OPHIDIAN TASTE FOR BIRDS' EGGS. 69 



The colour of the Deirodon is of a brightish or yellowish 

 brown, very minutely spotted with white. Such few true 

 teeth as some individuals may possess are extremely small 

 and conical, discovered only towards the angle of the mouth. 



Dr. Andrew Smith first examined a specimen in 1829, 

 when he found that the gular teeth commence exactly 2\ 

 inches behind the apex of the lower jaw, and penetrate the 

 cesophagal canal through small holes in its tunics, and that 

 each point is armed with enamel. He had observed that 

 the living specimens which he had in captivity always, when 

 feeding, retained the ^g'g stationary about two inches from 

 their head, and while there, used great efforts to crush it. 

 Dissecting a specimen in order to investigate this strange 

 action, he discovered the gular teeth just where the Q.g<g had 

 stopped, and which, he felt satisfied, had assisted in fixing 

 it there, and also in breaking the shell when subjected to 

 the muscular action of the surrounding parts. The gular 

 teeth are developed in very young Deirodons. 



Dr. Smith saw that the broken shell was ejected, while 

 the fluid contents were conveyed onwards ; but this may 

 have been an exceptional case, because by a snake in 

 health egg-shells are easily digested. Probably those snakes 

 watched by Dr. A. Smith being captives, and presumably 

 not altogether as happy and healthy as in their sylvan 

 homes, found the shells too much for them, and so ejected 

 them ; as the cobras above described disgorged the stolen 

 eggs. This habit of disgorging food appears to be some- 

 times voluntary. 



Snakes have been known to pass the (tg^ through their 

 body entire, but this also must be owing to an abnormal 



