Proceedings of Indiana Academy of Science. 
We had a big Reticulated python which passed the hoofs of a pig. They 
were shown to Dr. W. T. Hornaday. the Director of the New York Zodlog- 
ical Park, who identified them as the hoofs of the Bornean wild pig (Sus 
barbatus). of about forty pounds weight. A ship's captain in bringing over 
a large Reticulated python, found in the excrement the quills of a Javan 
porcupine, lying in the same relative position they occupied on the animal's 
body. The reptile must have begun at the head. extending the coils back- 
ward over the body, and pressing the quills down horizontally in their 
natural state of rest. Evidently, this is a species of prey a snake would not 
disgorge. 
Our small snakes feed largely on frogs. toads, and fish: the anacondas 
feed extensively on fish; king snakes and king cobras eat other species of 
snakes: but I have never known a boa or python to take a cold-blooded ani- 
mal. We often keep small snakes and iguanas with the boas and pythons, 
but they never take any notice of them. In a state of nature their prey 
consists largely of small deer and antelopes, lambs, kids, pigs. other mam- 
mals weighing less than a hundred pounds, and any bird that may be large 
enough to attract their attention. ‘That their prey does not always sub- 
mit without a fight is shown from the number of broken ribs that are 
found in the skeletons of these reptiles. 
We had an artistically mounted skeleton of a twenty-two foot Reticulated 
python, in which there were thirty-seven ribs that showed well marked 
fractures, and a number of others that showed indications of fracture. 
Some of them had been broken two and even three times. In one, the 
ends had slipped past each other for about a half inch, and the two 
sides were knitted together. In one place there were five fractured ribs 
in succession. A peculiar feature about these broken ribs is the fact that 
they always occur toward the posterior quarters of the snake. It is 
probable that the animal responsible for these fractures is the Bornean 
wild pig. Doubtless the reptile usually seizes the pig near the head and 
throws his coils about the shoulders. The posterior limbs are thus left 
free, and with these he fights desperately till life is crushed out, frequently, 
as is plainly evident, doing serious damage to his assailant. 
In conformity to their attenuated form, snakes have a large number of 
vertebrie and ribs. A peculiarity of the skeleton is that there are but two 
cervical yertebrie. The atlas and axis. or first and second bones of the 
spinal column, next to the head. bear no ribs, but they start with the third 
vertebra. Neither are there any lumbar or sacral vertebrie. In the 
Reticulated python there are 361 vertebree. Of these. 2 are cervical, 27 
caudal, and 522 dorsal. The caudal vertebrie all bear transverse processes, 
the proximal ones long and broad, diminishing gradually toward the tip 
of the tail, but they do not disappear. even in the last distal vertebra. It 
may be that these are but ribs ankylosed to the vertebrie. It is sometimes 
difficult to distinguish just where the ribs end and the transverse processes 
begin. This is true of the Indian python. As already intimated, there 
are 522 pairs of ribs. However, it is highly probable. at least possible. that 
this number will not hold constant. Even in man there may be thirteen, 
eleven, or as few as nine pairs. At least one human skeleton has been 
known with twelve ribs on one side and thirteen on the other. 
