140 GUIDE TO THE 
along the eastern verandah towards the north to— 
Divisions , Nos. 4 and 5, which contain two species of 
Curassows, one Crax globicera , so called from the globose 
swelling on its bill, and the other Mitua iitberosa , generally 
known as the Razor-billed Curassow. The Curassows are 
South American birds, and they may be said to be the 
New World representatives of the pheasants and grouse 
of the Old World. They are found chiefly in forests. 
In this verandah, a few cages with glass fronts, contain 
some examples of common snakes, both poisonous and 
harmless, found in the neighbourhood of Calcutta, while 
in other cages are generally to be seen such lizards as the 
Chameleon and the large Gecko. 
The Snakes or Ophidia are divided into three great 
groups ; the first, the Harmless Colubrine snakes ; second, 
the Poisonous Colubrine snakes ; and third, the Viperine 
snakes which are also poisonous ; but this is a popular 
more than a scientific classification of this curious apodal 
or footless modification of vertebrated animals. Some of 
the most simply organized and most harmless of the 
snakes, viz ., those known as the Blind Snakes and belong¬ 
ing to the Family Typhlopidce , have received a very bad 
character among the natives of this country, but very 
unjustly, because they are quite as innocent of biting as 
the earth-worms which many of them at first sight re¬ 
semble in appearance, and, moreover, they have no poison 
fangs. They burrow in the earth, or hide under stones 
and fallen timber, and their tails and heads are of nearly 
equal size, so that the ignorant call them two-headed 
snakes and attribute to them most deadly properties. 
These are next followed by the 4 short tails ’ which consti¬ 
tute the Family Tortricidce , or Rollers, of which the 
