Page:British Reptiles, Amphibians, and Fresh-water Fishes.djvu/23

INTRODUCTION blooded, and perhaps clammy to the touch, but they have a dry covering which is certainly neither "slimy," nor "slippery." Several poets have fallen into grave error by a repetition in their verses of old beliefs and misconceptions. Thus, Chatterton talks of "the slimy Serpent"; Byron even goes so far as to refer to the black slime which betrays a Snake as it crawls. The greatest bard of any age, and an Englishman to wit, William Shakespeare, joins the merry throng, for in "Antony and Cleopatra" he writes of fig leaves having the trail of the Aspic (a Snake) upon them in the form of slime. That Snakes can, and do, "sting" is another erroneous and unscientific statement. The forked tongue, shot in and out with lightning rapidity, has given rise to this belief, but all Snakes are by no means poisonous, and certainly none of them can "sting." Those which are venomous perform the operation of inserting poison by means of poison-fangs contained in the upper part of the jaw, but no Snake is capable of stinging.

The Prophet Job, who was a keen and loving interpreter of Nature, made the error of saying: "The Viper's tongue shall slay him," and other references in the Holy Word could be given if necessary.

Ovid talks of a Snake having a "barbed sting"; Virgil warns all and sundry to "beware the secret Snake that shoots a stingy" and of others that "wind," and "grind."

Chaucer refers to Snakes as "Neders," and Shakespeare again makes several references to the Snake's 7