438 SNAKES. 



saw daylight, and showed signs of fight. One little aggressor 

 struck at me when I held it, and tried to bite me through 

 my glove, — an impertinence which was permitted in order 

 to test its powers. It constricted my fingers as tightly as 

 if a strong cord were wound round them, and when not 

 thus occupied it wriggled and twisted itself about in such 

 energetic contortions that I could scarcely hold it. The 

 activity and daring of the whole fry proved their perfect 

 development. On another occasion the same species pro- 

 duced eight, and on a third occasion thirty-three young 

 ones, but of these dates I am not quite sure. In some 

 cases a few eggs were produced at the same time, but 

 they were hard and bad and of the consistency of 

 soap. The manners and actions of the three equally 

 well-developed families were similar. They were always 

 on the defensive, and able to fight their own battles. When 

 the keeper put his hand into the cage, they seized upon it 

 and held on with their teeth so tightly that on raising it 

 they hung wriggling and undulating like a living, waving 

 tassel. 



Another boa from Panama, on 30th June 1877, had 

 twenty young, which displayed ability to take care of 

 themselves forthwith by leaving the marks of their teeth 

 on Holland's fingers. These twenty were all produced 

 during the night, or before the arrival of the keeper the 

 next morning, and were lively and spiteful, biting any one 

 who attempted to touch them, and sharply enough to draw 

 blood. Mr. E. W. Searle, who described them in Lmid and 

 Water at the time, July 1877, said: 'This is probably the 

 first recorded instance of the breedinsf of boa constrictors 



