80 SERPENTS 



length, and running up to 25 feet, occasionally come into the 

 possession of the animal dealers of Singapore, but about 

 three-fourths of them die from lack of proper care before 

 they are finally disposed of in Europe or America, and placed 

 on exhibition. 



The largest specimen Avhich thus far has died in the Zoo- 

 logical Park measured 22 feet 10 inches, and weighed 170 

 pounds. Mr. R. L. Ditmars ("Reptiles of the World," p. 219) 

 regards the Reticulated Python as the largest of all living 

 serpents, actually attaining a length of 30 feet. He states 

 that a friend of his once measured a dead specimen that 

 was only a few inches under 30 feet. 



This splendid Python is at home in the hot and moist 

 jungle which from Burmah to Java covers the land with a 

 dense mantle of trees, thorny palms, rattans and tangled 

 underbrush. Its colors consist of a network of yellows and 

 yellowish browns and black laid over a ground of light brown, 

 all beautifully harmonized. Immediately after the shedding 

 of an old epidermis the scales have an iridescent metallic 

 sheen that is very beautiful. 



The temperature is practically stationary all the year 

 round, and varies little save between 82° and 98° F. The 

 frequent rains, and the moist, hot-house air of that region, 

 with abundant animal food and ample cover, constitute ideal 

 conditions for the rapid growth of reptiles, and the triennial 

 shedding of their epidermis. It is no wonder that Pythons 

 and king cobras grow large there, or that they are so numer- 

 ous that many of the former are caught alive by the Malays. 



But the term "numerous" is capable of several interpre- 



