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PYTHO JAVANICUS, 
the genus Coluber than that of Boa, as the variation in the arrangement 
of the plates, in the instances that I have mentioned, brought the individuals 
close to the former and removed them more widely from the latter. 
Whether the anatomy of other serpents answering to the genus Pytho 
separate them from the genus Coluber I know not ; but I have been indebted 
to Sir Everard Home, who has examined one of the vertebrae of the Java 
snake, for the observation, that it differs from a vertebra of 1 the Boa 
in wanting the process to which the constrictor muscles of the latter 
animal are attached, and which is shown in the figure of one of the vertebrae 
of a Boa Constrictor, in his Lectures on Comparative Anatomy. It will 
be found, however, from the specific description, to approach the Boa in the 
small scales on the back of the head, and in having its lips jagged. 
As I am not aware that any particular set of characters are yet considered 
by naturalists as sufficient in themselves to form a specific description of 
serpents, I shall trust to a full detail of those which appear to me most 
likely to lead to identify it with others of its species. 
Pytho Javanicus , or Great Snake of Java. 
Gen. Char. vid. Daudin, Magasin Encyclopedique, tom. v. 
Species. 
Form — The shape may be compared to a double cone, tapering towards 
the head and tail, the greatest diameter of the body being its middle. The 
diminution of size is gradual to the anus ; beyond it is rapid to the end of 
the tail. It is gradual to the end of the neck ; beyond, the swelling of 
the head interrupts the gradation. The head is larger at its base than the 
neck. In shape it resembles a truncated cone, having its base at its union 
with the neck. 
Colour — Greenish brown, with a purplish tinge, and yellow and black. 
Two brownish yellow bands arise from a point between the nostrils, near 
the margin of the upper lip, and diverging pass between the eyes, reach the 
back part of the head, where they divide each into two bands ; the outer 
band on each side, after sending off’ a smaller one round the angle of the jaw, 
becomes of a lighter colour, and loses itself in the general yellow colour 
of the belly. The two inner bands traverse the whole extent of the 
back, communicating with each other by transverse bands, and sending out 
