amphisbaena

thumb|Amphisbaena in an illustration from the Aberdeen Bestiary (c. 1200) thumb|right|200px|A medieval amphisbaena The amphisbaena (, , or , plural: amphisbaenae; ) is a mythological, ant-eating serpent with a head at each end.

==Mythology== According to Lucan, the amphisbaena was spawned from the blood that dripped from the Gorgon Medusa's head as Perseus flew over the Libyan Desert with her head in his hand: in Pharsalia (IX, 719), the Roman poet names it along with other serpents that Cato's army encountered in Libya. Amphisbaena fed on the corpses left behind. Although it is a legendary creature, it has been referred to by various Greek and Latin authors, scientists as well as poets: Nicander, Lucan, Pliny the Elder, Isidore of Seville and later Thomas Browne, the last of whom debunked its existence ( book three chapter XV). Modern poets are John Milton, Alexander Pope, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Alfred Tennyson, Aimé Césaire, A. E. Housman and Allen Mandelbaum.