. On the anatomy of vertebrates. Vertebrates; Anatomy, Comparative; 1866. LOCOMOTION OF SERPENTS. 261 Serpents climb trees by the same mechanism and actions as in the first kind of locomotion; the edges of the erected scutes laying hold of the bark in succession, as the body glides spirally up the bougli. The tail has a prehensile faculty, especially exercised by the great Constrictors while waiting for their prey. ^^^ They instinctively select a tree at the part of the stream easiest of access to the thirsty mammals of the forest, and suspend themselves, bke a jiarasitic creeper, from an over
. On the anatomy of vertebrates. Vertebrates; Anatomy, Comparative; 1866. LOCOMOTION OF SERPENTS. 261 Serpents climb trees by the same mechanism and actions as in the first kind of locomotion; the edges of the erected scutes laying hold of the bark in succession, as the body glides spirally up the bougli. The tail has a prehensile faculty, especially exercised by the great Constrictors while waiting for their prey. ^^^ They instinctively select a tree at the part of the stream easiest of access to the thirsty mammals of the forest, and suspend themselves, bke a jiarasitic creeper, from an overhanging branch, the head and fore-part of the body being floated by the bladder- like lungs upon the stream. Serjients are too commonly looked down upon as animals degraded from a higher type ; but their whole organisation, and especially their bony struc- ture, demonstrate that their parts are as exquisitely adjusted to the form of their whole, and to their ^ habits and sphere of life, as is the organisation of any animal which we call superior to them. It , is true that the serpent has no limits, yet it can outclimb the monkey, outswim the fish, outleap the jerboa, and, suddenly loosing the close coils of its crouching spiral, it can spring into the air and seize the bird upon the wing: all these -creatures have been observed to fall its prey. The serpent has neither hands nor talons, yet it can outwrestle the athlete, and crush the tiger in the emln-ace of its ponderous overlapping folds. Instead of licking up its food as it glides along, the serpent uplifts its crushed prey, and presents it, grasped in the death- ?/,:'!',""„"!;ti'S' coil as in a hand, to its slimy gaping mouth. It is truly wonderful to see the work of hands, feet, and 161. Jlotion of serpent by ar&l'hig the trunk . COTV. fins, i)erformed by a modiflcation of the vertebral column — by. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enh
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Keywords: ., bookauthorowenrichard18041892, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860
