Snakes: Curiosities and Wonders of Serpent Life

Snakes: Curiosities and Wonders of Serpent Life

TO the many friends who have repeatedly asked me, What could induce you to take up such a horrid subject as snakes? a few words of explanation must be offered. Some words of apology are also due that I, a learner myself, should aspire to instruct others. I cannot do better, therefore, than tell the history of this book from its birth, and in so doing cancel both obligations. The little history will be a sort of OPHIDIANA, or gossip about snakes; and in this I only follow the example of most herpetologists, who, when writing exclusively on these reptiles, preface their work with some outline of the history of ophiology, and generally with an excuse for introducing the unwelcome subject at all. There is still reason to lament that traditional prejudice invests everything in the shape of a serpent with repulsive qualities, and that these prejudices are being only very slowly swept away by the besom of science. Serpents are intimately associated with our religious[2] beliefs. Not that we worship them! Far otherwise. Many excellent and orthodox persons associate with a serpent all the sin and misery which ever existed on our globe, and are persuaded that the sooner everything in the shape of one is exterminated the better. On the other hand, those who can look at a snake with unprejudiced eyes and study its habits, find continual reason to wonder at and admire the extraordinary features which exhibit themselves in its organization. Owing to their retiring habits, many of them nocturnal, and partly in consequence of preconceived errors, less is understood about them than almost any other natural group of animals; thereforeas the reader will discovera student, when left to himself, has to wade through ages of writers in order to find out what to believe regarding them. Scientific ophiologists are still engaged in settling mooted questions concerning them. But apart from science there is a glamour of poetry, romance, and mystery about snakes, and not without reason. There has been a great deal of what we may call Drawing-room Natural History of late yearscharmingly sensational and romantic; attractive also in illustrations and colouring, but not always intended as reliable guides for students. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 53153
Author: Hopley, Catherine Cooper
Release Date: Sep 27, 2016
Format: eBook
Language: English