Catalogue of the snakes in the British Museum (Natural History) .. . nes edentulous anteriorly. Beyond these three subfamilies I am unable to divide the Agly-phous Coluhridce into groups (higher than genera) that may beregarded as natural and capable of definition. I have, however,arranged the genera of Coluhrince in two series according to thepresence or absence of hypapophyses or hnemal processes on theposterior dorsal vertebrae. This point (see fig. 12) is easilyascertained by making an incision along the belly in the posteriorfifth of the body, pushing aside the viscera, and disarticulatin
Catalogue of the snakes in the British Museum (Natural History) .. . nes edentulous anteriorly. Beyond these three subfamilies I am unable to divide the Agly-phous Coluhridce into groups (higher than genera) that may beregarded as natural and capable of definition. I have, however,arranged the genera of Coluhrince in two series according to thepresence or absence of hypapophyses or hnemal processes on theposterior dorsal vertebrae. This point (see fig. 12) is easilyascertained by making an incision along the belly in the posteriorfifth of the body, pushing aside the viscera, and disarticulating the COLUBKIDJ;. 171 rhacliis by bending the body dorsally. The application of thischaracter, first employed for taxonomic purposes by Prof. Cope,but which had not hitherto been tested in a thorough manner,leads to some unexpected results as to the affinities of manj generaand species the position of which appeared somewhat all the Madagascar CuJabritun have the hYpa]K)physes deve-lo])cd throughout the vertebral columu, and thus differ from the. Posterior dorsal vertebrse of :— A. Lioheterodon madagascariensis. B. Heterodon nasicus. a. Back Tiew. b. Lower view. c. Side view. American genera Lio^Jiis, Heterodon, Dromicus, &c., with whichthey have long been associated, although, indeed, a careful com-parison of j^j^j^^gnal structure alone shows these views tohave been ijBSet^mereiTupon vcrj superficial resemblances. Asregards tlK)se dwarfed, uii^raded forms which have hitherto beenassoeiatdl as Caldmnii^i, 1 have endeavoured, as far as possible,to bring them into ue^ni r neighbourhood to such more powerfulSnakes,^^^o fur as the value of their characters canbe corrM^p^nJOMMi there is reason to believe they are ImI^co and Slriptophoms are placed near Trojndonotus andjjrajfagB^j^^ Cope, Simotes and OUfjodon near CoroneUa,; h\ tlic inie way as in the family Boidce the genera{ai^^V/A ^^j Bolieria, and Erchophis have beenfea nnioDg the Boa
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectserpents, bookyear189
