DR. TH. NEUMANN. 91 



the ground, a few only, the cobra for instance, being an 

 exception : many others, when grasped by the tail and 

 allowed to hang free, cannot even bend their bodies so that 

 they reach the holding hand or the arm with their heads. 



The bones of the jaws and mouth, which in the higher 

 animals are more or less firmly united, are connected in 

 snakes by extensible ligaments only, and the lower jaw 

 articulates with the skull by means of a quadrate bone 

 which in turn is movably jointed to the cranium. As the 

 two halves of the lower jaw are also merely united 

 loosely in front by ligaments and muscles, the snakes 

 have, in consequence of this peculiar arrangement of 

 parts, the power of opening the mouth to an extraordi- 

 nary width, and they can perform the most astonishing 

 feats in the way of swallowing, although here more than 

 elsewhere great caution is to be exercised in believing 

 the accounts given by travelers who claim to have seen 

 giant snakes swallow whole buffalos and horses. 



As regards this process it is to be noticed that the 

 snakes are not in the habit of chewing their prey, but of 

 swallowing it whole, aud it is surely very interesting to 

 observe them in performing the act. With rare excep- 

 tions they seize their prey by the head, hold it firmly 

 with their teeth, push forth one side of the upper and 

 lower jaws, hook in their teeth, push the other side after 

 and in this way go on pushing first one side then the 

 other of the head over the prey until the latter dis- 

 appears entirely inside the mouth. During this act the 

 head appears twitched entirely out of shape and every 

 bone of the jaws out of joint ; but as soon as the heavy 

 pressure is over, the sinews and ligatures resume their 

 former natural position and size, while the morsel which 

 may have a diameter greater than the snake itself, is seen 

 like a knot in the long and slender body of the animal, 

 slowly moving down through the alimentary canal until 



digestion disposes of it. 



4.7 



