once jammed into a mass at the narrow end of the creel. "The _Chersydrus_," he adds, "is more nearly connected with the _Hydrophidæ_ than with the next family, being as essentially aquatic as any of the former, to which, save from its wanting the poison-gland, it might be appropriately referred. Indeed, it has been erroneously asserted by some authors to be Venemous." The _Homalopsidæ_ are an extensive family of Snakes, of thoroughly aquatic habits, which are only occasionally found on the margins of rivers; several of them enter the sea, and in some parts of their organization they approximate to the true marine Snakes. They may be easily recognised by the position of the nostrils on the top of the snout, which enables them to breathe by raising only a very small portion of the head out of the water; an arrangement which is likewise seen in the Hippopotamus, the Crocodile, the Sea Snakes, and other aquatic animals. Many of them have a distinctly prehensile tail, by means of which they hold on to projecting objects. Their food consists either entirely of Fishes, or, in some species, of Crustaceans also. All appear to be viviparous, and the act of parturition is performed in the water. Not any of them attain a large size-about three or four feet in length, or considerably less; and in captivity they refuse to feed. All the Asiatic species of this family have a grooved fang at the hinder extremity of the maxillary bone. The species are numerous, and are arranged into many generic divisions. The majority are from the grand Indian region, extending to China and to Australia, but there are also several from the New World. The _Herpeton tentaculatum_, of Siam, is very remarkable from its snout terminating in two flexible, cylindrical, scaly tubercles, which are supposed to be employed as organs of touch under water--perhaps to discern its food, which as yet has not been ascertained. The largest known example of this curious Snake is only twenty-five inches long, of which the tail measures six inches. We now proceed to the first family of Poisonous Snakes, that of THE SEA SNAKES (_Hydrophidæ_),