166 OPHIDIA. — BOAD^. 



account proceeds thus : — " It is not venomous, 

 nor kno\^ii to injure man (at least, not in this 

 part of the New World) ; however, the natives 

 of the plams stand in great fear of it, never 

 bathing in waters where it is kno^vn to exist. Its 

 common haunt, or rather domicile, is invariably 

 near lakes, swamps, and rivers ; likewise close to 

 wet ra\4nes, produced by inundations of the 

 periodical rains ; hence, from its aquatic habits, 

 its first appellation. Fish, and those animals 

 which repair there to drink, are the objects of its 

 prey. The creature lurks watchfully under cover 

 of the water, and whilst the unsuspecting animal 

 is di'uiking, suddenly makes a dash at its nose, 

 and with a grip of its back-reclining double range 

 of teeth, never fails to secure the terrified beast 

 beyond the power of escape. In an instant the 

 sluggish waters are in turbulence and foam, the 

 whole form of the Colubra is in motion, its huge 

 and rapid coilings soon encircle the strugghng 

 victim, and but a short moment elapses, ere every 

 bone is broken in the body of the expiring prey. 

 On its ceasing to exist, the fleshy tongue of the 

 reptile is protruded (taking a long and thinnish 

 form), passing over the whole of the lifeless beast, 

 leaving on it a sort of glutinous saliva that greatly 

 facilitates the act of deglutition, which it per- 

 forms gradually, by gulping it down through its 

 extended jaws, — a power of extension of them it 

 possesses to so frightful and extraordinary a 

 degree as not to be believed, when looking at the 

 comparative smallness of the mouth and throat 

 in their tranquil state. After having completely 

 devoured, or rather hidden, its prey in the way 

 described, it becomes powerless as to motion, and 



