THE 
SNAKES OF SOUTH AFRICA. 
CHAPPER Ss. 
CLASSIFICATION. 
SNAKES belong to the great class of living creatures known as 
reptiles, which include all the living orders of crocodiles, turtles, 
tortoises, and lizards. The frog and salamander orders are, 
generally speaking, also reptiles, but owing to certain important 
differences in their anatomy they are separated into a class 
called Amphibia, from the Greek word Amphibios, which 
means “‘ leading a double life,’ because these creatures live both 
on land and in water. 
All living creatures are classified into classes, orders, sub-orders, 
genera, and species, according to their anatomy. All creatures 
of the same species are practically identical, not only in their 
anatomy, but also in their colouration and habits. If a species, 
owing to various circumstances, such as a difference in food, 
climate, the presence or absence of enemies, etc., should become 
slightly modified in colouration or structure, we term it a variety, 
or sub-species. For instance, our well-known Bushbuck (Tvage- 
laphus) has been divided into several sub-species, because it is 
found to differ slightly in colour and shape in the various districts 
of South Africa. 
The Boomslangs, or Tree Snakes (Dispholidus), are in every 
case anatomically similar, but differ considerably in their coloura- 
tion, even in the same districts. They are separated into six 
varieties, so in describing them we refer to them as variety A, 
variety B, and so on. 
B 
