NOTES. 305 



List of Localities of various Ceylon Snakes. 

 A = Very common ; b = Rather rare ; c = Very rare. 

 Place. Snake Nos. 



Colombo {about) .. 17, 29a, 31, 33, 37, 38, 43, 49c, 52, 54b, 55, 1, 22. 

 Kandy .. 17, 29a, 31, 38, 41, 44, 43a, 49, 52, 51a, 55, 9, 7c, 39. 



Badulla .. 38a, 37, 36, 41, 49, 52, 27, 42, 26, 3, 11, 17, 23 51 '54a 



29a, 31, 43a, 55, 5. 



Matale . . 32, 33, 37a, 38, 39a, 41a, 43a, 44b, 48c, 51a, 31a, 1, 



3b, 11a, 14, 17a, 19, 52a, 54b, 29a, 25b, 26a., 22a' 



24, 55a, 30. 



Anuradhapura .. 2, 3a, 39, 51, 29a, 55b, 54a, 43a, 33, 44c, 52, 17a 20c 



25, 35c, 36c, 37a, 38a, 40c, 41, 42, 4, 25, 26. 

 Kurunegala .. 43a, 37a, 36, 38a, 33a, 27b, 51, 44, 29a, 17 28b 52 



26, 35, 54. ' , , 



Polgahaivela . . 45c, 29a, 51, 43, 41, 17, 2, 52, 32, 37, 38. 



Negombo . . 42, 51, 17, 52, 54, 29a, 33, 37, 38, 13, 26. 



Trincomalee . . 52a, 51, 29a, 48c, 37, 3. 



Jaffna (Province) . . 53c, 47, 50c, 51, 52, 33, 29, 19, 20, 30, 50c. 



Rangalla (Knuckles) 12, 26, 29a, 43, 37, 51b, 33, 52b, 55, 49c, 39b, 38b, 7. 



Ratnapura . . 3, 44c, 51, 52, 55, 17, 37, 29, 25, 26. 



Nuwara Eliya . . 29, 9. 



Balangoda . . 44, 40, 34c, 17, 37, 3, 12, 35, 36, 39, 49. 



Avisawella . . 12, 51, 52, 55, 17, 33. 



Sigiriya . . 33, 29, 41, 51, 43, 17, 37. 



Minneriya . . 17, 54, 29a, 51, 43, 33, 37, 3. 



Horana . . 44, 41, 42, 37, 29a, 51, 52. 



Tissamaharama . . 48c. 



Kirinda .. 29, 51. 



Yala . . 3. 



Udugama . . 34c, 25, 35. 



Wadduwa . . 44. 



Elephant Pass . . 33. 



Kalutara . . 42, 29a, 51, 52, 41, 22. 



Puttalam . . 17, 29. 



Matara . . 5. 



Mullaittivu . . 6, 53. 



Bogawantalawa .. 14, 32, 41, 40c, 54a, 29. 



Illagolla . . 34c. 



Dimbula . . 49. 



Dikoya . . 12. 



36. How Snakes swallow. — One of the most striking points about 

 the snake is its astonishing swallowing capacity, though when the 

 structure of a snake's jaws and body is taken into consideration 

 this is not so extraordinary as it at first seems. 



In a snake each mandible, or lower jawbone, is not directly 

 hinged on to the skull, but articulates with a second bone, the 

 quadrate, which in its turn is jointed on to the supratemporal , 

 another bone, which is loosely attached at one end to the skull. 

 The two lower jawbones are connected with each other in front 

 merely by muscles and ligaments, which are extremely elastic, as 

 is the skin between the two bones. Such, indeed, is the elasticity 

 of a snake's interstitial skin, that when a fom'teen-foot python is 

 swallowing anything large the scales will be divided from each other 

 by nearly a quarter of an inch. The upper jawbones of the snake 



