SHIELD-TAILS. 
197 
The Shield-Tails. 
Family U ROPEL TIB HI. 
% 
The snakes of this family, while agreeing with the boas and pythons in the 
structure of the lower jaw, are sharply distinguished by the loss of all traces of the 
limbs, and likewise by the complete disappearance of the supratemporal bone in 
the skull. By Mr. Boulenger they are regarded as directly descended from the 
preceding family of the suborder. The skull is remarkable for the firm union of 
its constituent bones; and although both jaws are toothed, the teeth are small and 
feeble, and very rarely present on the palate. Externally these snakes are charac¬ 
terised by their cylindrical bodies; short, narrow heads, which pass imperceptibly 
into the neck; and by the 
extremely short, truncated, or 
slightly tapering tail, which 
generally ends in a rough, 
naked disc, although in one 
genus it is covered with keeled 
scales. On the body the scales 
are small and polished, those 
on the lower surface being 
always somewhat larger than 
those above; the eye is minute, 
and the cleft of the mouth 
comparatively small, and in¬ 
capable of much dilatation. 
These snakes are repre¬ 
sented by upwards of seven 
genera, some of which com¬ 
prise a large number of species, 
and are restricted to Ceylon and the mountains of Peninsular India. I hey are 
purely burrowing creatures, generally living in soft earth, at a depth of several 
feet, and consequently but seldom seen unless specially searched for. They are 
frequently dug up in the cultivation of tea and coffee plantations, and may be 
found beneath logs and stones. On the mountains these eaith-snakes, as thej 
are frequently called, may be met with in the open grass-lands; and during the 
rainy season they not unfrequently leave their burrows to travel some distance 
on the surface. Of relatively small size, many of them are beautifully coloured 
with red and yellow, while those that are black display an iridescence like that 
of some of the smooth-scaled skinks among the lizards. The food of these reptdes 
appears to consist solely of earth-worms; and the eggs are hatched befoie quitting 
the body of the parent. There is a legend current among the natives of India to 
the effect that every time a cobra bites it loses a joint of its tail, and eventually 
acquires a head like that of a toad; and Sir J. E. Tennent was of opinion that 
this fable was based on the shield-tailed snakes, in which the jaws have lost the 
great power of dilatation so characteristic of serpents in general. 
A SHIELD-TAILED SNAKE. 
