280 PALAEONTOLOGY 



insects, and other small invertebrate animals, have the tym- 

 panic pedicle of the lower jaw immediately and immoveable 

 articulated to the walls of the cranium. The lateral branches 

 of the lower jaw are fixed together at tlie symphysis, and are 

 opposed by the usual vertical movement to a similarly com- 

 plete maxillary arch above ; these belong to the genera Am- 

 phisbcena and Anguis of Linmeus, the latter represented by 

 our common slow-worm. The rest of the Ophidians, including 

 the ordinary serpents and constrictors, which form the typical 

 members, and by far the greatest proportion, of the order, prey 

 upon living animals of frequently much greater diameter than 

 their own ; and the maxillary apparatus is conformably and 

 peculiarly modified to permit of the requisite distension of 

 the soft parts surrounding the mouth, and the transmission of 

 their prey to the digestive cavity. 



The earliest evidence of an ophidian reptile lias been 

 obtained from the eocene clay at Sheppy ; it consists of ver- 

 tebrae indicating a serpent of 12 feet in length, the PaloeopMs 

 toliapicus. Still larger, more numerous, and better preserved 

 veitebra- have been obtained from the eocene beds at Brackles- 

 ham, on which the Pdkeophis typhceus and P. pprcatus have 

 been founded * These remains indicate a boa-constrictor-like 

 snake, of about 20 feet in length. Ophidian vertebrae of much 

 smaller size, from the newer eocene at Hordwell, support the 

 species called Paleryx rhombifer and P. depresms.^ Fossil verte- 

 brae from a tertiary formation near Salonica have been referred 

 to a serpent, probably poisonous, under the name of Laophis.\ 

 A species of true viper has been discovered in the miocene 

 deposits at Sansans, South of France. Three fossil Ophidians 

 Prom the (EningeD slate have been referred to Coluber an natus, 

 C. Kargii, and ('. Owenii. 



* History of British Fossil Reptiles, pp. 139-149, pis. 2 and 3. 



f Op. cit., p. I 19, pi. 2, figs, 29-32. 



\ " Quarterly J ournal of the Geological Society," vol. xiii , p. 196, pi. iv. 



