C YLINDER-SNAKES. 1 95 



of their cage. The Indian species is frequently carried about by snake-charmers, 

 who are in the habit of mutilating the short tail so as to make it look like a 

 head ; whence arises the legend of two-headed snakes. A second Indian species 

 (E. conicus) was formerly referred to a separate genus {Gongylophis), on account 

 of having a series of keeled scales between the eyes. 



Of the remaining members of the family, Lichanura, with one 

 Californian species, differs from the sand-snakes by the smaller size 

 of the rostral shield, which is longer than wide ; while Charina, which is likewise 

 Californian, has the head covered with large shields. On the other hand, Bolieria, 

 as represented by a single species from Round Island, near Mauritius, differs from 

 all the other members of the group in having three or four keels on the scales, the 

 muzzle being covered with large shields. 



Extinct Python- In this place may be noticed certain gigantic snakes from the 



like Snakes, lower and middle Eocene rocks of Europe, described under the name 

 of Palceophis, and represented by closely allied, if not generically identical forms 

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

 pythons, the vertebrae differ from the latter (shown in the figure on p. 18) by the 

 much greater height of the upper or neural spine, which has not the backwardly- 

 directed process at its summit characterising 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 II YSIIBJE. 



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 essential point of distinction from the preceding being that the supra- 

 temporal 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 approximate 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 South-Eastern Asia in 

 the Eastern, and to Tropical America in the Western Hemisphere. Three genera, 

 of which two have one species, while the third has three, represent the family. 

 Coral Cylinder- The single representative of the typical genus of the family is 



snake. fae beautiful coral cylinder-snake (Ilysia scytale), inhabiting the 

 •Guianas and Upper Amazonia, and attaining a length of something over 2| feet. 



