RINGED SNAKE. 



51 



lizards ; but, in preference to all these, upon frogs. I have 

 seen one of these voracious creatures in pursuit of a frog, 

 which appeared perfectly conscious of its approaching fate, 



leaping with less and less power as it found its situation 

 more hopeless, and the crisis of its fate approaching, and 

 uttering its peculiar weak cry with more than usual shrill- 

 ness, until at length it was seized by its pursuer by the 

 hinder leg, and gradually devoured. The manner in 

 which the Snake takes its prey is very curious. If it be a 

 frog, it generally seizes it by the hinder leg, because it is 

 usually taken in pursuit. As soon as this takes place, the 

 frog, in most instances, ceases to make any struggle or 

 attempt to escape. The whole body and the legs are 

 stretched out, as it were, convulsively, and the Snake 

 gradually draws in first the leg he has seized, and after- 

 wards the rest of the animal, portion after portion, by 

 means of the peculiar mechanism of the jaws, so admirably 

 adapted for this purpose. It must be recollected that in 

 the true Serpents, unlike the group to which the Slow- 

 worm belongs, the bones of which the upper and lower jaw 

 are composed, are perfectly and loosely distinct from each 

 other, and connected only by ligaments. By this arrange- 



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