serpents, should be quite certain that the skin of the lips and fauces is unbroken, and that there is no wound or abrasion about the gums or tongue, otherwise fatal consequences might ensue. But if all be right, the immunity with which the venom of serpents may be taken into the stomach ceases to be surprising, when we remember that the deadly wourali poison is given in the country which produces it as a tonic with success, and that milk, so nutritious when taken as food, if it be injected into

the veins is mortal.

September, 1850.

228

CHAPTER X.

THE

THE Reptile-house in the Garden of the Zoological Society of London has proved to be of no small attraction. I remember when the unhappy carnivora were doomed to live therein, breathing their own impurities, and dragging on a miserable existence as long as their constitutions enabled them to bear up against the miasmata that embittered their shortened, incarcerated lives. In vain was every argument enforced against the continuation of this condemned cell for carnivorous captives. For a long time, the answer to all remonstrance was after the reply of those who still, in their despair, cling to the Smithfield abomination :*-The place was provided for the animals, and they must bear it as they could,—no matter what the cost, or the suffering, or the intolerable nuisance to all who were blest or cursed with noses. At last, the zoological John Bull was roused. Like his political brother, he showed his capacity for bearing a great deal, and was treated accordingly by those who did not know the nature of the being with whom they had to reckon. The zoological Bull gave signs of kicking, and then it was very wisely considered that there was something in his remonstrance, and a new den for the carnivorous quadrupeds was built, where they breathe the free air of heaven, and live long and comparatively happy accordingly, notwithstanding the cantankerous London clay, so fatal to the race. old roofed dens, every one of which looked into a close room, odoriferous with ammonia and all the rest of it, to an intensity not to be described, were appropriated to

Their

* Now, to the joy of all disinterested Londoners, abolished.

the reptiles, whose lower organization and aptitude for heat, combined with the comparative absence of anything that could taint the air, offered no similar offence to the senses, while the lives of the animals themselves were not placed in jeopardy; and so, notwithstanding the croakings and forebodings, this Reptile-house has become one of the most popular exhibitions of that most popular vivarium. At the risk of being thought somewhat presumptuous, I beg to recommend this instance to the consideration of those, whose higher destinies are interwoven with zoological John's political brother. latter, like the former, is, as we have already hinted, long suffering; but when he becomes restive in earnest, it is time to look out and take warning, or, depend upon it, he will toss and gore several persons.

The

The first remark made by an accurate observer, on looking round the apartment now dedicated to the reptilia, will probably refer to the fixed attitude in which they remain. There they stand or lie, motionless as statues. Here and there a snake may occasionally be seen to creep or raise itself, and a lizard to change its position, but, generally speaking, especially in the broad day, they are perfectly still; and there are times when not one is in motion behind the glass cases in which they are confined. At such periods, those may be excused who have taken the whole of the reptiles in this room for stuffed specimens. The inhabitants of that Oriental city who figure so awfully in the Arabian tale, turned into stone for their crimes, with the exception of the lonely one whose voice was heard reading the Koran in the midst of the petrified sinners, could not have looked more lifeless.

Why is this?

Because all predatory reptiles, especially snakes and lizards, take their prey by surprise; and, added to this motionless habit, the animal's haunt, when on the lookout for prey, coincides generally so harmoniously with

its colour, that the bird or insect fearlessly approaches and is caught. Place, as a familiar example, a toad in a melon-bed-a plan frequently adopted if the bed be infested with emmets. These insects approach the motionless toad, whose hue corresponds with the colour of the earth of the bed, without suspicion, and are taken by the tongue of the reptile with a motion too quick for the eye to follow. All that can be seen is the approach of the emmet within a certain distance-within, in fact, tongue-shot, and its there vanishing. The mechanism of this apparatus, by means of which the toad takes its prey, will be noticed hereafter.

Throughout the animal creation, the adaptation of the colour of the creature to its haunts is worthy of admiration, as tending to its preservation. The colours of insects, and of a multitude of the smaller animals, contribute to their concealment. Caterpillars which feed on leaves are generally either green, or have a large proportion of that hue in the colour of their coats. As long as they remain still, how difficult it is to distinguish a grasshopper or young locust from the herbage or leaf on which it rests. The butterflies that flit about among flowers are coloured like them. The small birds which frequent hedges have backs of a greenish or brownish-green hue, and their bellies are generally whitish, or light-coloured, so as to harmonize with the sky. Thus they become less visible to the hawk or cat that passes above or below them. The wayfarer across the fields almost treads upon the skylark before he sees it rise warbling to heaven's gate. The goldfinch or thistlefinch passes much of its time among flowers, and is vividly coloured accordingly. The partridge can hardly be distinguished from the fallow or stubble upon or among which it crouches, and it is considered an accomplishment among sportsmen to have a good eye for finding a hare sitting. In northern countries, the winter dress of the hares and ptarmigans is

white, to prevent detection among the snows of those inclement regions.

If we turn to the waters, the same design is evident. Frogs even vary their colour according to that of the mud or sand that forms the bottom of the ponds or streams which they frequent,-nay, the tree-frog (Hyla viridis) takes its specific name from the colour, which renders it so difficult to see it among the leaves, where it adheres by the cupping-glass-like processes at the end of its toes. It is the same with fish, especially those which inhabit the fresh waters. Their backs, with the exception of gold and silver fish, and a few others, are comparatively dark; ́and some practice is required before they are satisfactorily made out, as they come like shadows, and so depart, under the eye of the spectator. A little boy once called out to a friend to 'come and see, for the bottom of the brook was moving along.' The friend came, and saw that a thick shoal of gudgeons, and roach, and dace, was passing. It is difficult to detect 'the ravenous luce,' as old Izaak calls the pike, with its dark green and mottled back and sides, from the similarly-tinted weeds among which that fresh-water shark lies at the watch, as motionless as they. Even when a tearing old trout, a six or seven-pounder, sails, in his wantonness, leisurely up-stream, with his back-fin partly above the surface, on the look-out for a fly, few, except a well-entered fisherman, can tell what shadowy form it is that ripples the wimpling water. But the bellies of fish are white, or nearly so; thus imitating in a degree the colour of the sky, to deceive the otter, which generally takes its prey from below, swimming under the intended victim. Nor is this design less manifest in the colour and appearance of some of the largest terrestrial animals; for the same principle seems to be kept in view, whether regard be had to the smallest insects, or the quadrupedal giants of the land.