Snakes, Ophidia—regarded by some authorities as an order of the class Reptilia, by the author as a sub-order of the order Squamata, which includes besides the Lizards, Lacertilia, the Chameleons, Rhiptoglossa, and the extinct Dolichosauria and Mosasauria—may be defined as greatly elongate scaly Reptiles without limbs, or with mere vestiges of the hind pair, without movable eyelids, without ear-opening, with elongate, deeply forked tongue retractile into a basal sheath, with transverse vent and paired copulatory organs, and with the two halves of the lower jaw independently movable, connected at the symphysis by an elastic ligament. The latter character alone distinguishes them from all Lizards, but no single Lizard possesses all the others in combination. In their most highly developed form these Reptiles are adapted for rapid reptation and for swallowing The fatal venom which many of these Reptiles possess has so impressed the mind of men, even the scientific, that for a long time snakes were primarily divided into poisonous and non-poisonous, a classification in which the more important characters, derived from the general structure, and especially from the skull, were subordinated to the physiological. Such a system was far from reflecting natural relationships. Besides, as our knowledge progressed, drawing a distinction between poisonous and harmless snakes became more and more difficult, so many snakes previously regarded as harmless proving to be poisonous in various degrees—at least enough to paralyze the small prey on which they subsist, if not to be of serious danger to man. In the division into families, as followed in this work, the presence or absence of a poison organ is left out of consideration. Further, in this as in many other groups of the animal kingdom, external characters do not furnish trustworthy indications for higher divisions, and the definitions of the The Ophidia are divided into nine families, the first, third, seventh, and ninth of which have representatives in Europe: I. No transverse (ectopterygoid) bone; pterygoid not extending to quadrate or mandible; no supratemporal; nasals in contact with prefrontals; coronoid present; vestiges of pelvis. Maxillary loosely attached to lower surface of cranium, toothed; lower jaw edentulous; a single pelvic bone 1. TyphlopidÆ. Maxillary bordering mouth, forming a suture with premaxillary, prefrontal, and frontal, toothless; pubis and ischium present, latter forming a symphysis 2. GlauconiidÆ. II. Transverse bone present; both jaws toothed. A. Coronoid present; nasals in contact with prefrontals. 1. Vestiges of pelvis; supratemporal present. Supratemporal large, suspending quadrate 3. BoidÆ. (Subfamilies: PythoninÆ, BoinÆ.) Supratemporal small, intercalated in the cranial wall 4. IlysiidÆ. 5. UropeltidÆ. B. Coronoid absent; supratemporal present. 1. Maxillary horizontal; pterygoids reaching quadrate or mandible. Nasals in contact with prefrontals 6. XenopeltidÆ. Nasals not in contact with prefrontals 7. ColubridÆ. Three series: A. Aglypha (subfamilies: AcrochordinÆ, ColubrinÆ, DasypeltinÆ); B. Opisthoglypha (HomalopsinÆ, DipsadomorphinÆ, ElachistodontinÆ); C. Proteroglypha (HydrophiinÆ, ElapinÆ). 2. Maxillary horizontal, converging posteriorly towards palatine; pterygoid not reaching quadrate or mandible 8. AmblycephalidÆ. 3. Maxillary vertically erectile perpendicularly to transverse bone; pterygoid reaching quadrate or mandible 9. ViperidÆ. (Subfamilies: ViperinÆ, CrotalinÆ.) The technical terms employed in the above synopsis will be found explained and illustrated by figures in the chapter on the Skeleton. No serial arrangement can express the affinities of the various groups as conceived by the classificator; a diagram therefore follows to show the author’s views as to their interrelationships, and possibly their phylogeny. Leaving aside the TyphlopidÆ and GlauconiidÆ, which should be regarded
Further remarks on this subject in the chapter on Dentition. It is to be regretted that paleontology cannot help us at present as concerns the lines of evolution, the comparatively few fossil Ophidians known, from the Lower Eocene upwards, the remains of which can be identified with some measure of certainty, being either non-poisonous types (BoidÆ, IlysiidÆ, PalÆophiidÆ, ColubridÆ) or ViperidÆ (Viperines from the Miocene of France and Germany, Crotalines from the Miocene of North America). The vertebrÆ from the Puerco Eocene of America, on the limit between the Cretaceous and Eocene periods, described as the Whether the vertebrÆ named Symoliophis, Sauvage, from the chalk of France, and Coniophis, Marsh, from the Laramie Cretaceous of North America, are Ophidian, as claimed by their describers, or Dolichosaurian, cannot be decided without further material. |