THE SNAKES 217 



bones lack the lever-like suspension of most snakes; the 

 skull is more like that of a lizard. From the Typhlo- 

 pidce we find a reverse in the situation of the teeth — 

 very few in number. The only teeth are on the ends 

 of the lower jaw bones. Among these little snakes we 

 also find the least reduction of the pelvic girdle of any 

 living serpents ; even the bones of the hind legs are well 

 formed (internally). The species — about thirty in 

 number — belong mostly to the genus Glaucoma and are 

 found in the warmer parts of both the Old and the New 

 World. 



The Yellow-Headed Worm Snake, Glaucoma 

 albifrons, represented in one of our illustrations by a 

 specimen photographed on a man's hand, is mostly an in- 

 habitant of ant-hills, where its burnished scalation appar- 

 ently protects it from the bites of the insects while it 

 feeds upon their larvae. The specimen shown was sent 

 to the writer by Mr. R. R. Mole, of Port-of-Spain, 

 Trinidad. It was discovered in a termite nest and found 

 to be gorged with the white "ants" of the tropics. 



Here we have a good illustration of what comes from 

 employing a preserved collection of reptiles and consid- 

 erable theory, as has often been the case in describing 

 these comparatively little known species. The scientific 

 name — albifrons — literally means, white at the extremi- 

 ties, and the species has often been described as brown- 

 ish, with the forehead and tip of the tail white. Alco- 

 holic specimens are thus colored, but it seems probable 

 that the writers describing such examples have never 

 seen a living individual, which is lustrous blackish brown, 

 all of the scales having narrow, pale edges that form 

 longitudinal serrated lines, while the forehead, the lips 

 and the tip of the tail are vivid lemon yellow; this latter 

 hue, of course, fades to a dirty white in spirits, as do the 



