98 
GUIDE TO THE 
The bones at the hinder angles of the python’s skull, 
and to which the lower jaw is connected, are more or 
less loosely attached to the other bones of the skull, 
and the two halves of the lower jaw are also only united 
at the chin by an elastic ligament. It is this arrangement 
that confers on the python and the Boas of South America 
great width of gape and a capacious throat enabling them 
to swallow large animals. The loose connection of the 
two pieces of the lower jaw also permits of their being 
worked independently forwards, and from side to side, over 
its prey, after it has been seized by the mouth, and, as the 
teeth are directed backwards, the prey cannot escape, after 
the mouth is once thoroughly filled. The python also makes 
use of its coils in compressing its prey, and in forcing it 
further into the mouth when seized, and in this respect 
it is also resembled by the Boa-constrictor. In this country 
one not unfrequently hears the latter term applied to the 
Python, the largest of the old world serpents, but this is 
inaccurate, as the Boa-constrictor is confined exclusively 
to the tropical forests of South America. The Python 
differs from it in attaining to much greater dimensions, 
and in having the upper surface of the head covered with 
regular shields, this part of the Boa being simply scaly. 
The under surface of the python’s tail has also a double 
row of plates, but in the Boa there is only a single row. 
In all serpents, with two exceptions, of which the 
Python is one and Tortrix the other, there are no teeth in 
the intermaxillaries or front bones of the upper jaw. 
The Indian species, Python mohirus, is not at all uncommon 
in certain parts of India, and is found frequenting trees, 
near water, in the neighbourhood of Calcutta. The 
Burmese and Malayan species is P. reticulatus . 
