SERASKIER-SERF. SERA'SKIER, or SERI-ASKER (Pers. head of the army), the name given by the Turks to every general having the command of a separate army, and, in particular, to the commander-in-chief or minister of war. The seraskier, in the latter sense, possesses most extensive authority, being subordinate only to the sultan and grand vizier; he is selected by the monarch from among the pashas of two or three tails. SERENA'DE (Ital. serenata), originally music performed in a calm night; hence an entertainment of music given by a lover to his mistress under her window. Serenading has been chiefly practised in Spain and Italy. It is common among the students of the German universities to assemble at night under the window of a favourite professor, and give him a musical tribute.-A piece of music characterised by the soft repose which is supposed to be in harmony with the stillness of night, is called a serenade, or sometimes a Nottorno. SERE'TH, an important affluent of the Danube, rises in the Austrian crownland of Galicia, becomes for some distance the boundary between Moldavia and Wallachia, and joins the Danube 5 miles above Galatz, after a course of 300 miles. description, and who were only bound to fixed duties and payments in respect of their lands. The abolition of serfdom in Western Europe was a very gradual process, various causes having combined to bring it about. The church both inveighed against the practice of keeping Christians in bondage, and practised manumission to a large extent. In the course of time, usage greatly modified the rights and liabilities of the serf, whose position must have been considerably altered when we find him making stipulations regarding the amount of his services, and purchasing his own redemption. The town afforded in more than one way a means of emanci pation. A serf residing a year in a borough without challenge on the part of his lord, became ipso facto a free man; and the result of experience shewed that the industry of the free labourer was quite as productive as that of the serf. At all events, serfdom died out in England without any special enactment; yet it was not wholly extinct in the latter half of the 16th c., for we find a commission issued in 1574 by Queen Elizabeth, to inquire into the lands and goods of all her bondsmen and bondswomen in the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, and Gloucester, in order to compound with them for their manumission, that they might enjoy all SERF (Lat. servus, a slave). A numerous class of their lands and goods as freedmen. In a few rare the population of Europe known as serfs or vil- instances, liability to servile duties and payments in leins, were in a state of slavery during the early respect of lands seem to have continued down to middle ages. In some cases, this serf population the reign of Charles I. In Scotland, as in England, consisted of an earlier race, who had been subjugated serfdom disappeared by insensible degrees; but a by the conquerors; but there were also instances of remarkable form of it continued to survive down persons from famine or other pressing cause selling to the closing years of last century. Colliers and themselves into slavery, or even surrendering them- salters were bound by the law, independent of selves to churches and monasteries for the sake of paction, on entering to a coal-work or salt-mine, to the benefits to be derived from the prayers of their perpetual service there; and in case of sale or masters. Different as was the condition of the serf alienation of the ground on which the works were in different countries and at different periods, his situated, the right to their services passed without position was on the whole much more favourable any express grant to the purchaser. The sons of than that of the slave under the Roman law. He the collier and salter could follow no occupation but had certain acknowledged rights--and this was more that of their father, and were not at liberty to seek particularly the case with the classes of serfs who for employment anywhere else than in the mines to were attached to the soil. In England, prior to the which they had been attached by birth. Statutes Norman Conquest, a large proportion of the popula-15 Geo. III. c. 28 and 39 Geo. III. c. 56, restored tion were in a servile position, either as domestic slaves or as cultivators of the land. The name of nativus, generally applied to the serfs, seems to indicate that they belonged to the native race, the earliest possessors of the soil. The powers of the master over his serf were very extensive, their principal limitations being, that a master who killed his serf was bound to pay a fine to the king, and that a serf deprived of his eye or tooth by his master was entitled to his liberty. The Norman Conquest made little change in the position of the serf. The lowest class of serfs were the villeins in gross, who were employed in menial household services, and were the personal property of their lords, who might sell them or export them to foreign countries; while the most numerous class, who were employed in agriculture, and attached to the soil, were called villeins regardant. These latter, though in some respects in a better position than the villeins in gross, might be severed from the land, and conveyed apart from it by their lord. They were incapable of enjoying anything like a complete right to property, inasmuch as it was held, in accordance with the principles of the Roman law, that whatever the slave acquired was his peculium, which belonged to his lord, who might seize it at his pleasure. By a peculiarity in the usages of Britain, the condition of a child as regards freedom or servitude followed the father, and not the mother, and therefore the bastards of female villeins might be free. In France and Germany, besides the classes of serf alluded to, there were others whose servitude was of a milder these classes of workmen to the rights of freemen and citizens, and abolished the last remnant of slavery in the British islands. In France, though a general edict of Louis X., in 1315, purported to enfranchise the serfs on the royal domain on payment of a composition, this measure seems never to have been carried into effect, and a limited sort of villeinage continued to exist in some places down to the Revolution. In some estates in Champagne and Nivernais, the villeins, known as gens de main morte, were not allowed to leave their habitations, and might have been followed by their lords into any part of France for the taille or villeintax. In Italy, one great cause of the decline of villeinage was the necessity under which the cities and petty states found themselves to employ the peasant population for their defence, whom it became expedient to reward with enfranchisement. In the 11th and 12th centuries, the number of serfs began to decrease, and villeinage seems no longer to have had an existence in Italy in the 15th century. Over a large portion of Germany, the mass of the peasants had acquired their freedom before the end of the 13th c., but in some parts of the Prussian dominions a modified villeinage continued to exist until swept away by the reforms of Von Stein in the present century. In Russia, where the feudal system never prevailed, the early condition of the peasant was not a servile one. Down to the 11th c., he could occupy any portion of the soil that he had the means of cultivating, the land being the property of all, and SERGE SERINGAPATAM. farmed on the purest communistic principles. The reduction of the peasantry to a state of serfdom, and their attachment to the soil, was gradually effected, and not completed till the close of the 16th century. The Russian peasant of the 19th c. was in some respects in as servile a condition as the feudal villein of the 12th c. in the west of Europe; but there was this peculiarity attaching to his position, that while he himself was the property of his lord, the land which he cultivated belonged to himself a consideration which greatly complicated the question of his emancipation. The Emperor Alexander I. introduced various improvements in the condition of the peasantry, particularly those belonging to the crown, and in his reign serfdom was abolished in Courland and Livonia. The entire abolition of villeinage has been effected by the present emperor, Alexander II., by a very sweeping measure. From March 1863, the peasants, both husbandmen and domestics, have been made entirely free as regards their persons, while they have also obtained the perpetual usufruct of their cottages and gardens, and certain portions of land. See, on the subject of serfdom generally, Hallam's State of Europe during the Middle Ages, chap. 2. SERGE, a kind of twilled worsted cloth of inferior quality. There is also a coarse kind of twilled silk used for lining gentlemen's coats called silk serge. has arisen from a double use of the word serviens, or sergeant, which is sometimes applied to a tenant either by grand sergeanty or knight-service who had not taken on himself the obligations attendant on knighthood. The term petty sergeanty was applied to a species of socage tenure in which the services stipulated for bore some relation to war, but were not required to be executed personally by the tenant, or to be performed to the person of the king, as the payment of rent in spurs or arrows. bounded on the N. by the São Francisco, which SERGI'PÉ, a maritime province of Brazil, separates it from Alagoas; on the W. and S. by Bahia; and on the E. by the Atlantic. According to the most recent statements, this province is the smallest in the empire. Area, 11,088 sq. m.; pop. 183,600 The shores are low and sandy, the interior mountainous. The east part is fertile, well wooded, and produces sugar and tobacco; the western districts The chief town is Sergipe del Rey, at the mouth of are devoted principally to the rearing of cattle. the chief river-the Vasa Barris-and with a pop. stated at 9000. SERINAGU'R, SIRINUGGUR, or CASHMERE, the capital of the valley of Cashmere, stands on both sides of the Jhelum, which is here 100 yards wide, 170 miles north-north-east of Lahore. It is quaint and picturesque-looking almost beyond conception. The streets, or rather narrow lanes, lead to the river, and the houses, five and six stories high, are built of wood. Not a single straight line is to be seen. The houses overhang the river, and lean towards each other above the lanes in various stages of dilapidation. Communication between the two quarters is kept up by means of a number of rustic wooden bridges, built on enormous piles of timber. Shawls are an important article of manufacture (see CASHMERE). The manufacture of articles of papier-mâché, the designs of which are far in advance of the workmanship, and engraving on stone and metal, are also important branches of industry. The vicinity of the city, with its border of towering mountains, is exceedingly beautiful. The numerous lakes, connected with the town and river by canals, recall Venice to the traveller. The most notable public structures are the Jumna Musjid or 'Great Mosque,' capable, according to native estimate, of containing 60,000 persons, the mosque of Shah Hamedan, a royal tomb, and the governor's residence. Near the east end of the city lies the dal or Lake of Serinagur, about 5 miles long, and 24 broad. It is a lovely and tranquil sheet of water, was formerly a choice retreat of the Mogul emperors, the remains of whose pleasure-grounds and palaces are still visible on its margin, the most celebrated being the Shali40,000; in the early part of the present century, it mar, of polished black marble. Pop. estimated at is stated to have been from 150,000 to 200,000.— Captain Knight's Diary of a Pedestrian in Cashmere and Tibet (1863). SERGEANTS in the British army are non-commissioned officers of the army and marines in the grade next above corporal, whose duties are to overlook the soldiers in barracks, and to assist the officers in all ways in the field. Every company has four sergeants, of whom the senior is the colour-sergeant. A superior class are the staff-sergeants, as the quarter-master-sergeant, armourer-sergeant, hospital-sergeant; and above them all is the sergeant-major. See NONCOMMISSIONED OFFICERS. In the army of the United States the sergeant-major of engineers receives $36 per month; a sergeant-major of cavalry, artillery, and infantry, $21 per month. There are also officers known as quartermaster-sergeant of engineers and of cavalry, a first sergeant of cavalry, company quartermaster-sergeant of engineers and ordnance, and sergeant of cavalry. Each regiment has 1 sergeant-major and 1 quarter-master-sergeant, while in the minimum organisation of the regiments 6 sergeants are awarded to each mounted, and 4 to each company not mounted. SERGEANTY, GRAND (Fr. sergenterie, from Lat. serviens), a tenure by which lands were held in feudal times in England. After the Conquest, the forfeited lands were parcelled out by William to his adherents on condition of the performance of services of a military character. The military tenants of the crown were, however, of two descriptions: some held merely per servicium militare, by knight service; others held per sergentiam, by grand sergeanty, a higher tenure, which involved attendance on the king not merely in war, but in his court but in his court at the three festivals of the year, and at other times when summoned. Although the word baron, in its SERINGAPATA'M (properly, Shri Ranga Pata more extended sense, was applied to both classes of nam, City of Vishnu), a decayed city of Southern crown tenants, yet it was only those holding by India, built on an island in the channel of the grand sergeanty whose tenure was said to be per Kaveri, nine miles north-north-east of Maisur. The baroniam. In its earliest stage, the distinction island, three miles long, and one mile broad, has a between the greater nobility and lesser nobility or wretched appearance, and the town itself is illgentry in England was, that the former held by built, ill-ventilated, and ugly. The fort, about threegrand sergeanty, and the latter by knight-service quarters of a mile broad, is surrounded by strong only. In theory, lands held by sergeanty could not walls of stone, and contains the palace of Tipu be alienated or divided; but practically this came Sahib (q. v.). In the days of its highest prosperity, to be often done, and by this means tenures by S. is said to have contained 300,000 inhabitants; in sergeanty became gradually extinct before the abo- 1800, it contained 31,895, and now it contains little lition of military holdings. Considerable misappre-over 12,000. Hyder Ali (q. v.) made it the seat of hension on the part of Dugdale and later writers his government in 1765. It was besieged by Lord SERJEANT-AT-ARMS-SEROUS MEMBRANES. Cornwallis in 1791, and again in 1792. On the last occasion, the terms dictated by the commander of the British to Tipu, the son and successor of Hyder Ali, were very severe. A British army appeared before the walls again in 1799; and on the 3d May of that year, the fort was stormed, and Tipu slain in the vicinity of his own palace. SERJEANT-AT-ARMS, in the English Court of Chancery, is the officer who attends upon the Lord Chancellor with the mace, and who executes by himself or deputies various writs of process directed to him in the course of a Chancery suit. A similar officer attends on the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States, and on each House of Parliament, and arrests any person ordered by their authority to be arrested. SERJEANT-AT-LAW used to be the highest degree of barrister in the common law of England, and was called serjeant-counter, or of the coif. The degree is of great antiquity, and formerly a barrister could only be appointed after being of sixteen years' standing, but now no particular qualification as to time is required. Formerly, also, they had exclusive audience in the Court of Common Pleas, but The proper that monopoly has been abolished. forensic dress of a sergeant is a violet-coloured robe with a scarlet hood. A serjeant is appointed by a writ or patent of the crown. The Chief Justice of the Common Pleas recommends the barrister to the Lørd Chancellor, who advises the crown to make the appointment. The degree of serjeant is entirely honorary, and merely gives precedence over bar risters; and when he is appointed, he is rung out of the Inn of Court to which he belongs, and thereafter joins the brotherhood of Serjeants, who form a separate community. By ancient custom, the common law judges are always admitted to the order of serjeants before sitting as judges, and hence they always address a sergeant as a brother. A Queen's Counsel (q. v.) takes precedence of all serjeants, unless these have patents of precedence, which prevent them being displaced by the Queen's Counsel who come after them. Sometimes one or more of the serjeants are appointed Queen's Serjeants. SEROUS FLUIDS. This term is applied by chemists and physicians to various fluids occurring in the animal body. They are arranged by GorupBesanez, one of the highest authorities on Physiological Chemistry, under three heads: 1. Those which are contained in the serous sacs of the body, as the cerebro-spinal fluid, the pericardial fluid, the peritoneal fluid, the pleural fluid, the fluid of the tunica vaginalis testis, and the synovial fluid. 2. The tears and the fluids existing in the eyeball, the amniotic fluid, and transudations into the tissue of organs. 3. Morbid or excessive transudations, such as dropsical fluids, the fluids occurring in hydatids, and in blebs and vesicles on the skin, and transudations from the blood in the intestinal capillaries, as in cases of intestinal catarrh, cholera, or dysentery. There are seven SEROUS MEMBRANES. of these membranes in the human body, three being median and single, while two are double and lateral. They are the arachnoid, the pericardium, and the peritoneum, with the two pleure and tunica the obvious view of facilitating motion and affording vaginales testis. Thus they are connected, with general protection, with all the most important organs in the body. They are all closed sacs, with PERICARDIUM, PERITONEUM, and PLEURÆ, will at one exception, and a reference to the articles once shew the reader that each sac or continuous membrane consists of two portions-a parietal one, which lines the walls of the cavity, and a visceral, or reflected one, which forms an almost complete coating or investment for the viscera contained in the cavity. The interior of the sac is filled during life with a halitus or vapour, which after death condenses into a serous fluid. With regard to their structure, it is sufficient to state that they consist essentially of (1) Epithelium; (2) Basement Membrane; (3) A stratum of areolar or cellular tissue, which constitutes the chief thickness of the mem brane, and is the constituent on which its physical This layer is properties are mainly dependent. more liable to variation than the others, and one of the most common alterations is an augmentation of the yellow fibrous element, by which an increased elasticity is given to the membrane, which is thus better adapted for distention, and for a subsequent return to its original bulk. The situations in which this augmentation is found are, as Dr Brinton (Cyclopædia of Anatomy and Physiology, vol. iv. p. 524) has pointed out, in exact conformity with this view: in the peritoneum, which lines the anterior abdominal wall, and covers the bladder, it attains its maximum; in the detached folds of the mesentery, in the costal pleuræ, and in the suspensory ligament of the liver, it is still very prominent; while on the posterior wall of the belly, and in serous membranes covering the heart, liver, &c., it is almost absent. The following are the most important of the morbid changes to which these membranes are liable. One of the most frequent of the morbid appearances seen in these structures is the presence of an excess of serous fluid in their cavity. This condition occurs in deaths from various diseases, and in general the serous membrane only shares in a dropsy which is common to other structures, and especially affects the areolar or cellular tissue. When general anasarca, or dropsy of the cellulai tissue, has existed for a long time, more or less dropsical effusion is usually found in the pleuræ and peritoneum. The inflammation of these struc ་ All these fluids bear a close resemblance to one another, both in their physical and chemical characters. In so far as relates to their physical characters, they are usually clear and transparent, colourless or slightly yellow, of a slight saline, mawkish taste, and exhibiting an alkaline reaction with test-paper. They possess no special formal or histological elements, but on a microscopic examination, blood-corpuscles, cells of various kinds, mole-tures is sufficiently described in the articles PERIcular granules, and epithelium may occasionally be observed in them. The ordinary chemical constituents of these fluids are water, fibrin (occasionally), albumen, the fats, animal soaps, cholesterin, extractive matters, urea (occasionally), the same inorganic CARDITIS, PERITONITIS, and PLEURISY. Tubercle is seldom primarily deposited in these membranes, although it is not uncommon after other organs have been implicated. Cancer and ossification of the serous membranes are rare affections, but cysts SERPENT-SERPENTS. of various kinds, some of which are of parasitic course uncertain; but they accompany their words origin, are often found. Synovial membranes present many points of similarity to serous membranes; as, however, they also present several points of difference, they will be briefly noticed in a special article. SERPENT, a powerful bass musical wind instrument, consisting of a tube of wood covered with leather, furnished with a mouthpiece like a trombone, ventages, and keys, and twisted into a serpentine form, whence its name. Its compass is said to be from Bb below the bass staff to Ĉ in the third space of the treble clef, including every tone and more powerful than the rest. The serpent is in Bb, and therefore music for it must be written a whole tone above the real sounds. The serpent was invented by a French priest at Auxerre in 1590, and while its principal use has been in military music, it has also been employed in the orchestra to rein: force the basses. As an orchestral, and even as a military instrument, the serpent is far less manageable than the Ophicleide (q. v.), which has nearly superseded it. It is still much used in the music of the Roman Catholic Church. SERPENTAʼRIA. See ARISTOLOCHIA. SERPENT-CHARMING, an art which has been practised in Egypt and throughout the East from remote antiquity, and which forms the profession of persons who employ it for their own gain, and for the amusement of others. In India, and partly if not entirely in other countries, this profession is hereditary; There are several allusions to serpent-charming in the Old Testament: see Psalm lviii. 4, 5; Eccles. x. 11; Jer. viii. 17. It is mentioned also by some of the ancient classics, as Pliny and Lucan. Serpent-charmers usually ascribe their power over serpents to some constitutional peculiarity, and represent themselves as perfectly safe from injury even if bitten by them. To confirm this, they are accustomed, in their exhibitions, to exasperate the serpents, and allow themselves to be bitten, so that blood flows freely. But it has been fully ascertained that the serpents which they carry with them, and produce on these occasions, although of the most venomous kinds, have been at least deprived of their poison-fangs, and to prevent new ones from growing, a portion of the maxillary bone is often if not always taken out; in some cases, it appears that the poison-glands themselves are removed by excision and cautery. So much, however, being set aside as of the nature of a mere juggler's trick, much still remains which is interesting, and in which there is unquestionable reality. The serpent-charmers of the East have a power beyond other men of knowing when a serpent is concealed anywhere, long practice having probably enabled them to distinguish the musky smell which serpents very generally emit, even when it is too faint to attract the attention of others. They are therefore sometimes employed to remove serpents from gardens and the vicinity of houses. In this, as in their exhibitions, they pretend to use spells. What power the tones of their voice may exert, is of 404 with whistling, and make use also of various musical instruments, the sound of which certainly has great power over serpents. When they issue from their holes, the serpent-charmer fearlessly catches them, by pinning them to the ground by means of a forked stick. But one of the first things he does afterwards is to knock out or extract the poison-fangs. In the exhibitions of serpent-charmers, the creatures are often made to twine round the bodies of the performers. They also erect themselves partially from the ground, and in this posture they perform strange movements to the sound of a pipe, on which the serpent-charmer plays. It appears also that he exerts a very remarkable influence over them by his eye, for even before any musical sound has been employed, he governs and commands them by merely fixing his gaze upon them. In 1850 a party of Arab serpent-charmers visited London, where exhibitions took place similar to those which are common in the East. SERPENTINE, a mineral, composed of silica and magnesia in almost equal proportions, with about 13-15 per cent. of water, and a little protoxide of iron. S. is generally massive; very rarely crystallised in rectangular prisms. COMMON S. sometimes occurs as a rock. It is unctuous to the touch, and soft enough to be scratched by calcareous spar. It is not easily broken, but can be cut without much difficulty. It is generally green, black, or red; the colour sometimes uniform, sometimes spotted, clouded, or veined. It receives its name from its mottled appearance, resembling the skin of a serpent. It is cut and turned into ornaments of various kinds. PRECIOUS S., or NOBLE S., is of a rich dark-green colour, hard enough to receive a good polish, translucent; and sometimes contains embedded garnets, which form red spots, and add much to its beauty. It is a rather rare mineral. It occurs at Baireuth in Germany, in Corsica, at Portsoy in Banffshire, and in many places in the United States. It is generally found along with foliated limestone, in beds under gneiss, mica-slate, &c., or in Common Serpentine. The ancient Romans used it for pillars and for many ornamental purposes; and vases, boxes, &c. are still made of it, and much prized. ancients ascribed to it imaginary medicinal virtues. The S. belongs to the metamorphic rocks. It occurs as an irregularly overlying mass in the Lizard district of Cornwall, as a dyke at Portsoy, in the Barren Hills of Chester County, Pennsylvania, and in Maryland, &c. It is generally associated with the granitoid, igneous, or metamorphic rocks, though it is occasionally found as a member of the trappean series. Trap dykes, in passing through or coming into contact with limestone, not unfrequently convert it into serpentine, or fill it with lines or masses of serpentine. SERPENTS (Ophidia), an order of Reptiles, which is in general simply characterised as having a very elongated body and no external limbs. The links, however, which unite saurians with serpents are very numerous; the limbs of many saurians being partially wanting, and little more than rudimentary; whilst rudimentary limbs are found by anatomical examination in many serpents, and the rudimentary hinder limbs of some, as boas, appear externally in the form of hooks or claws. See BoA. The body and tail are covered with scales, the head often with plates. The vertebræ and ribs are extremely numerous, a pair of ribs being attached to each vertebra throughout the whole length of the body. Some serpents have more than 300 pair of ribs. The ribs not only serve to give form to the body, and aid in respiration, but are also organs 625 SERPENTS. of locomotion. There is no breastbone (sternum) for the small end of the ribs to be attached to, as in other vertebrate animals, but each rib is joined by a slender cartilage and a set of short muscles to one of the scales of the abdomen. A serpent moves Fig. 1.-Skeleton of the Rattlesnake. by means of the ribs and of these scales, which take hold on the surface over which it passes, and in this way it can glide-often very rapidly-along the ground, or on the branches of trees; and many species climb trees with great facility, gliding up them as if on level ground. Most-if not all-of the species are also capable of elevating a great portion of the body from the ground; and many of those which live among the branches of trees hold their place firmly by means even of a few scales near the tail, and freely extend the greater portion of the body in the air. On a perfectly smooth surface, as that of glass, a serpent is quite helpless, and has no power of locomotion. The vertebræ of serpents are so formed as to admit of great pliancy of the body, which is capable of being coiled up, with the head in the centre of the coil, and some serpents have the power of throwing themselves to some distance from this coiled position. The vertebræ are articulated by perfect ball-and-socket joints, the anterior extremity of each being rounded into a smooth and polished ball, which fits exactly into a hemispherical cup in the next; but there are processes in each vertebra which prevent any motion except from side to side, so that serpents are quite incapable of the vertical undulations so often represented in prints. The ribs are also attached to the vertebræ by ball-andsocket joints. Müller laid the basis of a true system of the Ophidia, and Duméril and Cope have added most of what is known of it at the present time. The first divided them into two groups based on the relation of the opistotic bone to the cranium; in one it forms part of the walls of the latter, in the other is merely adherent externally and supports the under jaw. Of the first there are two prominent divisions: 1. Scolecophidia, without ectopterygoid or teeth on the maxillary bone, embracing the Typhlophide and Stenostomidæ ; and 2. Tortricina, where both ectopterygoid bone and maxillary teeth are present; here are the families Uropeltida and Tortricidae. All have rudimental hind limbs, except the Uropeltid. All the preceding, except the Tortricidæ, are entirely subterranean, and the Uropeltide is almost confined to the island of Ceylon. The others occur in all tropics. The wide-mouthed snakes have the maxillary bone either long and slender or short and elevated, for the support of venom-fangs. Those of the former division are called the Asinea, and are more numerous than those of any other. They are arranged according to the presence or absence of the coronoid bone and rudimental hind limbs. Those with both are the Xeno peltidæ, Pythonidæ, Boide, and Lichanuridæ. Those without either are much the most numerous, the largest family being the Colubrida. The latter are spread over the whole world. There are two divisions of those with jaw-bone altered for venom-fangs, those where it is shortened in front only (Proteroglypha), and those where it is so shortened at both ends as to be vertical. Of the former are the flat-tailed seasnakes and the round-tailed Cobras (Najide) and Elapida. Many of this division have harmless teeth behind the venom-fangs, and the latter are always short. Of the higher venomous serpents (Solenoglypha) there are four families, of which the Viperida (vipers) and Crotalida (rattlesnakes) are best known. The True Serpents live on larger prey, which they swallow entire, some of them-as the boascrushing it by constriction in the coil of their muscular body. The prey of a serpent is often thicker than the serpent itself, and to admit of its being swallowed, the throat and body are very dilatable. The bones of the head are adapted to the necessity of a great expansion of the mouth an l dilation of the throat, as will be seen by the annexed figure of the distended jaws of the rattlesnake. The bones composing the upper jaw are loosely joined together by ligaments; and even the arches of the palate are movable. The two halves of the lower jaw are connected by a ligament, so loose and elastic that they are capable of separation to a great extent; and the mastoid and tympanic bones, which connect the lower jaw and the skull, are. lengthened out into pedicles, allowing an extraordinary power of dilation. Serpents, however, sometimes seize prey too big for them to swallow, and die in the attempt, their teeth being so formed as to prevent them from rejecting by the mouth what has once got into the throat. Fig. 2. The teeth of the True Serpents are simple, and directed backwards. In the non-venomous kinds, there are four rows on the upper part of the mouth, two rows on the jaws, and two on the palate; each division of the lower jaw is also armed with a single row. In vipers, rattlesnakes, and other venomous serpents, there are no teeth on the upper jaw, except the poison-fangs; the palatal teeth, however, forming two rows as in the non-venomous kinds, the arrangement of teeth in the lower jaw being also the same. Venomous serpents do not, in fact, need the same array of teeth as the non-venomous; depending rather on the power of their venom for their prey, which they suddenly wound, and then wait till it is dead. The poison-fangs are long in comparison with the other teeth; they are two in number, firmly fixed into a movable bone; when not in use, they are laid flat on the roof of the mouth, covered by a kind of sheath formed by the mucous membrane of the palate; when the animal is irritated, and about to assail its enemy or its prey, they stand out like two lancets from the upper jaw. They move with the bone into which they are fixed; and the bone and muscles are so arranged that the opening of the mouth brings them into the position for use. There is above them, and towards the back of the head, a lar e gland for the elaboration of the poison, which is forced through them by the action of the muscles, |