Air flow in snake ventilation.

Ventilation in resting, unrestrained Boa constrictor, Python regius and Thanmophis s. sirtalis was monitored using various combinations of a closed Kopfkappe (head chamber), intratracheal pressure catheters, strain gauges around the trunk, and a flow meter connected to one of the nostrils. Records of intratracheal pressure with and without closing the Kopfkappe show that the latter device induces artifacts in the normal ventilatory pattern. Flow meter readings from quiescent snakes indicate that ventilation is biphasic (outflow-inflow-pause) rather than triphasic (outflow-inflow-outflow-pause), while simultaneous pressure and strain gauge records are variably tri- or quadriphasic.