THE COLUBERID^ OB SNAKES, 143 



analogies of the natural series^ their bare enumeration 

 in this part of our work would be devoid of all popular 

 interest. It will be enough^ therefore_, if we glance only 

 over the series^ as given in the Regne Animal, and touch 

 upon the most remarkable genera. The genera Tortrioc 

 and Uropeltis still retain many of the characters of the 

 slow-worms_, or AnguinidcB : but among the gigantic 

 boas of the New Worlds the mastoidian bones being 

 detached^ the jaws are capable of an enormous dilatation. 

 Few of our readers but must have heard of the Boa con- 

 strictor, as being one of the most gigantic serpents in 

 existence, and whose history would' be termed incredible 

 but for the united testimony of all travellers who have 

 seen its maturity of growth in its native regions. Young 

 individuals are frequently in our menageries, but they 

 are mere pygmies in comparison to the adults, which 

 have been often found to exceed forty feet in length. 

 Of this group, which includes several minor divisions, 

 all the species appear to be restricted to the tropics of 

 America, where they represent the pithons of the Old 

 World, a race of equal magnitude to the boas. Then 

 follows a host of genera and sub-genera, differing chiefly 

 in the size, number, and pattern of their scales. These 

 insensibly lead us to the European snakes, of which the 

 Coluber natrix is the best known example : it may be 

 handled without fear, for it never bites but in self-de- 

 fence, and even then not at all dangerously. The largest 

 serpent found in Europe is the four-striped (^Coluber 

 Elaphis), which sometimes exceeds six feet in length ; 

 while that represented by the ancients as the companion 

 of Esculapius (C. Esculapii), is stUl found in Italy and 

 the southern provinces adjacent. The foreign snakes 

 of this family, as remarked by Cuvier, are innumerable, 

 some remarkable for the vivacity of their colours, others 

 for the regularity of their markings, yet few attain 

 to a large size, besides those we have aheady noticed. 

 Finally, we may terminate this division with the very 

 singular genus Achrochordua, a serpent of large dimen- 

 sions, and peculiar to the island of Java ; it is entirely 



