SNAKES 119 



The Malay Python, P. curtus, of the Malay Peninsula, 

 Sumatra, and Borneo, is a short but very stout snake, 

 growing to a length of nine feet. It is brick-red above, 

 with a dorsal series of round pale spots, which are often 

 confluent into a stripe on the posterior part of the back. 

 This snake, which is said to feed chiefly on rats, frequents 

 swampy country, and is known to the natives as " the 

 Blood Python." 



■■ The Diamond Python, P. spiloUs, of New South Wales, 

 the largest snake inhabiting Australia, reaching a length of 

 eight feet, is frequently imported to Europe. The general 

 colour is bluish-black, while every scale of the body is 

 marked with a yellow spot in the centre, and often with 

 a somewhat indistinct yellow streak on each side. 



A variety of this snake, var. variegata, popularly known 

 as the Carpet Python, does not differ in general structure 

 or scaling, but only in coloration. Its ground colour, 

 which is greenish-brown, is marked out into several rows 

 of irregular lozenge-shaped patches of yellow. Its range 

 is much wider than the typical form, being found in 

 Victoria and Southern and Western Australia, as well 

 as in New South Wales. 



In their habits both the Diamond Python and the Carpet 

 Python are precisely similar. They frequent open, stony 

 ridges, well supplied with water, or the banks of swamps 

 and lagoons, where they find an ample supply of small 

 mammals and young water-fowl. The Australian Pythons 

 are, unfortunately, not hardy, seldom surviving more than 

 a couple of years of captivity. 



In the West African genus Calabaria, which is repre- 

 sented by a single species, C. reinhardti^ the head, which is 



