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CHAPTER XI 



PARASITES 



IKE all other animals, snakes are infested with 

 a multitude of vegetable and animal parasites, 

 both external and internal. About 300 species of 

 Ophidian parasites have been recorded ; yet our 

 knowledge of them is very imperfect. Although 

 some 2,000 species of snakes are known, parasites 

 have not been recorded for more than 168 species, 

 and in the great majority of these (102) only a single 

 parasite : a tick, a haemogregarine, or some intestinal 

 worm. Owing to the more frequent opportunity of 

 dissecting them, the common menagerie snakes have 

 yielded better records, notwithstanding the fact that 

 they usually lose most of their parasites through 

 constant handling, prolonged fasting, and artificial 

 surroundings. Thus, we have a list of thirteen species 

 for the Indian Python mohcrus, and one of twenty-two 

 species for the Boa constrictor. But no systematic 

 search appears to have been attempted, save, perhaps, 

 in the case of a few European species. 



It is interesting to notice that it was the finding of 

 an Ophidian parasite which prompted Francesco 

 Redi to write his famous " Observations on the Living 



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