BOAS. 



163 



mains indubitable to excite deserved astonishment, 

 and to prove that both in size and strength 

 these colossal Serpents are among the giants of 

 the animal world. 



The characters of the Family are few, but 

 readily discriminated ; the jaws, by a mechanism 



UPPER JAW AND PALATE OF PYTHON. 



already explained, are capable of enormous dila- 

 tation ; the upper and the lower jaw are furnished 



SKULL OF PYTHON. 



with numerous curved and pointed teeth, nearly 

 equal in length, all pointing backwards, and in 



