Originally posted by The Alpha
She has a given a nasty big answer concerning this problem.
at first, i thought jk rowling made a mistake when she made the basilisk a snake and not a lizard. but i realize that she wasn't as off as i had thought, that's cause i read a section on it in this very informative book called "the magical worlds of harry potter" by david colbert. he also wrote one for the lotr trilogy. great books, a reccommended read!