. Cassell's natural history. Animals; Animal behavior. ANATOMY OF A SXAEE. 303 belly. It is by the action of the muscles on the ribs ami scales that the Snake may be said to walk on the ends of its \ery movable riljs. There arc no traces of a shoulder girdle or of foi-e limbs ixi Ojiliidia; but the Blind Snakes, Rock Snakes, Boas, and Rollers ha\'e rudiments of a pelvis, and the. last have crooked bones terminated liy claws externally. The nature of the skull will be considered in treating of the great groups. The beautiful scales on the body, and the regular plates and small scales on the hea
. Cassell's natural history. Animals; Animal behavior. ANATOMY OF A SXAEE. 303 belly. It is by the action of the muscles on the ribs ami scales that the Snake may be said to walk on the ends of its \ery movable riljs. There arc no traces of a shoulder girdle or of foi-e limbs ixi Ojiliidia; but the Blind Snakes, Rock Snakes, Boas, and Rollers ha\'e rudiments of a pelvis, and the. last have crooked bones terminated liy claws externally. The nature of the skull will be considered in treating of the great groups. The beautiful scales on the body, and the regular plates and small scales on the heads of Serpents, are various in shape, number, ornamentation, and colouring, and they may or may not be keeled, and they overlap. All are thickened skin, and are covered with a delicate scarf skin. The plates on a. T> t the head are on the same principle as those of , but there are some others which are peculiar. The number of rows of scales on the toji and sides of the body and tail differs with the genus and species. Usually there is a double row of scales on the under surface of the tail, and the rest of the under surface of the body has a continuous row of single broad scales, which are very striking in appearance, in contradLstinctioa to the othei's. At the moulting period the Snake is dull, lethargic, and careless, and the outer scarf skin comes away as a perfect scarf of the body and Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Duncan, P. Martin (Peter Martin), 1821-1891; Metcalf Collection (North Carolina State University). NCRS. London [etc] Cassell & Company, Limited
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