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AMPHISBAENA (a See also: ancient See also: mythology, beginning or ending at both See also: head and tail alike
.
Its fabled existence has been utilized by the poets, such as See also: Milton, See also: Pope. and See also: Tennyson
.
In See also: modern zoology it is the name given to the See also: main genus of a See also: family of See also: worm-shaped lizards, most of which inhabit the tropical parts of See also: America, the West Indies and See also: Africa
.
The commonest See also: species in See also: South America and the See also: Antilles is the sooty or dusky A. fuliginosa
.
The See also: body of the amphisbaena, from 18 to 20 in. long, is of nearly the same thickness throughout
.
The head is small, and there can scarcely be said to be a tail, the vent being close to the extremity of the body
.
The animal lives mostly underground, burrowing in soft See also: earth, and feeds on ants and other small animals
.
From its appearance, and the ease with which it moves backwards, has arisen the popular belief that the amphisbaena has two heads, and that when the body is cut in two the parts seek each other out and reunite
.
From this has arisen another popular error, which attributes extraordinary curative properties to its flesh when dried and pulverized
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