THE CYLINDER SNAKES 2557 



by closely-allied, if not generally identical forms in the corresponding 

 strata of North America. Equal in size to those of the largest py- 

 thons, the vertebrae differ from the latter by the much greater height of 

 Snakes t ^ ie u PP er or neural spine, which has not the back wardly -directed 

 process at its summit characterizing the pythons. From the shape 

 of these vertebrae, it is pretty certain that these snakes had compressed bodies like 

 the modern sea snakes, while from the nature of the deposits in which their remains 

 occur, there can be little doubt that they were marine in their habits. Whether 

 they were really allied to the pythons and boas may be doubtful, but in any case it 

 is probable that they indicate a separate family. 



THE CYLINDER SNAKES 

 Family 



Agreeing with the pythons and boas in the retention of vestiges of the hind- 

 limbs, the small group of cylinder snakes appears to form a connecting link between 

 the two former and the under-mentioned family of shield-tailed snakes; their essen- 

 tial point of distinction from the preceding being that the supratemporal bone of 

 the skull is of small size, and included in the walls of the brain case, instead of 

 standing out as a support for the quadrate bone, which is much shorter than in the 

 boas and pythons. Teeth are present on the palate as well as in the jaws; and the 

 vestiges of the hind-limb usually take the form of a spur on each side of the vent. 

 In general appearance, and in the arrangement of the scaling, these snakes approxi- 

 mate to the boas; while as regards the structure of the skull they are intermediate 

 between them and the next family. The distribution of the group is remarkable, 

 being restricted to Ceylon and Southeastern Asia in the Eastern, and to tropical 

 America in the Western Hemisphere. Three genera, of which two have one spe- 

 cies, while the third has three, represent the family. 



. The single representative of the typical genus of the family is the 



' r beautiful coral cylinder snake (Ilysia scytale}, inhabiting the Guianas 

 and upper Amazonia, and attaining a length of something over two 

 and one-half feet. The distinctive features of the genus are the presence of two 

 teeth in the anterior upper jawbones, or premaxillas, and the eye being situated in 

 the middle of an ocular shield. The color is a splendid coral red ornamented with 

 black rings, or incomplete ring-like black bands. From the little that is known 

 concerning its habits, it appears that this snake is sluggish in its movements, and 

 never wanders far from its retreat, which is situated under the roots of a tree or in 

 a hole or cleft in' the ground. It feeds on insects and blind snakes, and produces 

 living young. 



The true cylinder snakes, as typicallv represented by the red snake 

 Red Snake ,~ ,. , ... ... ,._ 



{tyhndrophts rufus), differ from the preceding by the absence of teeth 



in the anterior upper jawbones, and likewise by the eye not being included in any 

 of the head shields. This genus has three representatives, and is distributed over 



