SNAKES 125 



Tropical America and of Madagascar, may be at once 

 recognized by their extremely slender necks, their large 

 heads, and their prominent eyes. The body is elongate 

 and compressed ; the lips are deeply pitted. All the 

 snakes of this genus, of which there are six species, are very 

 savage, attacking without any provocation. The young, 

 produced in broods of twenty or thirty at a time, are 

 remarkable for the enormous size of their heads. 



Cook's Tree Boa, Corallus cookii, of which there are 

 numerous local varieties, is the commonest species, its 

 range extending over the greater part of Tropical America 

 and the West Indies. It is a dull yellow or olive brown 

 in colour, variegated with dark lines or ocellar spots. As 

 in the case of the Rainbow Boa, it presents a remarkably 

 handsome appearance in the sunlight, when its dull 

 coloration changes to bluish or purplish iridescent 

 tints. 



Corallus caninus, of Brazil and Peru, is bright green, 

 harmonizing with the foliage of the trees upon which it 

 lives. 



The snakes of the burrowing genus Eryx take the place 

 among the Boince, of the genus Calabaria, of the Pythoninse. 

 There are seven species in all, inhabiting the dry, sandy 

 plains of South-east Europe, North and East Africa, and 

 Southern and Central Asia. The head is not distinct from 

 the neck, and is covered, but for a large shield on the tip 

 of the snout, with minute scales. The body is cylindrical, 

 the eye minute. The tail is quite short, stump-like or 

 conical. 



The Indian Eryx, E. johnii, which is sandy brown in 

 colour, has a remarkably short and rounded tail. It is 



