176 ON THE PHYSIOGNOMY OF SERPENTS. 



through all intertropical Asia, as far as Java and China, 

 The largest serpent of the ancient world, attaining a length 

 of twenty feet. 



2. Python Schneideri. — Form much more slender; 

 head much shorter, and size less than the preceding ; head 

 narrow, covered with plates more than usually developed ; 

 muzzle turned up at the end ; anterior labial plates chan- 

 nelled by a groove ; the last plates of the lower lip are 

 equally provided with a groove ; scales of the trunk very 

 small. S. 320 + 90. Yellowish grey-brown, with a mid- 

 dle black ray on the top of the head, which extends to the 

 body, interlacing with other rays, and thus forming a 

 reticular design. Grows to fourteen feet, and inhabits 

 Malacca, Java, Sumatra, and Amlx)ina. 



3. Python amethystinus. — Plates of the head more 

 developed tlian in the other species ; the labial grooves 

 nearly as in the preceding ; form more than usually slen- 

 der ; 41 rows of scales. S. 300 + 96. Variegated with 

 reddish brown and yellowish tints, which often form an 

 obsolete reticulated design ; size about six feet ; comes 

 from Saparua, a little isle in the gi'oup of Amboina. 

 The islands of Timor, Samao, and New Ireland, produce a 

 Python almost absolutely similar, except that the charac- 

 ters are less marked. 



4. Python Peronii. — From New Holland. Size about 

 six feet ; head much broader than in the other species ; 

 nostrils very spacious, and directed upwards ; muzzle very 

 obtuse ; upper part of the head is covered with numerous 

 scaly plates, irregular, and larger towards the extremity 

 of the snout. Fossettes in the lips, as in the preceding 

 species ; 41 rows of smooth scales. S. 275 + 83. Black, 

 sprinkled with markings and dashes of golden yellow, 

 more or less large, according, as it would seem, to the 

 places it inhabits. 



AC ROC H ORDUS 



Is the third genus of the Family of Boas. These Ophi- 

 dians are very singular and anomalous in their organiza- 

 tion. They are, however, Boas, though anomalous Boas, 



