120 REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS 



covered with moderately large scales, is not distinct 

 from the neck, while the non-prehensile tail is short and 

 rounded at the end, resembling in shape the animal's 

 small head. 



The creature spends the greater part of its existence 

 underground, entering the burrows of the small rodents 

 upon which it feeds. A specimen kept by the writer 

 usually remained below ground, appearing on the surface 

 only towards dusk. When brought above ground and 

 released, it burrowed down again so rapidly that the entire 

 body was out of sight in a few seconds. It fed fairly 

 regularly on mice, these being taken invariably at night. 

 The general colour of the snake is purplish-brown, with 

 more or less numerous, irregularly scattered, yellowish 

 spots. It attains a maximum length of three feet. 



The majority of the members of the sub-family Boince 

 inhabit Central and South America and the West Indies. 

 A few genera are found in South-Eastern Europe, South- 

 western Asia, North Africa, in New Guinea, in some of 

 the islands of the South Pacific and in Mauritius : the 

 otherwise American genera, Boa and Corallus, are each 

 represented by one species in Madagascar. 



The Anaconda, Eunectes murinus, the largest of the 

 American snakes, almost equalling the Reticulated Python 

 in length, inhabits the Guianas, Brazil, and Peru. The 

 head is elongate, flat, and very distinct from the neck, 

 while the snout is covered with moderately large scales. 

 The nostrils, which are directed upwards, are situated 

 between three large shields. The pattern of this snake is 

 leopard-like, being greenish-yellow above, with a single 

 series, or with two alternating series, of large, blackish, 

 transverse spots, and one or two lateral series of blackish 



