182 
SNAKES. 
temporal, from which is suspended the quadrate-bone for the articulation of the 
lower jaw; while a further important characteristic is to be found in the presence 
of vestiges of the pelvis and hind-limbs, the latter usually taking the form of a 
claw-like spur situated on either side of the vent. The family, which contains 
a very large number of genera and species, has an extensive geographical dis¬ 
tribution, being represented in South-Eastern Europe, Central and Southern Asia, 
Africa, Australia, the West Indies, Western North America, and Central and South 
America; it is thus essentially characteristic of the warmer regions of the globe. 
Pythons belonging to extinct genera lived on the Continent and in England 
during the earlier part of the Tertiary period. 
p The large snakes to which the term python properly belongs are 
the typical representatives of the first of the two subfamilies, into 
which the Boidce are divided; the essential feature of this subfamily (Pythonince) 
being the presence on the upper aspect of the skull of a supraorbital bone lying on 
each side of the frontal bones, and forming the upper border of the socket of the 
eye. Agreeing with three other less important genera in the presence of teeth in 
the premaxillae or anterior upper jawbones, and also in generally having two rows 
of shields on the under surface of the tail, the pythons are specially characterised by 
the distinctly prehensile tail, and likewise by the presence of deep pits in the rostral 
and anterior upper labial shields of the head. As minor characteristics, it may be 
mentioned that the teeth, none of which are grooved, gradually decrease in size 
from the front to the back of the jaws; while the eye is of moderate size, with a 
vertical pupil. The head is distinct from the neck, and has the extremity of the 
snout covered with large shields, while its hinder portion may be overlain either 
with symmetrical shields, or with small scales; and each nostril is placed in a 
half-divided nasal shield, separated from its fellow on the opposite side by a pair 
of internasal shields. The body in these snakes is more or less compressed, while 
the scales on the upper surface and sides are small and smooth; and the prehensile 
tail is of moderate length, or short, with the whole or greater part of the inferior 
shields arranged in two rows. 
Distribution and Pythons, or, as they are frequently termed, rock-snakes, are 
Habits. represented by nine species, and range over tropical and South 
Africa, South-Eastern Asia, and Australasia. With the exception of the American 
anaconda, some of the pythons are the largest of all snakes, and although there 
has been much exaggeration in this respect, it is now ascertained that the 
Indian python (Python molurus), represented in the figure on p. 181, occasionally 
attains a length of 30 feet, while the West African python (P. sebce) is stated to 
reach 23 feet. It is, however, but seldom that pythons of more than from 15 to 20 
feet in length are met with, and these are sufficiently formidable creatures, since 
they have a circumference as large as a man’s thigh, and easily kill such animals 
as small deer, full-grown sheep, and dogs of considerable size. They are, however, 
unable, according to Dr. Gunther, to devour animals of larger dimensions than a 
half-grown sheep. A python destroys its victim in much the same manner as do 
many of the smaller snakes, gradually smothering it by throwing over it coil after 
coil of its bodjr. In swallowing, writes Dr. Gunther, pythons “ always commence 
with the head [as shown in the figure of the African species], and as they live 
