Python (pith on)

[L. Python, A certain maid having a spirit of divination [margin: Gr. a spirit, a Python ] met us. Acts xvi. 16 (revised version). Like thee [the Sun), the Hero does his Arms employ The raging Python to destroy. Prior, Hymn to the Sun, st. 3. 2. [l. c.] Any very large serpent, as a rock snake: loosely used, like boa and anaconda, but properly applicable only to the large Old World non-venomous serpents of the family Python idæ.-3. [NL.] The typical genus of Python idæ: formerly conterminous with the family, now restricted to species having premaxillary IMG:content-1393.jpg:[ocr errors][merged small] teeth, labial plates of both jaws fo ate, and scuta extending to between the orbits. These are the rock-snakes proper, as P. molurus and P. reticu lat us. See cut under Pythonidæ, also cuts under Ophidia, zygantrum, and zygosphene. pythone (pith'ō-nes), n. [Also, as ML., Py thoni a; Magiciens and tregetours, And phi to ni es , charmer e es, Olde wyches, sorcere es. Chaucer, House of Fame, 1. 1261. Saith the Pythoni a to Saul, "To-morrow thou and thy sons shall be with me." Bacon , Prophecies (ed. 1887). She stood a moment as a Pythone Stands on her tripod. IMG:content-1394.png:[merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small] The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia Skull of a Python, left side and in longitudinal section. BO , bas i occipital; BS , bas i sphenoid; Cm , columella of ear, or stapes (not the columella of the skull); EO , exoccipital; Epo , epiotic; Fr, frontal; FO , fenestra oval is; L , lacrymal; Na , nasal; Opo , opisthotic; Pa , parietal; Pl , palatine; Pmx , premaxilla; Pro , proötic; PS , pre sphenoid; Pt , pterygoid; Pts , post frontal; Qu , quadrate; SO , supra occipital: Sor , supraorbital; Sq , squamosal; Tl , turbinal; Tr , transverse bone; V, VII , VIII , exits of fifth, seventh, and eighth nerves; Vo , vomer. The teeth show the aglyphodont dentition. ing rudiments of posterior extremities, a coronoid bone, supraorbital and postorbital bones, and premaxillary teeth, with or without maxillary teeth; the rock-snakes. There are several genera, as Python, Morelia, Liasis, Nardoa, Aspidiotes, Loxocemus, Chondropython, and Asp i do python. python i form (pi'thon-i-fôrm), a. [NL. Py thon, q. v., + L. form a, form.] Resembling or related to a python, boa, or rock-snake; pythonoid; peropodous, as a serpent.