2542 SCALED REPTILES 



elongate .n form. Although they generally remain in their subterranean bur- 

 rows, in showery weather these snakes not unfrequeutly come to the surface for 

 a short time. The remains taken from their stomachs show that they feed largely 

 upon millipedes and ants, and they probably also consume the larvae of many in- 

 sects. Captive specimens have been observed to drink freely. The European 

 blind snake ( Typhlops vermicularis} is an inhabitant of Greece and several of the 

 adjacent islands, Asia Minor, Syria, Arabia Petraea, and the Caucasus as far as 

 Transcaspia. 



THE PYTHONS AND BOAS 

 Family BOID^E 



Including the largest of living snakes, this family is now regarded as being the 

 most generalized of the entire suborder (exclusive of the blind snakes), all the oth- 

 ers presenting such characteristics as would admit of their having taken origin from 

 ancestral types belonging to the one under consideration. In common with the re- 

 maining families, the boas and pythons differ essentially from the blind snakes in 

 that both jaws are fully toothed, and likewise in the presence of a transverse bone 

 to the palate. The characteristics specially distinguishing the present from the 

 other families of the suborder are, unfortunately, largely derived from the structure 

 of the skull, and therefore require some degree of anatomical knowledge for their 

 proper appreciation, while they cannot be described without the use of a considera- 

 ble number of technical terms. It may be mentioned, however, that the lower jaw 

 has on the inner side of each branch a thin bone known as the coronoid; while on 

 the top of the skull the prefrontal bones, w r hich lie on the outer side of the fore part 

 of the frontals, articulate with the nasal bones, or those roofing the front of the 

 cavity of the nose. In the hinder part of each side of the skull lies a large bone, 

 termed the supratemporal, from which is suspended the quadrate bone for the ar- 

 ticulation of the lower jaw; while a further important characteristic is to be found 

 in the presence of vestiges of the pelvis and hind-limbs, the latter usually taking 

 the form of a claw-like spur situated on either side of the vent. The family, which 

 contains a very large number of genera and species, has an extensive geographical 

 distribution, being represented in Southeastern Europe, Central and Southern Asia, 

 Africa, Australia, the West Indies, Western North America, and Central and South 

 America; it is thus essentially characteristic of the warmer regions of the globe. 

 Pythons belonging to extinct genera lived on the Continent and in England during 

 the earlier part of the Tertiary period. 



The large snakes to which the term python properly belongs are the 

 y ' typical representatives of the first of the two subfamilies into which 

 the Boida are divided; the essential feature of this subfamily (Pythoninee) being the 

 presence on the upper aspect of the skull of a supraorbital bone lying on each side 

 of the frontal bones, and forming the upper border of the socket of the eye. Agree- 

 ing with three other less important genera in the presence of teeth in the premax- 



