REMARKABLE EXPANDING POWER OF JAWS. 35 
it by the neck between his knees, which is a convenient way to 
force open the jaws and ram down the lumps of meat or dead 
rats. The second man held the snake near the tail-end, to prevent 
it wrapping itself round the person who was feeding it against its 
will. Somehow familiarity breeds contempt, or I suppose the 
man who was responsible for the tail of the python thought its 
fighting days were over. Anyway, he allowed it to get its tail 
free, whereupon in his attempts to recover it the snake managed 
to throw a coil right round the man’s neck. Hearing a weird 
sort of gurgling sound, the fellow in front threw a glance over his 
shoulder, and saw his friend lying on the ground with his tongue 
hanging out of his mouth, the blood-vessels of his face swollen, 
and his eyes bulging almost out of their sockets. So tight was 
the Python’s grip that great force had to be employed to remove 
the coil from the almost-strangled man’s neck. 
REMARKABLE EXPANDING POWER OF JAWS. 
Snakes, with the exception of those of the burrowing and more 
or less worm-like kind, possess the power of expanding their 
jaws to a remarkable extent. The power varies a good deal, but 
seems to be possessed in about the same degree by most kinds 
of snakes. In all other vertebrate creatures the two portions of 
the jaw-bone are knit solidly together in front. On the contrary, 
these two parts in snakes’ jaws are attached by strong but elastic 
ligaments. The skin of the head, neck, and body is elastic also, 
and the various bones composing the skull are loosely attached. 
The whole mechanism of the head, in fact, is of such a nature 
that expansion of all the parts is easy. 
Snakes never chew their food. When about to swallow a 
comparatively large victim, the snake usually starts operations 
at the head. The jaws are lapped over the nose. By slow degrees 
the body of the victim is forced into the mouth by powerful 
forward movements of the snake’s body muscles, assisted by the 
jaws, which grip the prey, and by means of the recurved teeth 
force it down into the throat. The whole swallowing process is 
a succession of gulps. Gaping its jaws to their utmost capacity, 
the snake pushes forward, taking a fresh grip and worrying the 
victim’s body as far down as possible. Then there is a short 
rest, followed by another expansion of the jaws and the same 
