſeems to have acted with double precaution; it has given ſome of them poiſon for the general defence of a tribe naturally feeble; but it has [188] thinned the numbers of thoſe which are venom⯑ous, leſt they ſhould become too powerful for the reſt of animated nature.

From theſe noxious qualities in the ſerpent kind, it is no wonder that not only man, but beaſts and birds, carry on an unceaſing war againſt them. The ichneumon of the Indians, and the pecary of America, deſtroy them in great numbers. Theſe animals have the art of ſeizing them near the head; and it is ſaid that they can ſkin them with great dexte⯑rity. The vulture and the eagle alſo prey upon them in great abundance; and often ſouſing down from the clouds, drop upon a long ſerpent, which they ſnatch up ſtruggling and writhing in the air. Dogs alſo are bred up to oppoſe them. Father Feuillée tells us, that being in the woods of Martinico, he was attacked by a large ſerpent, which he could not eaſily avoid, when his dog immediately came to his relief, and ſeized the aſſailant with great courage. The ſerpent entwined him, and preſſed him ſo violently, that the blood came out of his mouth, and yet the dog never ceaſed till he had tore it to pieces. The dog was not ſenſible of his wounds during the fight; but ſoon after his head ſwelled prodigiouſly, and he lay on the ground as dead. But his maſter [189] having found hard by a banana tree, he applied its juice, mixed with treacle, to the wounds, which recovered the dog, and quickly healed his ſores.

But it is in man that theſe venomous crea⯑tures find the moſt dangerous enemy. The Pſylli of old were famous for charming and deſtroying ſerpents. Some moderns pretend to the ſame art. Caſſaubon ſays that he knew a man who could at any time ſummon an hundred ſerpents together, and draw them into the fire. Upon a certain occaſion, when one of them bigger than the reſt would not be brought in, he only repeated his charm, and it came forward, like the reſt, to ſubmit to the flames. Philo⯑ſtratus deſcribes particularly how the Indians charm ſerpents. ‘"They take a ſcarlet robe embroidered with golden letters, and ſpread it before a ſerpent's hole. The golden letters have a faſcinating power; and by looking ſtedfaſtly, the ſerpent's eyes are overcome and laid aſleep."’ Theſe and many other feats have been often practiſed upon theſe animals by artful men, who had firſt prepared the ſerpents for their exerciſe, and then exhi⯑bited them as adventitiouſly aſſembled at their call. In India there is nothing ſo common as dancing ſerpents, which are carried about in a [190] broad flat veſſel ſomewhat reſembling a ſieve. Theſe erect and put themſelves in motion at the word of command. When their keeper ſings a ſlow tune, they ſeem by their heads to keep time; when he ſings a quicker meaſure, they appear to move more briſk and lively. All animals have a certain degree of docility; and we find that ſerpents themſelves can be brought to move and approach at the voice of their maſter. From this trick ſucceſsfully practiſed before the ignorant, it is moſt probable has ariſen all the boaſted pretenſions which ſome have made to charming of ſerpents; an art to which the native Americans pretend at this very day. One of Linnaeus's pupils we are told pur⯑chaſed the ſecret from an Indian, and then diſ⯑covered it to his maſter; but, like all ſecrets of the kind, it is probable this ended in a few unmeaning words of no efficacy.

Though the generality of mankind regard this formidable race with horror, yet there have been ſome nations, and there are ſome at this day, that conſider them with veneration and regard. The adoration paid by the ancient Egyptians to a ſerpent is well known: many of the nations at preſent along the weſtern coaſt of Africa retain the ſame unaccountable veneration. Upon the gold and ſlave coaſts, a ſtranger, [191] upon entering the cottages of the natives, is often ſurprized to ſee the roof ſwarming with ſerpents, that cling there without moleſting and unmoleſted by the natives. But his ſurprize will encreaſe upon going farther ſouthward to the kingdom of Widah, when he finds that a ſerpent is the god of the country. This animal, which travellers deſcribe as a huge overgrown creature, has its habitation, its temple, and its prieſts. Theſe impreſs the vulgar with an opinion of its virtues; and numbers are daily ſeen to offer not only their goods, their pro⯑viſions, and their prayers, at the ſhrine of their hideous deity, but alſo their wives and daughters. Theſe the prieſts readily accept of, and after ſome days of penance, return them to their ſup⯑pliants, much benefited by the ſerpent's ſup⯑poſed embraces. Such a complicated picture of ignorance and impoſture gives no very fa⯑vourable impreſſions of our fellow creatures; but we may ſay in defence of human nature, that the moſt frightful of reptiles is worſhipped by the moſt uncultivated and barbarous of mankind.

From this general picture of the ſerpent tribe, one great diſtinction obviouſly preſents itſelf; namely, into thoſe that are venomous and thoſe that are wholly deſtitute of poiſon. [192] To the firſt belong the viper, the rattleſnake, the cobra di capello, and all their affinities: to the other, the common black ſnake, the lyboya, the boiguacu, the amphiſbaena, and various others that, though deſtitute of venom, do not ceaſe to be formidable. I will therefore give their hiſtory ſeparately, beginning with the ve⯑nomous claſs as they have the ſtrongeſt claims to our notice and attention.

CHAP. IX. Of venomous Serpents in general.

THE poiſon of ſerpents has been for ages one of the greateſt objects of human conſideration. To us who ſeldom feel the vengeful wound, it is merely a ſubject of curioſity; but to thoſe placed in the midſt of the ſerpent tribe, who are every day expoſed to ſome new diſaſter, it becomes a matter of the moſt ſerious importance. To remedy the bite of a ſerpent is conſidered among our phyſicians as one of the ſlighteſt operations in medicine; but among the phy⯑ſicians of the eaſt, the antidotes for this cala⯑mity make up the bulk of their diſpenſaries. In our colder climates, the venom does not ap⯑pear with that inſtantaneous operation which it exhibits in the warmer regions; for either its powers are leſs exquiſite, or our fluids are not carried round in ſuch rapid circulation.

In all countries, however, the poiſon of the ſerpent is ſufficiently formidable to deſerve notice, and to excite our attention to its nature and effects. It will therefore in the firſt place be proper to deſcribe its ſeat in the animal, as alſo the inſtrument by which the wound is made [194] and the poiſon injected. In all this venomous claſs of reptiles, whether the viper, the rattle⯑ſnake, or the cobra di capello, there are two large teeth or fangs that iſſue from the upper jaw, and that hang out beyond the lower. The reſt of the ſnake tribe are deſtitute of theſe; and it is moſt probable that wherever theſe fangs are wanting, the animal is harmleſs; on the con⯑trary, wherever they are found it is to be avoided as the moſt peſtilent enemy. Theſe are the inſtruments that ſeem to place the true diſtinc⯑tion between animals of the ſerpent kind; the wounds which theſe fangs inflict produce the moſt dangerous ſymptoms; the wounds inflicted by the teeth only are attended with nothing more than the ordinary conſequences attending the bite of any other animal. Our firſt great at⯑tention, therefore, upon ſeeing a ſerpent ſhould be directed to the teeth. If it has the fang teeth, it is to be placed among the venomous, claſs; if it wants them, it may be ſet down as inoffenſive. I am not ignorant that many ſer⯑pents are ſaid to be dangerous whoſe jaws are unfurniſhed with fangs; but it is moſt probable that our terrors only have furniſhed theſe ani⯑mals with venom; for of all the tribe whoſe teeth are thus formed, not one will be found to have a bag for containing poiſon, nor a con⯑duit [195] for injecting it into the wound. The Black Snake, the Liboya, the Blind Worm, and a hundred others that might be mentioned, have their teeth of an equal ſize, fixed into the jaws, and with no other apparatus for in⯑flicting a dangerous wound than a dog or a lizard; but it is otherwiſe with the venomous tribe we are now deſcribing; theſe are well furniſhed, not only with an elaboratory where the poiſon is formed, but a canal by which it is conducted to the jaw, a bag under the tooth for keeping it ready for every occaſion, and alſo an aperture in the tooth itſelf for injecting it into the wound. To be more particular, the glands that ſerve to fabricate this venomous fluid are ſituated on each ſide of the head behind the eyes, and have their canals leading from thence to the bottom of the fangs in the upper jaw, where they empty into a kind of bladder, from whence the fangs on each ſide are ſeen to grow. The venom contained in this bladder is a yellowiſh thick taſteleſs liquor, which injected into the blood is death, yet which may be ſwal⯑lowed without any danger.

The fangs that give the wound come next under obſervation; they are large in proportion to the ſize of the animal that bears them; crooked, yet ſharp enough to inflict a ready [196] wound. They grow one on each ſide, and ſometimes two, from two moveable bones in the upper jaw, which by ſliding backward or forward, have a power of erecting or depreſſing the teeth at pleaſure. In theſe bones are alſo fixed many teeth, but no way venomous, and only ſerving to take and hold the animal's prey. Beſides this apt diſpoſition of the fangs, they are hollow within, and have an opening towards the point like the ſlit of a pen, through which when the fang is preſſed down upon the bladder where it grows, there is ſeen to iſſue a part of the venom that lay below. To deſcribe this operation at once, when the ſerpent is irritated to give a venomous wound, it opens its for⯑midable jaws to the wideſt extent; the moveable bones of the upper jaw ſlide forward; the fangs that lay before inclining are thus erected; they are ſtruck with force into the fleſh of the ob⯑noxious perſon; by meeting reſiſtance at the points, they preſs upon the bladders of venom from whence they grow; the venom iſſues up through the hollow of the tooth; and is preſſed out through its ſlit into the wound, which by this time the tooth has made in the ſkin. Thus from a ſlight puncture, and the infuſion of a drop of venom ſcarce larger than the head of a pin, the part is quickly enflamed and, without [197] a proper antidote, the whole frame contami⯑nated.

The appearances which this venom produces are different, according to the ſerpent that wounds, or the ſeaſon, or the ſtrength of the animal that ſtrikes the blow. If a viper inflicts the wound, and the remedy be neglected, the ſymptoms are not without danger. It firſt cauſes an acute pain in the place affected, attended with a ſwelling, firſt red, and afterwards livid. This by degrees ſpreads to the neighbouring parts; great faintneſs and a quick, though low and interrupted, pulſe enſues: to this ſucceed great ſickneſs at the ſtomach, billious and con⯑vulſive vomitings, cold ſweats, pains about the navel, and death itſelf. But the violence of theſe ſymptoms depend much on the ſeaſon of the year, the difference of the climate, the ſize or rage of the animal, and the depth and ſitua⯑tion of the wound. Theſe ſymptoms are much more violent, and ſucceed each other more ra⯑pidly after the bite of a rattle-ſnake; but when the perſon is bit by the cobra di capello, he dies in an hour, his whole frame being diſſolved into a putrid maſs of corruption.

Nothing ſurely can more juſtly excite our wonder than that ſo ſmall a quantity of venom ſhould produce ſuch powerful and deadly effects. [198] If the venom itſelf be examined through a mi⯑croſcope, it will be found to ſhoot into little chryſtals that, to an imagination already im⯑preſſed with its potency, look like ſo many darts fit for entering the blood-veſſels, and wounding their tender coats. But all theſe darts are wholly of our own making; the ſofteſt mildeſt fluid whatever, poſſeſſed of any conſiſtency, will form chryſtals under the eye of the micro⯑ſcope, and put on an appearance exactly like the venom of the viper. In fact, this venom has no acrid taſte whatever; and to all experi⯑ments that our ſenſes can make upon it, appears a ſlimy inſipid fluid. Charas, who often taſted it, aſſures us of the fact; and aſſerts, that it may be taken inwardly without any ſenſible effects or any prejudice to the conſtitution. But the famous experiments that were tried by Redi and others, in the preſence of the Great Duke of Tuſcany and his court, put this beyond any doubt whatſoever. By theſe it appeared, that the ſerpent having once bitten, exhauſted for that time the greateſt part of its poiſon; and though the wound cauſed by its biting a ſecond time was attended with ſome malignant ſymp⯑toms, yet they were much milder than before. It appeared that the ſerpent biting upon a ſponge, or a piece of ſoft bread, and then biting [199] a dog immediately after, did not inflict a wound more dangerous than the prick of a needle. It appeared that the venom being collected, and a needle dipped therein, this produced almoſt as painful effects as the tooth of the animal itſelf. But what cauſed the greateſt ſurprize in the court was the ſeeming raſhneſs of one Tozzi, a viper-catcher; who, while the philoſophers were giving elaborate lectures on the danger of the poiſon when taken internally, boldly deſired a large quantity of it might be put together; and then, with the utmoſt confidence, drank it off before them all. The court was ſtruck with aſtoniſhment, and expected that the man would inſtantly fall dead; but they ſoon perceived their miſtake, and found that taken in this manner the poiſon was as harmleſs as water; ſo true is that famous paſſage of Lucan,

What then ſhall we ſay to the ſpeedy effect of ſo ſeemingly harmleſs a liquid taken into the circulation? Let us firſt obſerve, that milk is one of the moſt mild and nouriſhing of all fluids, and ſeemingly the moſt friendly to the human conſtitution; yet if milk be injected into a vein, [200] it will quickly become fatal, and kill with more certain deſtruction than even the venom of the viper. From hence then we may infer, that the introducing not only the ſerpentine venom, but alſo a quantity of any other mixture, into the circulation, will be fatal; and that, conſe⯑quently, ſerpents kill as well by their power of injecting the wound as by the potency of their poiſon. Some indeed may inject a more acri⯑monious mixture, and this may produce more ſpeedy effects; but any mixture thus injected would be dangerous, and many would be fatal.

Ray gives us an inſtance of the potency of the ſerpent poiſon; which, though it has all the air of a fable, I cannot help tranſcribing. ‘"A gentleman who went over to the Eaſt-Indies, while he was one day ſitting among ſome friends, was accoſted by an Indian ſmuggler, who offered to ſhew him ſome ex⯑periments reſpecting the venom of ſerpents; an exhibition uſual enough in that country. Having firſt, therefore, produced a large ſer⯑pent, he aſſured the company that it was harmleſs; and to convince them of what he ſaid, he tied up his arm, as is uſual with thoſe who are going to be bled, and whipped the ſerpent till it was provoked to bite him. Having drawn in this manner about half a [201] ſpoonful of blood from his arm, he put the congealed clot upon his thigh. He then took out a much ſmaller ſerpent, which was no other than the cobra di capello; and having tied up its neck, he procured about half a drop of its venom, which he ſprinkled on the clot of blood on his thigh, which inſtantly began to ſerment and bubble, and ſoon changed colour from a red into yellow."’

This he pretended was cauſed by the extreme malignity of that animal's venom; however, I have no doubt that the whole is either a fable, or a trick of the Indian; who, while he ſeemed to mix the ſerpent's venom, actually infuſed ſome ſtronger ingredient, ſome mineral acid, into the maſs of blood, which was capable of working ſuch a change. It cannot be ſuppoſed that any animal poiſon could act ſo powerfully upon the blood already drawn and coagulated; for a poiſon that could operate thus inſtan⯑taneouſly upon cold blood, could not fail of ſoon deſtroying the animal itſelf.

Be this as it will, the effects of ſerpent poiſon are but too well known, though the manner of operation be not ſo clear. As none of this malignant tribe grow to a great ſize, the longeſt of them not exceeding nine feet, they ſeldom ſeek the combat with larger animals, or offend [202] others till they are firſt offended. Did they exert their malignity in proportion to their power, they could eaſily drive the ranks of nature before them; but they ſeem unconſcious of their own ſuperiority, and rather fly than offer to meet the meaneſt oppoſer. Their food chiefly conſiſts of ſmall prey, ſuch as birds, moles, toads and lizards; ſo that they never attack the more formidable animals that would ſeldom die unrevenged. They lurk therefore in the clefts of rocks, or among ſtony places; they twine round the branches of trees, or ſun themſelves in the long graſs at the bottom. There they only ſeek repoſe and ſafety. If ſome unwary traveller invades their retreats, their firſt effort is to ſly; but when either pur⯑ſued or accidentally trod upon, they then make a fierce and fatal reſiſtance. For this purpoſe, they raiſe themſelves according to their ſtrength upon their tail, erect the head, ſeize the limb that preſſes them, the wound is given and the head withdrawn in a moment. It is not therefore without reaſon, that the Aſiatics, who live in regions where ſerpents greatly abound, wear boots and long cloaths, which very well protect their lower parts from the accidental reſentment of their reptile annoyers.

In the eaſtern and weſtern Indies, the number [203] of noxious ſerpents is various; in this country we are acquainted only with one. The viper is the only animal in Great Britain from whoſe bite we have any thing to fear. In the tropical climates, the rattle-ſnake, the whip-ſnake, and the cobra di capello, are the moſt formidable, though by no means the moſt common. From the general notoriety of theſe particular ſerpents, and the univerſal terror which they occaſion, it would ſeem that few others are poſſeſſed of ſuch powerful malignity.

Vipers are found in many parts of this iſland; but the dry, ſtony, and in particular the chalky, countries abound with them. This animal ſeldom grows to a greater length than two feet; though ſometimes they are found above three. The ground colour of their bodies is a dirty yellow; that of the female is deeper. The back is marked the whole length with a ſeries of rhomboid black ſpots, touching each other at the points; the ſides with triangular ones, the belly entirely black. It is chiefly diſtinguiſhed from the common black ſnake by the colour, which in the latter is more beauti⯑fully mottled, as well as by the head, which is thicker than the body; but particularly by the tail, which in the viper, though it ends in a point, does not run tapering to ſo great a length [204] as in the other. When, therefore, other di⯑ſtinctions fail, the difference of the tail can be diſcerned at a ſingle glance.

The viper differs from moſt other ſerpents in being much ſlower, as alſo in excluding its young compleatly formed, and bringing them forth alive. The kindneſs of Providence ſeems exerted not only in diminiſhing the ſpeed, but alſo the fertility, of this dangerous creature. They copulate in May, and are ſuppoſed to be about three months before they bring forth, and have ſeldom above eleven eggs at a time. Theſe are of the ſize of a blackbird's eggs, and chained together in the womb like a ſtring of beads. Each egg contains from one to four young ones; ſo that the whole of a brood may amount to about twenty or thirty. They con⯑tinue in the womb till they come to ſuch per⯑fection as to be able to burſt from the ſhell; and they are ſaid by their own efforts to creep from their confinement into the open air, where they continue for ſeveral days without taking any food whatſoever. ‘"We have been often aſſured," ſays Mr. Penant, "by intelligent people, of the truth of a fact, that the young of the viper when terrified will run down the throat of the parent, and ſeek ſhelter in its belly in the ſame manner as the young of the [205] oppoſſum retire into the ventral pouch of the old one. From this," continues he, "ſome have imagined that the viper is ſo unnatural as to devour its own young; but this deſerves no credit, as theſe animals live upon frogs, toads, lizards, and young birds, which they ſwallow whole, though the morſel is often three times as thick as their own body."’

The viper is capable of ſupporting very long abſtinence, it being known that ſome have been kept in a box ſix months without food; yet du⯑ring the whole time they did not abate of their vivacity. They feed only a ſmall part of the year, but never during their confinement; for if mice, their favourite diet, ſhould at that time be thrown into their box, though they will kill, yet they will never eat, them. When at liberty, they re⯑main torpid throughout the winter; yet, when confined, have never been obſerved to take their annual repoſe. Their poiſon, however, decreaſes in proportion to the length of their confinement; and it is thought, that the virtues of the animal's fleſh are, by the ſame reſtraints, conſiderably leſſened.

They are uſually taken with wooden tongs, by the end of the tail, which may be done without danger; for, while held in that poſition, they are unable to wind themſelve up to hurt [206] their enemy: yet, notwithſtanding this pre⯑caution, the viper-catchers are frequently bit by them; but, by the application of ſallad-oil, the bite is effectually cured.

One William Oliver, a viper-catcher at Bath, was the firſt who diſcovered this admirable re⯑medy. On the firſt of June, 1735, in the pre⯑ſence of a great number of perſons, he ſuffered himſelf to be bit by an old black viper, brought by one of the company, upon the wriſt, and joint of the thumb of the right hand, ſo that drops of blood came out of the wounds: he im⯑mediately felt a violent pain both at the top of his thumb, and up his arm, even before the viper was looſened from his hand; ſoon after he felt a pain, reſembling that of burning, trickle up his arm; in a few minutes his eyes began to look red and fiery, and to water much; in leſs than an hour he perceived the venom ſeize his heart, with a pricking pain, which was attended with faintneſs, ſhortneſs of breath, and cold ſweats; in a few minutes after this, his belly began to ſwell, with great gripings, and pains in his back, which were attended with vomitings and purgings: during the violence of theſe ſymp⯑toms, his ſight was gone for ſeveral minutes, but he could hear all the while. He ſaid, that in his former experiments, he had never de⯑ferred [207] making uſe of his remedy longer than he perceived the effects of the venom reaching his heart; but this time, being willing to ſatisfy the company thoroughly, and truſting to the ſpeedy effects of his remedy, which was nothing more than olive-oil, he forbore to apply any thing, till he found himſelf exceeding ill and quite giddy. About an hour and a quarter after the firſt of his being bit, a chaffing-diſh of glowing charcoal was brought in, and his naked arm was held over it, as near as he could bear, while his wife rubbed in the oil with her hand, turning his arm continually round, as if ſhe would have roaſted it over the coals: he ſaid the poiſon ſoon abated, but the ſwelling did not diminiſh much. Moſt violent purgings and vomitings ſoon enſued; and his pulſe became ſo low, and ſo often interrupted, that it was thought proper to order him a repetition of cordial potions: he ſaid he was not ſenſible of any great relief from theſe; but that a glaſs or two of olive-oil drank down, ſeemed to give him eaſe. Continuing in this dangerous con⯑dition, he was put to bed, where his arm was again bathed over a pan of charcoal, and rub⯑bed with ſallad-oil, heated in a ladle over the charcoal, by Dr. Mortimer's direction, who was the phyſician that drew up the account. From [208] this laſt operation he declared that he found immediate eaſe, as though by ſome charm: he ſoon after fell into a profound ſleep, and, after about nine hours ſound reſt, awaked about ſix the next morning, and found himſelf very well; but in the afternoon, on drinking ſome rum and ſtrong beer, ſo as to be almoſt intoxicated, the ſwelling returned, with much pain and cold ſweats, which abated ſoon, on bathing the arm, as before, and wrapping it up in a brown pa⯑per, ſoaked in the oil.

Such are the effects of the viper's bite; yet its fleſh has long been celebrated as a noble me⯑dicine. A broth, made by boiling one viper in a quart of water till it comes to a pint, is the uſual method in which it is given at preſent; and it is ſaid to be a very powerful reſtorative in battered conſtitutions: the ſalt of vipers is alſo thought to exceed any other animal ſalt whatever, in giving vigour to the languid cir⯑culation, and prompting to venery.

It is very different with almoſt every other animal. The certain death which enſues from this terrible creature's bite, makes a ſolitude wherever it is heard. It moves along with the moſt majeſtic rapidity; neither ſeeking to offend the larger animals, nor fearing their inſults. If unprovoked, it never meddles with any thing but its natural prey; but when accidentally trod upon, or purſued to be deſtroyed, it then makes a dreadful and deſperate defence. It erects it⯑ſelf upon its tail, throws back the head, and in⯑flicts its wound in a moment; then parts, and inflicts a ſecond wound: after which, we are told, by ſome, that it remains torpid and inactive, without even attempting to eſcape.

The very inſtant the wound is inflicted, though ſmall in itſelf, it appears more painful than the ſting of a bee. This pain, which is ſo ſuddenly felt, far from abating, grows every moment more excruciating and dangerous: the limb wells; the venom reaches the head, which [211] is ſoon of a monſtrous ſize; the eyes are red and fiery; the heart beats quick, with frequent interruptions: the pain becomes inſupportable, and ſome expire under it in five or ſix hours; but others, who are of ſtronger conſtitutions, ſurvive the agony for a few hours longer, only to ſink under a general mortification, which enſues, and corrupts the whole body.

As a gentleman in Virginia was walking in the fields for his amuſement, he accidentally trod upon a rattle ſnake, that had been lurking in a ſtony place; which, enraged by the preſſure, reared up, bit his hand, and ſhook its rattles. The gentleman readily perceived that he was in the moſt dreadful danger; but unwilling to die unrevenged, he killed the ſnake, and carrying it home in his hand, threw it on the ground before his family, crying out, I am killed, and there is my murderer! In ſuch an extremity, the ſpeedieſt remedies were the beſt. His arm, which was beginning to ſwell, was tied up near the ſhoulder, the wound was anointed with oil, and every precaution taken to ſtop the infection. By the help of a very ſtrong conſtitution he re⯑covered; but not without feeling the moſt va⯑rious and dreadful ſymptoms for ſeveral weeks together. His arm, below the ligature, ap⯑peared of ſeveral colours, with a writhing among [212] the muſcles, that, to his terrified imagination, appeared like the motions of the animal that had wounded him. A fever enſued; the loſs of his hair, giddineſs, drought, weakneſs, and nervous faintings: till, by ſlow degrees, a very ſtrong habit overpowered the latent malignity of the poiſon.

Several remedies have been tried to alleviate this calamity. A decoction of the Virginian ſnake-root is conſidered as the moſt effectual; and at the ſame time the head of the animal bruiſed and laid upon the part affected, is thought to aſſiſt the cure. In general, however, it is found to be fatal; and the Indians, ſenſible of this, take care to dip their arrows in the poiſon under the rattle ſnake's fangs, when they deſire to take a ſignal revenge of their enemies.

Thus much concerning this animal is agreed upon by every naturaliſt: there are other cir⯑cumſtances in its hiſtory, which are not ſo well aſcertained. And firſt, its motion, which ſome deſcribe as the ſwifteſt imaginable; aſſerting, that its Indian name of Ecacoalt, which ſignifies the wind-ſerpent, implies its agility: others, on the contrary, aſſert, that it is the ſloweſt and the moſt ſluggiſh of all ſerpents; and that it ſeldom moves from one place. In this oppo⯑ſition [213] of opinions, there are others, who aſſert, that on even ground it moves but ſlowly; but then, among rocks, that it goes at a great rate. If we may argue from analogy, the opinion of thoſe who contend for its ſlow motion, ſeems the moſt probable; as the viper, which it ſo very much reſembles, is remarkable among ſerpents for its inactivity.

It is ſaid alſo by ſome, that the rattle-ſnake has a power of charming its prey into its mouth; and this is as ſtrongly contradicted by others. The inhabitants of Penſylvania are ſaid to have opportunities of obſerving this ſtrange faſcination every day. The ſnake is often ſeen baſking at the foot of a tree, where birds and ſquirrels make their reſidence. There, coiled upon its tail, its jaws extended, and its eyes ſhining like fire, the rattle-ſnake levels its dreadful glare upon one of the little animals above. The bird or the ſquirrel, which ever it may be, too plainly perceives the miſchief me⯑ditating againſt it, and hops from branch to branch, with a timorous, plaintive ſound, wiſh⯑ing to avoid, yet incapable of breaking through the faſcination: thus it continues for ſome time its feeble efforts and complaints, but is ſtill ſeen approaching lower and lower towards the bot⯑tom branches of the tree, until, at laſt, as if [214] overcome by the potency of its fears, it jumps down from the tree directly into the throat of its frightful deſtroyer.

In order to aſcertain the truth of this ſtory, a mouſe was put into a large iron cage, where a rattle ſnake was kept, and the effects carefully obſerved. The mouſe remained motionleſs at one end of the cage; while the ſnake, at the other, continued fixed, with its eye glaring full on the little animal, and its jaws opened to their wideſt extent: the mouſe for ſome time ſeemed eager to eſcape; but every effort only ſerved to encreaſe its terrors, and to draw it ſtill nearer the enemy; till, after ſeveral ineffectual attempts to break the faſcination, it was ſeen to run into the jaws of the rattle-ſnake, where it was in⯑ſtantly killed.

To theſe accounts the incredulous oppoſe the improbability of the fact; they aſſert, that ſuch a power aſcribed to ſerpents, is only the rem⯑nant of a vulgar error, by which it was ſuppoſed that ſerpents could be charmed, and had alſo a power of charming. They aver, that animals are ſo far from running down the throat of a rattle ſnake in captivity, that the ſnake will eat nothing in that ſtate, but actually dies for want of ſubſiſtence.

A ſerpent, called the Whip-ſnake, is ſtill [215] more venomous than the former. This animal, which is a native of the eaſt, is about five feet long, yet not much thicker than the thong of a coachman's whip. It is exceedingly venomous; and its bite is ſaid to kill in about ſix hours. One of the Jeſuit miſſionaries, happening to enter into an Indian pagoda, ſaw what he took to be a whip-cord lying on the floor, and ſtooped to take it up; but, upon handling it, what was his ſurprize to find that it was ani⯑mated, and no other than the whip-ſnake, of which he had heard ſuch formidable accounts: fortune, however, ſeemed favourable to him, for he graſped it by the head, ſo that it had no power to bite him, and only twiſted its folds up his arm. In this manner he held it, till it was killed by thoſe who came to his aſſiſtance.

To this formidable claſs might be added the Aſp, whoſe bite however is not attended with thoſe drowſy ſymptoms which the ancients aſcribed to it. The Jaculus of Jamaica alſo, is one of the ſwifteſt of the ſerpent kind. The Hoemorrhois, ſo called from the hoemorrhages which its bite is ſaid to produce; the Seps, whoſe wound is very venomous, and cauſes the part affected to corrupt in a very ſhort time; the Coral Serpent, which is red, and whoſe bite is ſaid to be fatal. But of all others, the Cobra [216] di Capello, or Hooded Serpent, inflicts the moſt deadly and incurable wounds. Of this formidable creature there are five or ſix different kinds; but they are all equally dangerous, and their bite followed by ſpeedy and certain death. It is from three to eight feet long, with two large fangs hanging out of the upper jaw. It has a broad neck, and a mark of dark brown on the forehead; which, when viewed frontwiſe, looks like a pair of ſpectacles; but behind, like the head of a cat. The eyes are fierce, and full of fire; the head is ſmall, and the noſe flat, though covered with very large ſcales, of a yel⯑lowiſh aſh-colour; the ſkin is white, and the large tumour on the neck is flat, and covered with oblong, ſmooth ſcales. The bite of this animal is ſaid to be incurable, the patient dying in about an hour after the wound; the whole frame being diſſolved into one putrid maſs of corruption.

To remedy the bite of all theſe animals, per⯑haps ſallad-oil would be very efficacious: how⯑ever the Indians make uſe of a compoſition, which is called, in Europe, Petro de Cobra, or the Serpent Stone; and which, applied to the wound, is ſaid to draw out the venom. The compoſition of this ſtone, for it is an artificial ſubſtance, is kept a ſecret; and perhaps its [217] effects in extracting the venom may be ima⯑ginary: nevertheleſs, it is certain that it has a power of ſticking to the ſkin, and ſucking a part of the blood from the wound. This it may do ſomewhat in the ſame manner as we ſee a tobacco-pipe ſtick to the lips of a man who is ſmoking: yet ſtill we are ignorant of the man⯑ner; and the ſecret might probably be of ſome uſe in medicine. It were to be wiſhed, there⯑fore, that thoſe who go into India would examine into this compoſition, and give us the reſult of their enquiries: but I fear that it is not to be⯑nefit mankind, that our travellers now go to India.

CHAP. X. Of Serpents without Venom.

THE claſs of ſerpents without poiſon, may be diſtinguiſhed from thoſe that are venomous, by their wanting the fang teeth: their heads alſo are not ſo thick in proportion to their bodies; and, in general, they taper off to the tail more gradually in a point. But notwithſtanding their being deſtitute of venom, they do not ceaſe to be formidable: ſome grow to a ſize by which they become the moſt powerful animals of the foreſt; and even the ſmalleſt and moſt harmleſs of this ſlender tribe, find protection from the ſimilitude of their form.

The fangs make the great diſtinction among ſerpents; and all this tribe are without them. Their teeth are ſhort, numerous, and, in the ſmaller kinds, perfectly inoffenſive: they lie in either jaw, as in frogs and fiſhes, their points bending backwards, the better to ſecure their prey. They want that artificial mechaniſm by which the poiſonous tribe inflict ſuch deadly wounds: they have no gland in the head for preparing venom; no conduits for conveying it to the teeth; no receptables there; no hollow [219] in the inſtrument that inflicts the wound. Their bite, when the teeth happen to be large enough to penetrate the ſkin, for in general they are too ſmall for this purpoſe, is attended with no other ſymptoms than thoſe of an ordinary puncture; and many of this tribe, as if ſenſible of their own impotence, cannot be provoked to bite, though never ſo rudely aſſaulted. They hiſs, dart out their forky tongues, erect them⯑ſelves on the tail, and call up all their terrors to intimidate their aggreſſors; but ſeem to con⯑ſider their teeth as unneceſſary inſtruments of defence, and never attempt to uſe them. Even among the largeſt of this kind, the teeth are never employed, in the moſt deſperate engage⯑ments. When a hare or a bird is caught, the teeth may ſerve to prevent ſuch ſmall game from eſcaping; but when a buffalo or a tiger is to be encountered, it is by the ſtrong folds of the body, by the fierce verberations of the tail, that the enemy is deſtroyed: by this twining round, and drawing the knot with convulſive energy, this enormous reptile breaks every bone in the quadrupede's body, and then, at one mor⯑ſel, devours its prey.

From hence we may diſtinguiſh the unve⯑nomous tribe into two kinds: firſt, into thoſe which are ſeldom found of any conſiderable [220] magnitude, and that never offend animals larger or more powerful than themſelves, but which find their chief protection in flight, or in the doubtfulneſs of their form; ſecondly, into ſuch as grow to an enormous ſize, fear no enemy, but indiſcriminately attack all other animals and devour them. Of the firſt kind is the Common Black Snake, the Blind Worm, the Eſculapian Serpent, the Amphiſbaena, and ſeveral others. Of the ſecond, the Lyboya, the Boiguacu, the Depona, and the Boiquatrara.

The Black Snake is the largeſt of Engliſh ſer⯑pents, ſometimes exceeding four feet in length. The neck is ſlender; the middle of the body thick; the back and ſides covered with ſmall ſcales; the belly with oblong, narrow, tranſverſe plates: the colour of the back and ſides are of a duſky brown; the middle of the back marked with two rows of ſmall black ſpots, running from the head to the tail; the plates on the belly are duſky; the ſcales on the ſides are of a bluiſh white: the teeth are ſmall and ſerrated, lying on each ſide of the jaw in two rows. The whole ſpecies is perfectly inoffenſive; taking ſhelter in dung hills, and among buſhes in moiſt places; from whence they ſeldom remove, un⯑leſs in the midſt of the day, in ſummer, when they are called out by the heat to baſk themſelves [221] in the ſun. If diſturbed or attacked, they move away among the brambles with great ſwiftneſs; but if too cloſely purſued, they hiſs and threaten, and thus render themſelves formidable, though incapable of offending.

The black ſnake preys upon frogs, inſects, worms, mice, and young birds; and, conſidering the ſmallneſs of the neck, it is amazing how large an animal it will ſwallow. The black ſnake of Virginia, which is larger than our's, and generally grows to ſix feet long, takes a prey proportionable to its ſize; partridges, chickens, and young ducks. It is generally found in the neighbourhood of the hen rooſt, and will devour the eggs even while the hen is ſitting upon them: theſe it ſwallows whole; and often, after it has done the miſchief, will coil itſelf round in the neſt.

The whole of this tribe are oviparous, ex⯑cluding eighty or an hundred eggs at a time, which are laid in dung-hills or hot-beds; the heat of which, aided by that of the ſun, brings them to maturity. During winter they lie tor⯑pid, in banks of hedges, and under old trees.

The Blind Worm is another harmleſs reptile, with a formidable appearance. The uſual length of this ſpecies is eleven inches. The eyes are red; the head ſmall; the neck ſtill more ſlender: [222] from that part the body grows ſuddenly, and continues of an equal bulk to the tail, which ends quite blunt: the colour of the back is ci⯑nereous, marked with very ſmall lines, compoſed of minute black ſpecks; the ſides are of a red⯑diſh caſt; the belly duſky, and marked like the back. The motion of this ſerpent is ſlow; from which, and from the ſmallneſs of the eyes, are derived its names; ſome calling it the Slow, and ſome the Blind Worm. Like all the reſt of the kind in our climates, they lie torpid during winter; and are ſometimes found, in vaſt num⯑bers, twiſted together. This animal, like the former, is perfectly innocent; however, like the viper, it brings forth its young alive. Geſner tells us, that one of theſe being ſtruck on the head when it was pregnant, it immediately caſt forth its young.

The Amphiſbaena, or the Double Headed Serpent, is remarkable for moving along with either the head or the tail foremoſt; and from thence it has been thought to have two heads. This error took its riſe from the thickneſs of the tail, which, at a diſtance, may be miſtaken for another head. Upon a nearer view, however, the error is eaſily diſcovered, and the animal will be found formed according to the uſual courſe of nature. It is as thick at one end as [223] at the other; and the colour of the ſkin is like that of the earth, being rough, hard, and va⯑riouſly ſpotted. Some have affirmed that its bite is dangerous; but this muſt be a miſtake, as it wants the fangs, and conſequently the ela⯑boratory that prepares the poiſon.

Theſe animals are only formidable from their ſimilitude to the viper tribe; and, in ſome coun⯑tries, where ſuch reptiles are common, they make the diſtinction ſo exactly, that while they deſtroy ſerpents of one kind with great ani⯑moſity, they take others into their houſes, and even into their boſoms, with a kind of unac⯑countable affection. The Eſculapian Serpent of Italy is among this number. It is there ſuf⯑fered to crawl about the chambers; and often gets into the beds where people lie. It is a yel⯑low ſerpent, of about an ell long; and though innocent, yet will bite when exaſperated. They are ſaid to be great deſtroyers of mice; and this may be the reaſon why they are taken under human protection. The Boyuna of Ceylon is equally a favourite among the natives; and they conſider the meeting it as a ſign of good luck. The Surinam Serpent, which ſome improperly call the Ammodytes, is equally harmleſs and deſirable among the ſavages of that part of the world. They conſider themſelves as extremely [224] happy if this animal comes into their huts. The colours of this ſerpent are ſo many and beautiful, that they ſurpaſs all deſcription; and theſe per⯑haps are the chief inducements to the ſavages to conſider its viſits as ſo very fortunate. A ſtill greater favourite is the Prince of Serpents, a native of Japan, that has not its equal for beauty. The ſcales which cover the back are reddiſh, finely ſhaded, and marbled with large ſpots of irregular figures mixed with black. The fore part of the head is covered with large beautiful ſcales, the jaws bordered with yellow, the fore⯑head marked with a black marbled ſtreak, and the eyes handſome and lively. But of all others, the Gerenda of the Eaſt Indies is the moſt ho⯑noured and eſteemed. To this animal, which is finely ſpotted with various colours, the natives of Calicut pay divine honours; and while their deity lies coiled up, which is its uſual poſture, the people fall upon their faces before it with ſtupid adoration. The African Gerenda is larger, and worſhiped in the ſame manner, by the inhabitants of the coaſts of Mozambique. The ſkin is not ſo finely ſpotted as the former; but it is variegated all over the body with very fine white, aſh coloured, and black ſpots. The brilliancy of colouring in theſe reptiles would only ſerve with us to encreaſe our diſguſt; but [225] in thoſe countries where they are, common diſtinctions are made; and even in this horrid claſs, there are ſome eyes that can diſcover beauty.

But in the larger tribe of ſerpents, there is nothing but danger to be apprehended. This formidable claſs, though without venom, have ſomething frightful in their colour, as well as their ſize and form. They want that vivid hue with which the ſavages are ſo much pleaſed in the leſſer kinds; they are all found of a duſky colour, with large teeth, which are more for⯑midable than dangerous.

The firſt of this claſs, is the Great Jiboya of Java and Braſil, which Leguat affirms, he has ſeen fifty feet long. Nor is he ſingular in this report, as many of the miſſionaries affirm the ſame; and we have the concurrent teſtimony of hiſtorians as a further proof. The largeſt ani⯑mal of this kind, which has been brought into Europe, is but thirty-ſix feet long; and it is probable, that much greater have been ſeen and deſtroyed, before they were thought worth ſending ſo far, to ſatisfy European curioſity. The moſt uſual length, however, of the jiboya, is about twenty feet, and the thickneſs in pro⯑portion. The teeth are ſmall in proportion to [226] the body; nor are they uſed, but when it ſeizes the ſmalleſt prey. It lies in wait for wild ani⯑mals near the paths, and when it throws itſelf upon them, it wraps them round ſo cloſely as to break all the bones; then moiſtening the whole body over with its ſlaver, it makes it fit for deglutition, and ſwallows it whole.

The Boiguacu is ſuppoſed to be the next in magnitude, and has often been ſeen to ſwallow a goat whole. It is thickeſt in the middle of the body, and grows ſhorter and ſmaller towards the head and the tail: on the middle of the back, there is a chain of ſmall black ſpots running along the length of it; and on each ſide, there are large round black ſpots, at ſome diſtance from each other, which are white in the center: between theſe, near the belly, there are two rows of leſſer black ſpots, which run parallel to the back. It has a double row of ſharp teeth in each jaw, of a white colour, and ſhining like mother-of pearl. The head is broad; and over the eyes it is raiſed into two prominences: near the extremity of the tail there are two claws, reſembling thoſe of birds.

Theſe ſerpents lie hid in thickets, from whence they ſally out unawares, and raiſing themſelves upright on their tails, will attack both men and [227] beaſts. They make a loud hiſſing noiſe when exaſperated; and ſometimes winding up trees, will dart down upon travellers, and twiſt them⯑ſelves ſo cloſely round their bodies, as to diſpatch them in a very few minutes. Condamine, how⯑ever, affirms, that their bite is not dangerous; for though the teeth are ſo large, as to inſpire the beholder with terror, yet the wound they make is attended with no dangerous conſe⯑quences whatever. Dellon affirms, that they generally haunt deſart places; and though they are ſometimes ſeen near great towns, or on the banks of rivers, yet it is generally after ſome great inundation: he never ſaw any but what were dead; and they appeared to him, like the trunk of a great tree lying on the ground.

To this claſs of large ſerpents, we may refer the Depona, a native of Mexico, with a very large head and great jaws. The mouth is armed with cutting, crooked teeth, among which there are two longer than the reſt, placed in the fore part of the upper jaw, but very different from the fangs of the viper. All round the mouth there is a broad ſcaly border; and the eyes are ſo large, that they give it a very terrible aſpect. The forehead is covered with very large ſcales; [228] on which are placed others, that are ſmaller, curiouſly ranged: thoſe on the back are greyiſh, and along it runs a double chain, whoſe ends are joined in the manner of a buckler. Each ſide of the belly is marbled with large ſquare ſpots, of a cheſnut colour; in the middle of which is a ſpot, which is round and yellow. They avoid the ſight of man; and conſequently, never do much harm.

Such are the moſt noted animals of the ſer⯑pent tribe: but to recount all, would be a vain, as well as a uſeleſs endeavour. In thoſe coun⯑tries where they abound, their diſcriminations are ſo numerous, and their colours ſo various, that every thicket ſeems to produce a new ani⯑mal. The ſame ſerpent is often found to bring forth animals of eight or ten different colours: and the naturaliſt who attempts to arrange them by that mark, will find that he has made di⯑ſtinctions which are entirely diſowned by Nature: however, a very conſiderable number might be added to enlarge the catalogue; but having ſupplied a general hiſtory, the mind turns away from a ſubject where every object preſents ſomething formidable or loathſome to the imagination. Indeed, the whole tribe reſemble each other ſo nearly, that the hiſtory of one [229] may almoſt ſerve for every other. They are all terrible to the imagination, all frightful to behold in their fury, and have long been con⯑ſidered as a race of animals between whom and man there is a natural antipathy.