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From KENNETH WOOD

I read with interest the letter by A. Wathelet, who wonders how the
serpent moved before God told it: ‘ . . . upon thy belly shalt thou go’
(Letters, 4 January).

He has no need for help from a palaeontologist to solve this problem,
as John Milton deals with it conclusively in Paradise Lost (Book 9, lines
496 to 499):

The serpent moved:

‘ . . . not with indented wave, Prone on the ground, as since, but on
his rear, Circular base of rising folds, that towered Fold above fold a
surging maze . . .’

Obvious really!

Kenneth Wood Redcar, Cleveland