28 AUSTEALIAN SNAKES. 



The great quantity of saliva discliarged by the snake over the body 

 of the quarry preparatory to swallowing it, as described by other writers, 

 has not been noticed in the case of our Rock Snakes — the Diamond and 

 the Carpet Snake. Yet, when a carcass just devoured by one of them is, 

 for some reason or other, disgorged, it is occasionally found covered with 

 mucus e\'idently apj)lied to it in its passage downwards. These rejected 

 bodies are likewise found to be stretched to an extraordinary degree by 

 the continual workings of the powerful muscles of the snake while 

 engaged in the swallowing process. 



Rock Snakes attain a great age, but cease to grow after a certain 

 period. A Python eleven feet long would be about four years old 

 {Vide Bibron's Observations on the yovmg Pythons in the Garden of 

 Plants at Paris), and they grow much quicker in the first period of life 

 than afterwards. The males remain smaller than the females. These 

 facts, stated by authorities like Giinther and Bibron, are borne out l)y 

 observations made on Australian Bock Snakes, which, when born, are less 

 than half the size of young Indian Pythons ; and a Diamond or Carpet 

 Snake which measures above 10 feet in length may be more than twenty 

 years old. Though little or no addition to the length of these large 

 snakes is observed, it is most likely that they increase in girth. It has 

 already been mentioned that Bock Snakes lay eggs, which the mother 

 incubates ; and, that Australian Bock Snakes are no exception to this rule, 

 is proved by Mr. W. AUan, of Kimbriki, on the Manning Biver, who a 

 few years ago presented to this Museum a drawing of a heap of eggs of 

 the Diamond or Carpet Snake, neatly piled up in a sort of nest of dry 

 grass which was found in a hollow branch or log. Gunther mentions 

 that a pair of Pythons copulated in January and February, the female 

 producing fifteen eggs, the size of goose eggs, in May ; and that having 

 collected them in a conical heap, she entirely covered them by coiling 

 herseK round them spirally till her head rested in the centre on the top 

 of the cone. In this position she remained till the 3rd of July, when eight 

 of the CEfffs were hatched. Similar facts have been noticed in reference 

 to another species from Africa ; and, though Mr. Allan who made the 

 observation did not actually see the snake upon the eggs that he found, it 

 may be faMy concluded that Australian Pythons do not differ in this 

 respect from their congenera in Asia and Africa. 



