ACIIITA (from turprros, indistinct), a division the elms Radiate', adopted by Owen, and applied to the A calipha., the n(' except the Bryo , the and certain forms of Entoroa, in none of which are the indications of a nervous system decided, and they constitute the lowest forma of the radiate of animals.
Acitocitolinus (from a wart), n of serpents iliacovered in Java by the (reveller llommtedt. it is easily distint,mdieleal from others of the innoxious family of serpents by the innumerable small scales which cover every part of the head and body both above and below, and which in preserved specimens, or when the live animal distends the lungs and body with air, assume the appear ance of so many granu lated warts or tuber cies. This circum stance has su,mested the name of Acrochor dus. The head of the aerochord is flat, the month is provided with a double row of small sharp teeth, but with out poison-fangs, and the throat is capable of enormous dilatation.
The tongue is short and thick, the vent simple and without the horny spurs which are common to many other genera of serpents.
The only species of which much is known is the Acrochordus Jaranicus of Lac6pede and others. This
animal averages from six to ten feet in length, and the body grows gradually thicker from the head to the vent, and there sud denly coutracts, so as to form a very abort slender tail. In the thickest part of the body, immediately above its junction with the tail, the individual procured by Homstedt, of which the entire length was eight feet three inches, measured three inches in diameter, whilst the greatest breadth of the tail did not exceed half an inch, and its length was scarcely a ninth part of that of the whole body. This individual was a female, and, when opened, was found to contain five young ones perfectly formed, and about nine inches in length. It was caught in a plantation of pepper-trees, and the Chinese, who accompanied Homstedt, cooked and ate its flesh, and reported it to be of a most delicious flavour. The stomach contained a quantity of half-digested fruit, from which it has been inferred that this serpent is frugivorous. Cuvier, however, doubts on this point.