702 



REPTILIA— ANACONDA. ..RINGED SNAKE. 



ther, dilates to admit the morsel ; the stomach receives it in part; and the 

 rest remains in the gullet, till putrefaction and the juices of the serpent'? 

 oody unite to dissolve it. 



THE ANACONDA* 



Inhabits Surinam. He is twenty feet in length, of a bright brown color, 

 with a double row of deep brown round spots along the back, and ocellated 

 spots on the sides. The name of anaconda has been popularly applied to all 

 serpents of enormous size. 



THE BLACK, OR RINGED S N A K E a 



Is the largest of English serpents, sometimes exceeding four feet in length. 

 The neck is slender, the middle of the body thick, the back and sides covered 

 Avith small scales; the belly with oblong, narrow, transverse plates; the 

 color of the back and sides is of a dusky brown; the middle of the back 

 marked with two rows of small black spots, running from the head to the 

 tail; the plates on the belly are dusky; the scales on the sides are of a 

 bluish white; the teeth are small and serrated, lying on each side of the 



1 Boa scytale, Lin. 



1 Coluber natrix, Lin. The genus Coluber has transverse plates on the belly, divided 

 into two under the tail, or forming a double row ; head flattened, with nine large plate3; 

 teeth almost equal ; no poison fangs. 



