ERYX. 385 



Python, Bawlln. 



Only the anterior half of the head covered with shields; the hinder 

 ■with scales. 



Python molurus, Linn. Sysi. Nat. i. p. 225 ; Gray, Zool. Mis- 

 cellany, p. 44 ] D, et B. vi. p. 417 ; Gunth. Mep. Brit. Ind. The Ajgur 

 of the Hindoos. 



Scales in 65 rows round the middle of body. A pair of anterior 

 and posterior frontals. Several other small shields between the verti- 

 cal and the posterior frontals. iDwo antOi-ior upper, and four lower labials, 

 which are pitted. Eleven upper labials, the sixth below the orbit. A 

 brown lanceolate or sub-cordate spot on the crown and nape, its point 

 rests on the frontals, but frequently it is truncated anteriorly, its 

 extremity being on, or behind, the vertical; a light median streak 

 divides its triangular portion. A dark brown streak from the nostril 

 to gape, gradually becoming broader and confluent with another band 

 running along the lower jaw. A vertebral series of large quadrangular 

 spots, sometimes serrated or straight, and an oblong spot on each side 

 of each of the quadrangular spots. Lower parts yellowish, brownish, or 

 blackish on the sides. 



Hab. — Sind (Joongshai, Jerruck) Punjab, N. W. Provinces, Oudh, 

 Eajputana, Kutch, Guzerat and the whole of Peninsular India, also 

 Ceylon, the Malayan Peninsula, and Southern China. Commonly kept 

 by snake charmers for exhibition. It is perfectly harmless as to 

 poison, and shows no pi'opensity to bite, but it is said that a bite, 

 though containing no venom, produces a gradual wasting of the fingers 

 and toes. 



Family, BRYCID^. 

 Sand Snakes. 



Body of moderate length, cylindrical, covered with small scales. 

 Tail very short, with a single series of sub-caudals. Eye small. Pupil 

 vertical. Head of moderate length. Snout broad. None of the labials 

 pitted. Cleft of the mouth wide. Teeth in the maxillary, on the palate 

 and in the mandible. None in the intermaxillary ; anterior teeth 

 longest. A short conical prominence in a groove on each side of the 

 vent, indicative of a rudimentary hind limb. 



Inhabits dry, sandy and stony plains. 



Eryx, Daudin. 



Head not distinct from neck. Snout shielded, obtusely conical, and 

 with a sharp anterior edge. Nostril narrow, lateral. Scales slightly 

 keeled. Chin with a median groove. 



Eryx johnii, Russell, Ind. Serp. ii. pi. 16. p. 18; Dum. et Bib. vi. 

 p. 458 ; Gunth. Bep. Br. Ind. p. 334. Clothonia johnii, Gray, Zool. Misc. 

 p! 45 -/Gunth. Proc. Zool. Sac. 1860, p. 164. Eryx maculatus, Ha/Zowe^i. 

 (Loon'dee, Sind)— The Double-headed Snake op Europeans. 



Rostral large, wedge-shaped, triangular. Two pairs of small frontals 

 on the upper surface of the snout, one behind the other. Ten to 

 thirteenupper labials, none of which enter the orbit, which is surrounded 



49 z 



