PYTHON NATALENSIS.
stripe, and a large similar-coloured blotch, the first commencing at the
nostril, and ending above the angle of the mouth ; the latter situated immediately
below the eye. The lower parts of the sides are also marked with
irregular olive-brown spots. Lips yellowish white; eyes dark brownish red ;
spurs near anus, livid white. The olive-brown and yellowish-brown markings
are, when imbedded in each other, generally surrounded by a margin of a
different tint to the general colour of the spots ; where they are olive-brown,
the edging is generally darker; and when yellowish-brown, generally lighter.
The whole surface of the snake has a strong metallic gloss in certain lights.
F o rm , &c . Body fusiform. Head depressed, and scarcely distinct from the
neck; much broader behind, than before the eyes ; gape large ; two labial
plates of the upper jaw on each side of nasal plate emarginated anteriorly, so
that the lip in front appears perforated by four irregular holes; pupils circular
; teeth long, pointed, slightly curved, and gently reclined ; the anterior-
most ones of each row longest; intermaxillary ones short, slender, and
pointed ; anal spurs about two-lines in length, slightly curved, and pointed.
The muzzle superiorly, the lips, the belly, and the under surface of the tail
are covered with large plates ; the other parts of head and body with scales.
On the top of the head they vary in size, several of them immediately over, as
well as before and behind the eyes, being much larger than the others around
them : on the body they are small,, ovate, and slightly imbricate, those
of the three lowermost rows, on each side of abdominal plates, very large.
Abdominal ■ plates narrow transversely, their breadth little exceeding the
scales immediately on each side of them ; their form, however, is different—
the plates posteriorly are square, the scales semicircular. The subcaudal scales
are in two rows, and larger than those with which the sides of the tail are covered
; shape the same. Abdominal plates 269 ; subcaudal scales 77. Length
of body and head 10 feet 11 inches ; of tail 16 inches. The large plates, mentioned
as covering the muzzle superiorly are seven in number; a triangular
one immediately behind nasal plate, the apex of which, posteriorly, is received
between the two plates next in succession, and which are also somewhat
three-sided, their base in contact with the middle pair, the shapes of
which are quadrangular ; the last pair semicircular behind, and terminate ;
about a quarter of an inch in front of a line drawn so as to connect the eyes.
This snake, or at least one resembling it in size, was formerly an inhabitant of the districts
now within the Cape Colony, and the traditions of the older Hottentots abound with instances
of its miraculous:powers. At present« is not to be found within hundreds of miles of the
boundaries of the Colony, and few specimens have been obtained nearer than Port Natal. It
occasionally attains a very large size, and, according to the natives, individuals have been seen
PYTHON NATALENSIS.
whose circumference was equal to that of the body of a stout m an: we have ourselves seen a
skin which measured twenty-five feet, though a portion of the tail part was deficient. It feeds
upon quadrupeds, and for some days after swallowing food, it remains in a torpid state, and
may then be easily destroyed. The South Africans, however, seldom avail themselves of these
opportunities of ridding themselves of a reptile they view with horror, as they believe that it
has a certain influence over their destinies; and affirm, that no person has ever been known to
maltreat it without, sooner or later, paying for his audacity.
Owing to the difficulty of discriminating between certain species of Python, we are not prepared
to maintain this reptile to be distinct from the Indian species (Python bivittatus, Schlegel).
The characters which have been assumed as indicative of specific differences, do not appear to
us to have been of sufficient value; the modifications to which they are liable in different
specimens, of whose specific identity no doubt can exist, show some other characters must be
discovered before certainty can be attained. The Indian species is doubtless an inhabitant of
Africa, and there are several specimens of it, both from India and Western Africa, in the
museum at Fort Pitt, Chatham, which are precisely similar. Between these, however, and the
species we have just described, there are several well-marked differences. The scales of
Python Natalensis are proportionally smaller than in the individuals above mentioned; their
form is also different. The labial fossa are more numerous in young specimens, from Western
Africa and India, than in those of a similar age from South Africa; in the latter they are two
upon each side, in the others, four or five; the plates on the head, also, are differently shaped
and differently disposed. The pattern of the markings, when viewed in detail, is also distinctly
different, though there is a sort of general resemblance. Persons who have opportunities of
examining species of Python would do well to ascertain if the labial fossa vary in number in
different individuals of the same species and of the same size, also whether their number
diminishes as age advances.