218 REPTILES OF THE WORLD 



bright colors of all preserved snakes. An adult is eight 

 inches long. The habitat embraces Central America and 

 South America to Argentina ; also the southerly islands 

 of the West Indies. 



THE GREAT CONSTRICTING SNAKES — FAMILY BOID^. 



Gigantic proportions over other creatures of their kind 

 and brilliant colors woven into weird and symmetrical 

 patterns place the Boas and Pythons among the most 

 sensational of reptiles. It must not be imagined, 

 though, that all members of the Boidce are of massive 

 proportions. The family is composed of but a mod- 

 erate number of species and while it contains the huge 

 pythons of India, Malaysia and Africa, and the great 

 Anaconda or Water Boa, of South America, there are 

 moderate-sized, arboreal species and a number of really 

 diminutive, burrowing snakes, some of them living in 

 the sterile sands of the desert regions. 



One of the characteristics about the members of the 

 Boidce is the protrusion of a pair of internal hind legs 

 in the shape of a pair of stout spurs, at the vent; inter- 

 nally, there are vestiges of pelvic bones, as well. This 

 is a curious condition — true snakes with better developed 

 limbs than some of the burrowing hzards. Moreover, 

 the limbs of a boa or python are vigorously movable ; the 

 spurs are capable of inflicting an ugly scratch. A pho- 

 tograph shows the spurs of an African python. 



All members of the Boidce are clad in rather small 

 scales above ; on the abdomen is a row of enlarged crawl- 

 ing plates that are proportionately much narrower than 

 among the greater number of snakes. The plates under 

 the tail may be in one or two rows. Among the present 

 serpents both upper and lower jaw bones as well as the 

 palatine bones are well provided with recurved teeth; 



