Serpentcleide

Serpentcleide [serpent + Gk. kleides, key], ophicleide of unknown construction, invented either by Beacham or by Charles Huggett of London, or by Thomas MacBean Glen of Edinburgh, said to have been made of wood. One was played in London in 1846, and serpentcleides with 11 keys were offered for sale in 1855 (89). Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5th edition. London, 1954.