189 OPHIDIA. — COLUBRID.E. 



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 afterwards the rest of the animal, 

 portion after portion, by means of the peculiar 

 mechanism of the jaws, so admirably adapted for 

 this purpose When a frog is in the pro- 

 gress of being swallowed in this manner, as soon 

 as the Snake's jaws have reached the body, the 

 other hinder leg becomes turned forwards ; and 

 as the body gradually disappears, the three legs 

 and the head are seen standing forwards out of 

 the Snake's mouth in a very singular manner. 

 Should the Snake, however, have taken the frog 

 by the middle of the body, it invariably turns it 

 by several movements of the jaws, until the head 

 is directed towards the throat of the Snake, and 

 it is then swallowed head foremost. This process 

 wdll remind all who have witnessed the curious 

 sight of the great Boa taking its food, of the man- 

 ner in which that enormous reptile effects its deglu- 

 tition, after it has, by the pressure of its mighty 

 sides, killed and crushed the bones of its victim. 



** The scene above described is one which I 

 have often witnessed ; and I once saw two Snakes 



seize upon the same hapless frog On 



placing a frog in a large box in w^hich were seve- 

 ral Snakes, one of the latter instantlv seized it 

 by one of the hinder legs, and immediately after- 

 wards another of the Snakes took forcible pos- 

 session of the fore-leg of the opposite side. Each 

 continued its inroads upon the poor frog's limb 

 and body, until at length the upper jaws of the 



