SUPPLEMENT. 411 



head to the first of these protuberances, was a distance of three 

 inches and three-fifths of an inch, during which the spine 

 was straight. Between this place and the vent, its undulations 

 were nearly regular, twenty-four of these protuberances, about 

 equally distant from each other, occupying the space between 

 the neck and the vent. From the latter to the twenty-fifth 

 protuberance, the spine formed a straight line, of the length 

 of one inch and nine tenths ; its undulations there commenced 

 again, and were continued quite to the extremity of the tail, 

 forming sixteen more distinct protuberances. The size of 

 these forty protuberances was proportioned to that of the body 

 at the places, where they were respectively situated. The body 

 could be bent with facility upward and downward as repre- 

 sented in Plate I., a circumstance not common to other ser- 

 pents.* Those parts of the spine, which were straight, ad- 

 mitted much less motion in a vertical direction, than those, 

 which were undulatory. 



ft. in. 



The length of the head was ' 1 3-10 



From the back of the head to the vent 2 2 4-5 

 From the vent to the end of the tail 7 2-5 



Whole length 2 111-2 



The smallest circumference of the neck, one inch and a half. 

 The circumference of the body over the largest protuberances, 

 two inches and four fifths. The circumference of the body 

 between the two largest protuberances, two inches and nine 

 twentieths. The size of the body diminished suddenly at the 

 vent, immediately beyond which the circumference of the tail 

 was one inch and three fifths. The tail was round, and tapered 

 very much, terminating in a point. 



The head was rather larger than the neck, flattened, its an- 

 terior part pyramidal, rounded at the nose ; the upper lip entire. 



* Ce mode d'articulation expllque tres bien le mouvement du corps des reptiles, qui, en 

 g6n6ral, s'ex6cute surles cot^s, et non de haut en bas, comnie le representent les peinlres. 



Cnvier Anat. comp. i. 176. 



