DO SNAKES DRINK i 93 



Is for the benefit of the tongue, the latter of the body ; and a 

 large quantity of liquid is often drawn in by this sort of 

 suction, very distinct from ' sucking,' the reputed way of en- 

 joying milk from the living fountain, and a process impossible 

 to creatures that have not soft lips and a broad tongue. 

 The Jamaica boa drew in those perceptible gulps for a long 

 time, then raised his head, and rested awhile, and presently 

 drank again, and this several times while we were watching. 

 It was what Dumeril described a la regalade. 



Mr. Sam Lockwood of New Jersey, writing in the American 

 Naturalist, vol. ix. 1875, describes the pine snake drinking. 

 'It lays its head flat upon the water, letting the lov/er jaw 

 just sink a little below the surface, when with a very uniform 

 movement the water is drawn up into the mouth and passed 

 into the throat. It is true drinking, like that of a horse.' 

 One that he watched drank five minutes by the clock with- 

 out taking breath. Then it paused, looked about for three 

 minutes, and then drank again for five minutes more. * In 

 all, it drank a little over a gill. Previously it has been 

 without water for four weeks.' 



In size this pine snake dift"ers not much from the Jamaica 

 boa {CJulobothrus inornatiis), that we watched at the Gardens, 

 and the manner and time were very similar. True, we did 

 not time him by a watch, nor could we tell exactly how 

 much he drank, nor how long previously he had been with- 

 out drinking ; but, at a guess, he could not have been much 

 less than five minutes without taking breath. Aiiguis 

 fragilis, that lapped seventy times, and stopped, and lapped 

 again, must also have been some minutes without breathing, 

 because hers was the most leisurely lapping I ever saw. 



