294 A Sportswoman in India 



They were replaced under their mother, and in due 

 time hatched, none the worse for their strange in- 

 cubation. 



At first sight it is puzzling to see how any animal 

 can swallow whole a body, such as an egg, considerably 

 larger than its own head. The reason is that the 

 bones of the head and jaws are loose, and can be 

 enormously stretched and distorted. 



The head-bones of higher animals are, of course, 

 consolidated ; but in the case of snakes, these bones 

 are united by ligaments so elastic as to enable them 

 to separate and to allow of the snake swallowing an 

 animal twice the size of its own head. 



The snake has four jaws above and two below, 

 and its teeth are recurved that is curve inwards- 

 down the throat. To begin with, the two bones which 

 form the lower jaw separate widely and move in- 

 dependently ; then the bones in the roof of the mouth 

 do the same ; lastly, the four upper jaw-bones, all 

 furnished with long, fine, recurved, close-set teeth, 

 adapted for grasping and holding like fish-hooks, not 

 for dividing or mastication in any way, come apart 

 also, and the mouth itself can be opened horizontally 

 as well as vertically. The teeth once hooked in their 

 prey, the action is continuous, the throat going on 

 with the work begun by the teeth, which grasp and 

 work the food in with a movement so gradual as to 

 simulate suction. 



Thus a cobra will swallow a young chicken and 

 the working arrangements of its jaws are worthy of 



