256 CLASS REPTILIA. 



The Erpetons. Lacep. 



Very remarkable for two soft prominences, covered 

 with scales which they have at the end of the muz- 

 zle. Their head is furnished with large plates. 

 Those which predominate under the belly are not 

 very broad, and those of the under part of the tail, 

 scarcely differ from the other scales. But this tail 

 is rather long and pointed.* 



The Adders (Coluber. L.) 



Comprehended all the serpents, venomous or not, 

 in which the plates of the under part of the tail are 

 divided into two, that is to say, ranged by pairs. 



Independently of the separation of venomous 

 species, their number is so enormous that recourse 

 has been had to all kinds of characters to subdivide 

 them. 



We may, at first, separate from them the 



Pythons, 



Which have crooks near the anus, and the ventral 

 plates narrow like the boas, from which they differ 

 only in having double plates under the tail. Their 



* Erpeton Tentacuh, Lacep. Ann. Mus. II. 1., the name given to this 

 genus by M. de Lacepede, who was the first describer. It is from the 

 Greek fpirtTo;, aserpent. Merrem has changed it into Rhinopirus. 



