No. 39. — 1889.] ZOOLOGICAL TABLES. 



183 



the tail long, moderate, short, or very short ; and it is 

 frequently difficult, especially with specimens preserved in 

 spirits, to decide how this or that particular should be 

 described. There is thus an endless gradation of forms all 

 blending into one another. However, there are some groups 

 that stand out in bold relief. There is the cobra itself with 

 its expansible hood, otherwise quite a normal snake form ; 

 then the little Galamaridce (Nos. 10 to 14), in which the 

 head with its pointed snout is quite continuous with the 

 perfectly cylindrical body. These lead to the perfectly worm- 

 like forms, such as Typhlops (Nos. 1 and 2), and a near 

 relation of the cobra, CaUophis trimaculatus (No. 42). In the 

 tree-snakes, Dendrophis and Ghrysopelea (Nos. 27,28, and 39), 

 we find very slender bodies with keeled bellies. In the 

 whip-snakes (Nos. 37 and 38) the bodies are extraordinarily 

 slender, with round bellies. In yet another form of tree- 

 snake, Dipsas (Nos. 35 and 36), the body is equally elongate 

 but strongly compressed. By another series of transitions 

 through such forms as No. 40 (Cerberus rhyncops, type d) and 

 No. 34 (Chersydrus granulosus, type I) we are led to the sea- 

 snakes with their oar-shaped tails (Nos, 46 to 56, typo m). 

 All these forms are easily distinguishable, and form quite 

 distinct types ; but in all important respects, or, rather, in 

 such characters as can be easily expressed, there is nothing to 

 separate No. 23 {Oligodon subgriseus) and No. 3 {Python 

 molurus) from type a, No. 24 (Zamenis mucosus). Yet no one 

 could say that there is any likeness between these three forms. 

 But if an attempt is made to define these forms by the com- 

 parative length of the snout or tail, or distinctness of the 

 head, it will be found that all these characters fail, as other 

 species show every gradation in these respects. 



It is probable that if all the animal forms, past, present, and 

 to come, were to pass before a Zoologist in a vision, that he 

 would find that the animal kingdom is like the French 

 Republic, one and indivisible ; and that there would be no 

 lines of absolute demarcation to be found anywhere from the 

 jelly fish to man. And the same of course would apply to 



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