27O TlMEHRl. 
easy it is for a snake to distend its jaws so as to take in 
objects that are considerably larger than the head ot 
the snake itself. The bones are able, so to speak, to 
separate from each other ; while the pliant nature of the 
ligaments which conneft them, allows of an easy ad- 
justment to the shape and size of the objeft to be taken 
in. 
Snakes may be divided into two main groups (i) the 
Colubrine (2) the Viperine. The colubrine snakes have 
the head somewhat elongated and oblong, rounded at the 
muzzle, and passing gradually into the neck which is 
generally somewhat thinner, but never markedly so. The 
head also is covered with large plates, which are known as 
shields, and these are arranged like plates in a pavement, 
edge to edge — an exception being, however, met with in a 
few snakes, as in the Boas, where the head is furnished 
with small scales, as seen in the specimens of the land- 
camoodie and water-camoodie. The lower jaw is fur- 
nished, as in all snakes, with a row of teeth on each 
side; and the upper, jaw bears four sets, of which two 
form long rows in the palate region of the mouth, while 
the two outer are set in the maxilla, or jaw-bone proper, 
on each side. The maxilla in the Colubrine snakes is a 
fixed bone, unlike that of the Viperine snakes in which it 
is movable. According to the nature of the maxillary teeth, 
the Colubrine snakes are divided into two groups. ( 1), the 
harmless Colubrine snakes or those which possess no 
poison-fangs or poison-glands, and in which the maxilla, 
on each side, bears a long row of simple teeth, no one 
tooth being enlarged and grooved. Examples of this group 
are seen in the Museum, such as the yellbw-tail, the camoo- 
dies, the whip snakes etc. (2.) The poisonous Colubrine 
