[Illustration: "A lizard's body, lean and long,
A fish's head, a serpent's tongue."]
Serpents--so called from a word which means that which _creeps_--are
constantly used in the Bible as emblems of deceit and treachery. The words,
"More subtle than any beast of the field," may well come to our minds as
we watch a serpent, with its limbless body, winding along with that soft,
gliding motion to which we have given the name "snake-like."
In the serpent's eyes, too, though they are often so beautiful that we
cannot but admire them, there is some of this same dangerous subtlety--an
untrust--worthiness which makes us shrink from looking at them.
There are many varieties of this large family; some, like the rattlesnake,
cannot climb or swim, but crawl along the ground, the terror of unwary
travellers who may tread upon them in the dim forest-paths; others are
Water-snakes; some, like the Boa and Python, are dreaded, although not
venomous, because, of their enormous strength, and power of crushing their
victims in their close embrace; others, like the Cobra, for their deadly
bite; while many--we might almost say most--snakes are quite harmless, for
it has been reckoned that not more than one in ten is venomous; and none
but the giants of this family are dangerous, except for their poisoned
bite. The skin of serpents is covered with what are called false scales,
which do not overlap each other like those of the fishes, but only seem to
do so; and these scales are said to help them to move along rapidly.
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