328 Animal Life 
In India and Ceylon the group is represented by Python molurus, 11 which the 
middle line of ‘the head shows a spear-shaped mark, while a brown stripe extends 
backwards from each. eye. Although generally not much more than twelve feet in 
length, the Indian python is believed to grow sometimes to twenty feet. The late 
Sir Walter Elhot wrote indeed, on native testimony, of a thirty-footer, but as this 
monster was reported to have swallowed a young gaur, or wild ox, there may be some 
doubt as to the truth of the testimony concerning its dimensions. A third Oriental 
species, the red python (P. curtus), from Sumatra, Borneo, and the Malay Peninsula, 
which never seems to grow very large, is remarkable for the large amount of red in 
its briluant coloration. It would be interesting to know with what particular feature 
in its surroundings this type of colouring is intended to accord; there being little doubt 
that the coloration of all pythons is of a protective nature, conspicuous as if may 
appear in a museum or menagerie. 
The two African pythons or rock-snakes (P. sebw and P. regius) are likewise 
comparatively small, seldom, if ever, much exceeding fifteen feet in length, and being 
generally smaller. The second, which is a native of the west side of the continent, 
is very handsomely marked, having a dark-brown stripe edged with black running 
down the middle of the back, from which are given off triangular or Y-shaped  off- 
shoots along the sides. ‘Of the still smaller species, it must suffice to mention the 
Australasian carpet, or diamond, snake (P. spilotes), easily recognised by the double 
row of yellow diamond-shaped lozenges on a dark ground running down each side 
of the body. 
All the pythons and boas lay eggs. Those of the larger pythons are soft-skinned 
and of the approximate size of a cricket ball. In 1881 a female Indian python in 
the Zoological Society's Gardens laid a number of eggs, around which she coiled her 
own body during the period of incubation. Such a method of incubation is probably 
common to all the larger pythons. At one time the process was believed to be 
attended with a marked rise of temperature, but the observations made in 1881 
showed that this was a mistake; and it would thus seem that the action is intended 
for the protection of the 
eggs, and not to aid their 
hatching. A similar habit 
occurs in certain species of 
the burrowing  snake-like 
amphibians known as 
cecilians. 
Turning to the boas, 
mention must first of all 
be made of one peculiar 
feature in their geographical 
distribution to which 
allusion has already been 
incidentally made, namely 
that while the great majority 
of the members of the typical 
genus Boa are restricted 
to Tropical America, two 
outlying species are met 
with in Madagascar. A 
Photo by W. P. Dando, F.Z.S., Regent's Park. precisely similar instance of 
BOA-CONSTRICTOR. discontinuous distribution, 
