Total Length.—10 inches. A specimen from Cyprus is reported to measure 14 inches.
Distribution.—This species has long been known from Greece, the Ionian Islands, and the Grecian Archipelago. It is on record from the Eli-Deren Pass, in Bulgaria. A specimen stated to come from Constantinople is preserved in the British Museum. The range further extends over a considerable part of South-Western Asia, viz., Asia Minor, Syria, Cyprus, Transcaucasia, Persia, Turkestan, and Afghanistan.
Habits.—Pretty alert in its movements, this little snake has considerable constricting powers, and coils itself fast round the fingers when handled. It lives much after the manner of earth-worms, and if dug out of loam or sand a specimen must be instantly grasped, as it draws back with extraordinary quickness. Its food probably consists mainly of earthworms and small insects. Some exotic species of the genus are known to feed on termites, and are often dug out of their nests.
Reproduction.—No observations have been made that I am aware of, but, as some of the exotic species of which we know something more lay large, elongate eggs, it is probable that this species also is oviparous.
Second Family: BOIDÆ
Maxillary, palatine, and pterygoid bones movable; transverse bone present; pterygoid extending to quadrate or mandible; supratemporal present, attached scale-like to cranium, suspending quadrate; prefrontal in contact with nasal; a coronoid element in the lower jaw. Teeth in both jaws. Vestiges of pelvis and hind limbs, usually terminating, at least in males, in a claw-like horny spur on each side of the vent.
This family contains, besides the gigantic Boas and Pythons, several small more or less burrowing forms, among which the genus Eryx, its only European representative, belonging to the subfamily Boinæ, characterized by the absence of a supratemporal bone and of premaxillary teeth. This subfamily, the largest members of which inhabit tropical America, is distributed over the hotter parts of America, Asia west of the Bay of Bengal, Madagascar, the Mascarene Islands, Africa north of the equator, Papuasia, and some islands of the South Pacific. The habitat of the European species is confined to the eastern and southern countries of the Mediterranean district.
This very varied family, including terrestrial, arboreal, aquatic, and burrowing forms, is a comparatively small one as regards the number of species, viz., about sixty, of which one-third pertain to the Pythoninæ, which inhabit tropical and South Africa, Southern Asia, Papuasia, Australia, and Mexico.
Genus ERYX, Daudin
Anterior maxillary and mandibular teeth longer than the posterior. Head small, not distinct from neck, covered with small scales; a large rostral shield. Eye very small, with vertical pupil. Body cylindrical; scales small; ventral shields narrow. Tail very short; subcaudal shields mostly single.