THE SNAKES 227 



than a Regal Python sixteen or seventeen feet in length. 

 Following are the dimensions of a fine example in the 

 New York Zoological Park: 



Total Length 15 feet. 



Length of Tail 15 inches. 



Girth of Body 16 inches. 



Width of Head 2% inchest. 



Length of Head 33^ inches. 



The specimen from which the measurements were 

 taken easily swallowed large Belgian hares. 



Another big serpent is the African Rock Python, 

 P. sebce, an illustration of which is shown. This species 

 attains a length of sixteen to eighteen feet. It inhabits 

 Central and South Africa. Not many examples are 

 shipped to America and the species is seldom exhibited 

 with the shows. It becomes quite docile in captivity. 



Species of the genus Python range over the greater 

 parts of the tropics and semi-tropics of the Old World. 

 Not all of them are of large size. The Diamond 

 Snake, P. spilotes, of Australia and New Guinea, is 

 full grown when six or eight feet long. It is a hand- 

 some creature, black above, -with a yellow spot in each 

 scale. On the sides are rows of spots or rings, pro- 

 ducing a pleasing pattern. 



Species of the genus Python have the plates under 

 the tail — subcaudals — in two rows. Several closely re- 

 lated genera are recognized. 



The Boas proper, forming the subfamily Boince, 

 range in size from small burrowing species to gigantic 

 serpents. The plates under the tail are usually in one 

 row. The true boas are not, as is popularly imagined, 

 confined to the New World. Most of the larger species 

 inhabit Mexico, Central America, tropical South Amer- 

 ica and the West Indies. A single, small species occurs 



