298 



MR, S. C. SARKAE ON THE BUCCAL GLANDS 



generally found in front of the tooth, which becomes bigger than 

 the rest {Dryophis). The maxillary and mandibular teeth are 

 mostly inclined posteriorly at a considerable angle — i. e., the 

 proximal part of each tooth for a little distance is almost 

 at right angles to the bone, while the distal part bends back- 

 wards. The teeth appear to be of various types when seen 

 in transverse section— round, triangular, flattened, etc. But more 

 interesting still is the fact that the alternate teeth are hinged 

 and fixed. In the dried specimens the hinged teeth frequently 

 drop out ; the dropping-out of the teeth after death has been 

 frequently noticed by several workers, including Boulenger, and 

 was accounted for by the accidents of preparation. 

 Thus, quoting Boulenger : — 



" It very often happens that every alternate tooth having 

 dropped out, the jaw appears, on a superficial examination, to 

 possess half the real number of teeth." 



At first, while making dissections of a large number of snakes, 

 I often fouiid that some of their teeth difi'ered from the others 



Text-figure 1. 



mand. 



Tropidonotus stolatns. Portion of mandible seen in lateral view, drawn with 

 camera lucida from a cleaned specimen, f.t. fixed tooth ; h.t. hinged tooth ; 

 I. ligament ; maud, mandible. X 46. 



in that they could be bent backwards. I took it to be that 

 these teeth were being either gradually fixed or were about to 

 drop out of the jaw. On a more careful examination, I found 

 that these loose teeth, as a general rule, alternate with the fixed 

 ones. This regularity led me to suspect that the condition was 

 not accidental. In order to verify this, I examined a number of 

 cleaned skulls, and found that these loose teeth either drop 

 out, leaving sjjaces or remain somehow fixed to the jaw, so that it 

 is difiicult to distinguish them from the fixed ones. I concluded 

 from this that there must be some ligament or structure which 



