162 OPHIDIA. — BOAD^. 



It is frequently met with beneath large stones, 

 but is captured not without some difficulty, as 

 its agility and its powers of burrowing are great. 

 As it crawls, it frequently protrudes and retracts 

 swiftly the little white forked tongue, like other 

 Snakes : and on being held in the hand, the 

 spinous nipple at the tip of the tail is strongly 

 pressed against the flesh, as if its intention were 

 to wound in defence, but is not capable of more 

 than a slight pricking, which does not pierce 

 the skin. On being put into water, it swims 

 rapidly and elegantly, undulating the body like 

 a leech. The egg is laid in the earthy nests 

 of Termites, and is no less than an inch and an 

 eighth in length, and five lines in diameter: it 

 is of an oblong form, of a clear buff" hue, and 

 of a stifily membranous texture. The young, 

 on being hatched, is perfectly formed and coloured, 

 and very active. 



Family II. Boad^. 



(Boas.) 



All the gigantic Serpents which are the dread 

 of man and beast in the sultry jungles and 

 teeming forests of the tropics, and of which so 

 many tales of terror are told, belong to this 

 Family. Some of the most interesting and best 

 authenticated of these narratives we shall pre- 

 sently repeat ; meanwhile we may observe, that 

 though the power and the dimensions of these 

 enormous reptiles have been popularly exagge- 

 rated, and somewhat of fable has mingled with 

 received statements of their habits, enough re- 



