JOURNAL 



OF THE 



Bombay Natural History Society^ 



Oct. 1911. Vol. XXI. No. 1. 



A POPULAR TREATISE ON THE COMMON INDIAN 



SNAKES. 



Illustrated by Coloured Plates and Diagrams. 



BY 



Major F. Wall, I.M.S., C.M.Z.S. 

 Part XVI tvith Plate XVI and Diagram and Mai^s. 



(Gontiniied from 'page 953 of Volume XX.) 



Introductory remarhs. — The subjects of this paper belong to the^ 

 Boidrn, a family comprising the boas, and the pythons. Therei 

 are many representatives scattered over all five Continents. These 

 snakes are characterised by the possession of rudimentary hind 

 limbs, and a rudimentary pulvis, the termination of the foi-mer 

 being more or less visible as claw-like processes situated on each 

 side of the body in a fold or dimple above the anus. 



The family is divided into two sub-families, viz., Pythonince in' 



which there is a bone (the supraocular) distinct from the frontal' 



forming the roof of the orbit, and Boinae in which the frontal' 



alone forms the orbital roof. The latter includes 13 genera of 



1 



