OPHIDIAN NOMENCLA TURE, ETC. 415 



ists for a shell-fish, and he contented himself therefore with 

 Wagler's name Dasypeltis, adding inornatus for its specific, 

 otherwise D. scaber. It is a small, slender snake, rarely 

 exceeding 2\ feet in length, and of an inconspicuous brown- 

 ish colour. That it is an extremely slender little snake is 

 evident from the portion of spine copied from the skeleton 

 in the museum of R. C. S., and given in the chapter on 

 egg-eating snakes. Jourdan's name RacJiiodon^ though the 

 best that had hitherto been assigned to the spine-toothed 

 tree snake, was yet rather vague, as the teeth might be 

 anywhere along the spinal column ; and Professor Owen 

 still further improved upon this name by calling it Deirodon, 

 neck-toothed ; for though, as already stated, a snake has 

 no true ' neck,' the word Deirodon designates the posi- 

 tion of those gular teeth ; and for convenience, everybody 

 speaks of a snake's ' neck ' in allusion to the part imme- 

 diately behind the head. So the little egg-eating tree snake 

 is equally well entitled to the generic names of Oligodon, 

 few teeth ; Rachiodon, spine teeth ; AnodoJt, toothless (as far 

 as true teeth are concerned) ; and Deirodoft, neck-toothed. 

 In habits it differs entirely from the Oligodontidcs family, 

 which are ground snakes. The Deirodons are frequently 

 found concealed under the loose bark of dead trees ; and Dr. 

 A. Smith observed three species all having a like organiza- 

 tion, which induced him to conclude that all feed alike on 

 birds' eggs. 



As very few snakes have such an exceptionally dis- 

 tinguishing organization as the Deirodon, few are so happy 

 as to escape with only half a score of titles. Many species 

 that have been longer known have had their names similarly 



