from the blind-snakes in that both jaws are fully toothed, and likewise in the 
presence of a transverse bone to the palate. The characters specially dis¬ 
tinguishing the present from the other families of the suborder are, un¬ 
fortunately, largely derived from the structure of the skull, and therefore 
require some degree of anatomical knowledge for their proper appreciation, while 
they cannot be described without the use of a considerable number of technical 
terms. It may be mentioned, however, that the lower jaw has on the inner side 
of each branch a thin bone known as the coronoid; while on the top of the skull 
the prefrontal bones, which lie on the outer side of the forepart of the frontals, 
articulate with the nasal bones, or those roofing the front of the cavity of the nose. 
In the hinder part of each side of the skull lies a large bone, termed the supra- 
INDIAN PYTHON CRUSHING ITS PREY ( T \j nat. size). 
PYTHONS AND BOAS. 
The Pythons and Boas. 
Family Boidje. 
Including the largest of living snakes, this family is now regarded as being 
the most generalised of the entire suborder (exclusive of the blind - snakes), all 
the others presenting such characters as would admit of their having taken 
origin from ancestral types belonging to the one under consideration. In 
common with the remaining families, the boas and pythons differ essentially 
