124 A Visit to the Python in the Zoological -Gardens. 



within proper limits, to the inmates of the comfortable, roomy, 

 glass-fronted dens, which are variously furnished with stumps of 

 trees, beds of clean pebbles, drinking and bathing troughs, and 

 other accessories to the well - doing of the formidable pets. 

 Among the principal inhabitants of these houses are, first, 

 Python molurus, from India, the subject of this notice*: P. 

 regius, P. reticulata, Boa constrictor ; Ghilobothrus inornatus 

 (the yellow boa) ; Crotalus durissus, the rattlesnake; Naia haje, 

 the cobra ; Cenchris piscivorus, the water viper ; Pelias berus, the 

 common viper; and a very good collection of snakes, vipe- 

 rines, and batrachians. 



Before detailing the results of our visit, a few words on the 

 position of Python molurus in the recognized classification may 

 not be out of place. The method of arranging the Beptilia, 

 adopted respectively by Oppel, De Blainville, Dr. J. E. Gray, 

 Cuvier (Regne Animal, 2nd edition), and Bell, are very nearly 

 identical in their leading features ; those of Merrem and Fitz- 

 inger differ considerably from the systems which have been 

 generally recognized in this country, because they rely chiefly on 

 the characteristics of the integuments ; whereas structure and 

 function are comprehended to a more or less extent in the ar- 

 rangements which have been found most useful. Objections 

 may be made to each of the systems hitherto devised, on the 

 ground that the basis of classification varies at each stage, 

 which is unavoidable in a natural arrangement. The result of 

 this in Dr. J. E. Gray's classification is, that the crocodiles are 

 separated from the turtles by the whole distance of the inter- 

 mediate orders, the ophidian serpents standing midway between 

 the extremes. Cuvier groups the chelonians and crocodilians 

 side by side, as possessing a heart with a single auricle and 

 limbs ; the saurians follow, having a heart with a double auri- 

 cle, teeth, and limbs ; next come the ophidians, comprising all 

 snakes and serpents. At the bottom of the scale are the 

 batrachians. Professor Bell departs from this system only to 

 place the lacertee below the ophidians, and there is scarcely an 

 exception in any of the systems to the assignment of a position 

 midway between the extreme highest and extreme lowest— to tho 

 great class of serpents, which are inferior to the crocodiles, in 

 having either rudimentary limbs or no limbs at all, and superior 

 to the batrachians in the comparatively high functional capacities 

 of the brain and heart. 



Cuvier regarded the ophidians as most deserving the name 

 of reptiles of any of the order, for the simple reason that they 

 arc without feet. Ho arranges them in three families — annuls, 

 with scaly skin and three eyelids ; true serpents, with scaly skin 



* It is labelled Python sebec, but described by Dr. Sclater as Python molurus. 



