Page:Natural History, Reptiles.djvu/166

158 in the young, however, it is much more conspicuous.

The head is small, without any enlargement, and without any neck, and the tail is so short as to seem as if it had been abruptly cut off, and the wound simply rounded; so that the whole creature is uniform in thickness through its whole length from point to point. Hence it is difficult at first sight to determine which extremity is the head, and which the tail; and this circumstance, together with the habit which these reptiles have of proceeding with either end foremost, (their uniformly cylindrical shape and the smoothness of their scales permitting this with facility,) has given rise to a popular notion very widely spread throughout the tropical parts of America, where these Serpents are found, that they are furnished with a head at each extremity. So wondrous an animal as a Serpent with two heads, is of course presumed to have equally wondrous endowments; it is declared impossible to destroy it by dividing the body in two, for the two heads mutually seek each other after such an accident, and on meeting, the severed parts reunite, and soon heal. Stedman, in his “History of Surinam,” alludes to this and other extraordinary virtues ascribed to this “Two-headed Snake.” “Another Snake, which I also observed here, is about three feet long, and annulated with different colours. It is called Amphisbæna, from the supposition of its having two heads; and the truth is, from its cylindrical form, the head and tail so much resemble each other, that the error is almost pardonable: besides which, the eyes are nearly imperceptible. This is the Snake which,