Frog croaking in a Snake's Stomach. ] 83 



one euphonical enough, and, I hope, unobjectionable ; for it 

 has the same intention as Blainville's had, of honouring the 

 memory of one of the best and most accurate of our faunists. 

 Berwick upon Tweed, Nov. 15. 1834. 



Art. VI. Short Communication. 



The Mode in which Snakes take their Food having been the 

 subject of controversy of late [VI. 466. 551., VII. 67. 165.], 

 I send the following note on the subject : — - During a visit to 

 my friend Dr. G. Johnston, at Berwick upon Tweed, in Sept. 

 1834, I was much interested by observing a common snake 

 (iVatrix torquata Flem.\ which he had in a tame state, swallow- 

 ing rather large frogs. It seized the frog by one of its hind 

 legs, and gradually drew it into its mouth backwards; so that 

 the head, or one of the fore legs, was the last part seen. But 

 the most curious fact connected with this subject, and one 

 which I do not remember to have seen noticed in any work 

 on natural history, is, that 



For full two or three minutes after the frog had passed into 

 the stomach of the snake, it continued to have the power of 

 croaking nearly as loudly as before it was swallowed. It would 

 appear, therefore, that respiration is continued for a short 

 time even in the snake's stomach ; and it may be a question, 

 whether the animal is killed by the pressure of the snake's 

 muscles, or by suffocation, caused by the small quantity of 

 air it can obtain in so confined a space, and the impossibility 

 of its renewal when spoiled for the purposes of respiration. 

 I may add, that the frog made no noise during the process of 

 deglutition, but only when external pressure was made upon 

 the part of the snake's body in which it was contained. — 

 C. C. Babington. St. John's Coll., Cambridge, Dec. 17. 1834. 



[Professor Henslow has communicated, in IV. 279., facts 

 and remarks on the habits of the common snake, in relevance 

 of a question distinct from that renewed by Mr. Babington, 



but to which some of the facts will also apply. " 



I kept a couple of snakes for some time, which, after fasting 

 for three months, at length began to take food. 1 have fre- 

 quently seen them swallow the largest-sized frogs. When 

 these were sometimes slowly receding, hind quarters foremost, 

 into their enemy's stomach, the distended jaws of the snake 

 were, in one period of the process, tightly contracted round 

 the frog's head, producing the curious effect of an animal with 

 one mouth (the frog's) and four eyes, two of which were 

 winking continually, and the other two in a glazed stare,"} 



N 4 



