DASYPELTIS INORNATUS. 
when I first obtained a specimen of the species last mentioned, I considered it a type 
of a new form, and described it under the name of Anodon typus;* but afterwards, on dis- 
covering that Anodon had been employed by conchologists, I adopted Dasypeltis, as proposed 
by Wagler.f The paucity and smallness of the teeth in the mouth are favourable to the 
passage of the egg, and permit it to progress without injury, whereas were they otherwise, 
many eggs, which have very thin shells, would be broken before they entered the gullet, and 
the animal in consequence would be deprived of its natural food when within its reach. Hav- 
ing observed that living specimens which I kept in confinement always retained the egg 
stationary about two inches behind the head, and while in that position used great efforts 
to crush it, I killed one, and found the gular teeth about the place where the egg ceases to 
descend. Those teeth, I am satisfied from many observations, assist in fixing the egg, and 
also in breaking the shell when the former reaches them, and is subjected to compression 
by the muscular action of the parts surrounding it. The instant the egg is broken, by the 
exertions of the animal, the shell is ejected from the mouth, and the fluid contents is 
conveyed onwards to the stomach. Many serpents, perhaps all, devour eggs when they have 
the opportunity, but this and the other species of the genus is pre-eminent in that respect. 
* Zoological Journal of London, Yol. iv. page 443. 1839. 
f Naturliches System der Amphibien, page 178. 1838. 
