﻿150 COLUBRIDiE 



ments, darting like an arrow upon its prey, which 

 consists chiefly of small mammals and lizards. A 

 constrictor, like all the members of the family to 

 which it pertains, it crushes its prey before swallowing 

 it. If given several mice at a time, it will catch and 

 kill them all in succession before proceeding to feed. 

 Specimens recently discovered in the Danube Valley 

 in Roumania were found to live in the sand at the 

 bottom of small limestone caves, going about at 

 night and feeding principally on slugs. Unlike other 

 snakes, it is said to lap dewdrops with its tongue. 

 It is a gentle snake, seldom attempting to bite. 



Egyptian jugglers are in the habit of implanting 

 the claw of a bird or small mammal in the skin of 

 the head of this snake, above each eye, in order to 

 give it a more formidable appearance. 



Reproduction. — Like the other species of Eryx, this 

 snake is ovoviviparous, but, beyond this fact, nothing 

 appears to have been observed concerning the breed- 

 ing habits, although many examples have been kept 

 in captivity. 



Third Family: COLUBRIDiE 



Maxillary, palatine, and pterygoid bones movable ; 

 transverse bone present ; pterygoid extending to 

 quadrate or mandible; supratemporal present, at- 

 tached scale-like to cranium, suspending quadrate ; 

 prefrontal not in contact with nasal ; maxillary 

 horizontal, not movable perpendicularly to the trans- 



