Snakes: curiosities and wonders of serpent life . on to theextremely simple spinal column must be named. Thisis that certain families, more nearly allied to the lizards,or most far removed from the vipers, have rudiments ofpelvic bones, or those which in bipeds connect the legs withthe trunk. In a few families there is even a pair of theserudiments externally, though only in the form of a spur or ^ Letter to Sir Emerson Tennant. 2 20 SNAKES. claw, as seen in the boa constrictor, the pythons, and someof the blind-worms, and usually more developed in the is, however, the true skeleton
Snakes: curiosities and wonders of serpent life . on to theextremely simple spinal column must be named. Thisis that certain families, more nearly allied to the lizards,or most far removed from the vipers, have rudiments ofpelvic bones, or those which in bipeds connect the legs withthe trunk. In a few families there is even a pair of theserudiments externally, though only in the form of a spur or ^ Letter to Sir Emerson Tennant. 2 20 SNAKES. claw, as seen in the boa constrictor, the pythons, and someof the blind-worms, and usually more developed in the is, however, the true skeleton of a claw beneath theskin, composed of several bones, and presenting somewhatthe form of a birds claw, hinting at the common ancestrybetween snakes and lizards. These spurs, though merevestiges of limbs, must still be of some use to the largeconstrictors when climbing trees and hanging from thebranches. They are found in the boa, python, eryx, andtortrix, four groups which approach the lizard characteristics;also in Boa aqiiatica, the V(.v
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectserpents, bookyear188
