Snakes: curiosities and wonders of serpent life . 99), these being the principal species which do sheltertheir young. And the habit must have had a beginning ;there must have been some training, some development ofinstinct, to lead up to what we now see, viz. a snake 5o6 SNAKES. deliberately giving a signal, lowering her head to the levelof the ground or water, opening wide her mouth to receiveher young, and giving them a second sign when they mightsafely venture forth again. This is the state of things supposed to exist at the presenttime ; and it would seem to be an organized habit, perfecte
Snakes: curiosities and wonders of serpent life . 99), these being the principal species which do sheltertheir young. And the habit must have had a beginning ;there must have been some training, some development ofinstinct, to lead up to what we now see, viz. a snake 5o6 SNAKES. deliberately giving a signal, lowering her head to the levelof the ground or water, opening wide her mouth to receiveher young, and giving them a second sign when they mightsafely venture forth again. This is the state of things supposed to exist at the presenttime ; and it would seem to be an organized habit, perfectedin process of ages, and one in which the mothers instinct,and a consciousness of Jiarboiiring active yonng ones beforeintroducing tJicni to snrrotmding dangers^ must have had aconsiderable share. In concluding this speculative chapter, I can only humblybeg to * second the motion put to the learned assembly atPortland, Maine, in 1873, to the effect that the subject willreceive the attention of ophiologists in all the snake countriesof the CHAPTER XXVIII. SERPENT WORSHIP, CHARAIING; ETC. IN the preceding pages it has been my endeavour toresolve some of the superstitious myths into zoologicalfacts, and to explain by the light of science those peculiarfeatures and manners of the Ophidia which from theearliest traditions of the human race have been regarded assupernatural. In reviewing the general organization of these reptiles,their marvellous powers and habits, can w^e wonder at theimpressions they have created in untutored minds ? Let uspicture to ourselves our earliest ancestors with their dawningintellect contemplating the instantaneous coil of a constrictor;or the almost invisible action in a flash of time withwhich the death-dealing stroke of the poison fang iseffected. From a source which was incomprehensible, likethe burning, scathing fluid from the skies, came a sting,an agony, death ! Awe-struck and filled with sacred terrorwere the beholders, as before them lay
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectserpents, bookyear188
