CHAP R=. 
HISTORY AND DISTRIBUTION OF SNAKES. 
ACCORDING to the history of the stratified rocks of the Earth, 
and the countless number of fossil remains of animal and vege- 
table life which are treasured up within their substance, men of 
science believe that living creatures existed upon this earth 
millions of years ago. 
Fossil remains of snakes have been found in the later Cre- 
taceous and early Tertiary periods in the world’s history. 
The fossil remains of a snake twelve feet long, of the Python 
family, was unearthed at Stepney. Remains of extinct speci- 
mens of Boa Constrictors twenty feet in length were found at 
Bracklesham. The backbones are perfect. They belong to the 
fossil genus Palgophis. In later deposits during the Tertiary 
Epoch, fossil remains of a venomous snake were discovered. 
In the lower Tertiary deposits of North America, the fossil 
remains of great numbers of snakes have been found. 
In the Western States of America the remains of different 
species of Boa Constrictors and other kinds of snakes have been 
found in the freshwater Eocene deposits. 
Fossil snakes have also been found in the Tertiary deposits 
of India. Portions of the backbone and head of an extinct 
species of Python (Gigantophis garstini) have been dugup. From 
the size of the fossil remains it is estimated this species of Python 
attained a length of fifty to sixty feet, which is the largest serpent 
so far known. 
The Cretaceous strata of rocks, when not pushed up by volcanic 
eruptions, etc., are at a distance of about 2600 feet below the 
Earth’s surface. Their age can be roughly estimated at about two 
and a half millions of years. This means that it is over two 
millions of years ago since these rocks were deposited as mud and 
ooze, at the bottoms of rivers, lakes, and oceans. In the rock 
