Sentence:  The following information on snakes varying greatly in size ( but all with less than a 10 - foot maximum ) shows , when considered with the foregoing , that there is probably no correlation between the <WSD>length</WSD> of a snake and the time required for it to mature . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  the linear extent in space from one end to the other; the longest dimension of something that is fixed in place