ii6 REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS 



The author remarks that the average difference is nearly 

 identical with that which occurs in the case of the tem- 

 perature of fever-patients, as compared with the normal. 

 The increase of heat in an incubating bird is essentially 

 of the same nature as that produced by an inflammation 

 of tissue, and such is presumably the case in these reptiles. 



The Reticulated Python, P. reticulatus, the largest of 

 all snakes, attaining a length of over thirty feet, inhabits 

 Indo-China and the Malay Peninsula and Archipelago. 

 It is light yellowish-brown in colour, with large circular 

 cross-shaped or diamond-shaped bluish-black markings, 

 sometimes edged with white ; a thin black line extends 

 along the middle of the head from the end of the snout 

 to the nape. An even more detailed account of its colora- 

 tion would not do the snake justice, for in the sunlight 

 the beauty of its iridescent tints is quite beyond descrip- 

 tion. It is a savage snake, and usually untamable, but does 

 exceedingly well in captivity ; although somewhat capri- 

 cious in the choice of its food, most specimens feed with 

 some regularity. As an example of its capricious appetite, 

 I would relate the curious story told of a specimen which 

 lived some years ago in the Menagerie of the Jardin des 

 Plantes. The snake in question, a very large one, had been 

 starving for some months, although it had been offered 

 kids, rabbits, guinea-pigs, and various fowls, when a goose, 

 which formed part of the collection and which had injured 

 its leg, was put into the cage. The snake at once seized 

 hold of it, and thus made its first meal since its arrival 

 in Paris. It was naturally thought that, having lost its 

 sulkiness, it would henceforth go on feeding. Not so, 

 however ; the ordinary bill of fare of captive Pythons was 



