186 THE VIVARIUM. 
zm. in diameter. The upper part of the creature is black in 
colour, and the lower part of a yellowish-white; hence the 
specific name. The snout of the Reptile is round and very pro- 
jecting; the nostrils are placed on the sides of the head, level 
with the eyes, which are visible under shields: the rostral shield 
is narrow and extends to between the eyes. The Blind Snake 
comes from Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula; and it has been 
sometimes seen at the Zoological Gardens, London. 
The Glauconiide chiefly differ from the Typhlopide in having 
teeth in the mandibles instead of in the maxillaries, and in 
possessing a much more developed pelvis and relics of hind limbs 
in the shape of small cylindrical bones. They are natives of 
Southern Europe, India, Africa, Australia, and Tropical America. 
The family of the Glauconiide numbers the two genera Anoma- 
lepis and Glauconia, and about twenty-eight species, of which the 
former genus only claims one species. 
All the Blind Snakes when in captivity should be kept under 
the influence of artificial heat. 
The Boide.—This family is chiefly remarkable for the great 
size of some of its members, but their size is not nearly so great 
as is often supposed. In all times the magnitude of these 
Serpents has been much exaggerated. For example, as many 
readers will remember, Pliny the elder, the naturalist, quoting 
from Livy, that inaccurate historian, refers to the huge Snake 
120ft. in length which is said to have kept a portion of the 
Roman army at bay, and that, after it had been killed by 
catapults and ballistz, its skin and jaws were exhibited in one of 
the temples of Rome for considerably more than a hundred years. 
Aristotle also speaks of Sea-Snakes off the coast of Africa of such 
a size as to be able to upset the ships of war. Suetonius, the 
Roman historian, speaks of a Snake shown in Rome as being 
7dtt. m length. EKven modern writers sometimes tell of Pythons 
as being more than 40ft. long, and that they are capable of kill- 
ing and swallowing animals as large as cows, and even, in one 
case, a horse and its rider. In 1877, a captain, officer, and crew 
of a barque declared, upon oath before a Liverpool magistrate, that 
they had seen a huge Serpent encircle a whale with its coils, and, 
after a struggle of some fifteen minutes, take it to the bottom of 
