SERPEXTS. 



375 



as many as twenty-seven young being born at a time. Very few of tboso animals have 

 ever been taken, tliougli tliey are occasionally seen on the island of Java at Penang 

 or Singapore. The savage apjiearance presented by its sullen eyes, swollen jaws, and 

 short, thick body, is not .such as would court a more intimate acquaintance. Allied 

 to the preceding and also inhabiting the East Indies is Chcr.ii/ilrus f/rantilafits, 

 ■which has the hinder part of the body and tail slightly compressed, and its lateral sur- 

 face increased by an inferior fold of- skin along the abdomen and tail. The scales are 



I'lii. ::ls. — Acrochoril u^ jac'i jui:'< .^^ \\ari-^u:ike 



un))rovide(l with the tubercles and s]iines of the jirevious genera, though both forms 

 are alike in having no ventral scutes. This, as might be inferred from its structure, is 

 a purely aquatic reptile, resembling in its habits the Hydrophida), though it lacks the 

 prolonged jirocesses of the caudal vertebra?, and its bite is perfectly harmless. C. 

 granulatiis is found along the shores of the Eastern archipelago. New Guinea, and tlie 

 Philippines, as well as on the east coast of the Indies, Sijmetimes being found several 



