ILTSIID^. 109 



J. Hagenbeck (' Spolia Zeylonica,' 1905, p. 197) remarks ou the 

 incubation of the eggs, lasting 2i months, in a Ceylonese specimen 

 28 feet long. The eggs may number up to 100. 



116. Python curtus. 



Schlegel, Dierentuin, Kept. p. 54, fig. (1872) ; Bouleug. P. Z. S. 1889, 

 p. 432, pi. xlv ; id. Cat. Sn. i, p. 89 (1893). 



Eostral broader than deep ; internasals as broad as long, 

 separated from the frontal and supraoculars by two pairs of large 

 praefrontals ; frontal longitudinally divided, followed by several 

 pairs of transverse parietal shields ; a large supraocular ; a series 

 of suboculars may separate the eye from the labials ; 10 or 11 upper 

 labials, the first 2 deeply pitted ; anterior and posterior lower 

 labials feebly pitted. Scales in 53 to 57 rows. Ventrals 160-175 ; 

 anal entire ; subcaudals 26-32. Brown or brick-red above, with a 

 dorsal series of round pale spots, wliich may be confluent into a 

 stripe on the posterior part of the back ; a black line alono- the 

 middle of the head, followed by elongate whitish black-edf^ed 

 spots ; sides of body with greyish black-edged spots or wavy 

 bands; sides of head dark, with an oblique light streak from 

 behind the eye to the angle of the mouth ; lower parts whitish, 

 uniform or spotted with brown. 



Grows to 9 feet ; a short and stout suake. 



Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo. According to Eidley 

 (Journ. Straits Branch Eoy. Asiat. Soc. 1899, p. 197) this little 

 Python is not rare in the Malay Peninsula ; he says it is a quiet 

 snake in captivity, and seems to feed chiefly on rats. Not 

 uncommon in swampy country, and known as t/Iar saivah darah, 

 " the Blood Python." 



Family ILYSIID^. 



Cranial bones more or less solidly united; transpalatine pre- 

 sent ; pterygoid extending to quadrate ; snpratemporal very small 

 and wedged in between the adjacent bones ; quadrate very short ; 

 teeth in both jaws ; lower jaw with coronoid bone. Vestiges of 

 pelvis as in the Boidse. 



These snakes may be regarded as degraded Boidae. 



South-Eastern Asia and South America. 



A single genus in the Malay Peninsula, 



Genus CYLINDKOPHIS. 



Wagler, Icon. Ampli. (1828). 



Teeth moderate, 10 to 12 in each maxillary, none in prte- 

 maxillary. Head small, not distinct from neck ; eye very small 

 with round or vertically subelliptic pupil ; head with large 

 symmetrical shields ; nostril in a single nasal, which forms a 



