1 82 SNAKES. 



temporal, from which is suspended the quadrate-bone for the articulation 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 dis- 

 tribution, being represented in South-Eastern 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 

 True Pythons. & . r J e l J & 



the typical representatives of the first of the two subfamilies into 



which the Boidce are divided ; the essential feature of this subfamily (Pythonince) 



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. Agreeing with three other less important genera in the presence of teeth in 



the premaxillae or anterior upper jawbones, and also in generally having two rows 



of shields on the under surface of the tail, the pythons are specially characterised by 



the distinctly prehensile tail, and likewise by the presence of deep pits in the rostral 



and anterior upper labial shields of the head. As minor characteristics, it may be 



mentioned that the teeth, none of which are grooved, gradually decrease in size 



from the front to the back of the jaws; while the eye is of moderate size, with a 



vertical pupiL The head is distinct from the neck, and has the extremity of the 



snout covered with large shields, while its hinder portion may be overlain either 



with symmetrical shields, or with small scales; and each nostril is placed in a 



half -divided nasal shield, separated from its fellow on the opposite side by a pair 



of internasal shields. The body in these snakes is more or less compressed, while 



the scales on the upper surface and sides are small and smooth ; and the prehensile 



tail is of moderate length, or short, with the whole or greater part of the inferior 



shields arranged in two rows. 



Distribution and Pythons, or, as they are frequently termed, rock-snakes, are 



Habits. represented by nine species, and range over tropical and South 



Africa, South-Eastern Asia, and Australasia. With the exception of the American 



anaconda, some of the pythons are the largest of all snakes, and although there 



has been much exaggeration in this respect, it is now ascertained that the 



Indian python (Python molurus), represented in the figure on p. 181, occasionally 



attains a length of 30 feet, while the West African python (P. sebce) is stated to 



reach 23 feet. It is, however, but seldom that pythons of more than from 15 to 20 



feet in length are met with, and these are sufficiently formidable creatures, since 



they have a circumference as large as a man's thigh, and easily kill such animals 



as small deer, full-grown sheep, and dogs of considerable size. They are, however, 



unable, according to Dr. Giinther, to devour animals of larger dimensions than a 



half -grown sheep. A python destroys its victim in much the same manner as do 



many of the smaller snakes, gradually smothering it by throwing over it coil after 



coil of its bod}'-. In swallowing, writes Dr. Giinther, pythons " always commence 



with the head [as shown in the figure of the African species], and as they live 



