444 SNAKES. 



and June 1841 are of such interest that I will translate 

 from a paper read at the Academy of Sciences in Paris, by 

 M. Valenciennes, 19th July 1841, and published in the 

 Annales des sciences naturelles^ torn. xvi. 2^^ serie, p. 65. 

 It will be remembered that M. Dumeril (to whom we are 

 indebted for the most complete work on Erpetologie generate 

 that graces the shelves of our Great National Library) was 

 at that time Professeur d'Erpetologie au Musee de Paris, 

 and specially charged with the management of that part of 

 the menagerie. 



M. Valenciennes began his paper by reminding his audience 

 that the temperature of birds rises in various degrees during 

 the period of incubation, proposing the questions, ' Do reptiles 

 not offer a similar phenomenon ? ' ' Do they never brood on 

 their eggs ? ' As far as was known of native reptiles, the 

 answer would be in the negative. However, M. Lamarre- 

 piquot, in his travels in Chandernagor and the isle of Bourbon, 

 seems to show that a large serpent of India, and some other 

 species, se pla^ait sur ses oenfs et les echaiiffait en developpant 

 pendant ce temps une cJiateur notable. Many eminent natural- 

 ists doubted this, until it was confirmed in the Paris python, 

 in which was an example of prolonged and uninterrupted 

 incubation for the space of fifty-six days. 



M. Valenciennes proceeded to describe that she was in a 

 cage with others, and that a temperature higher than the 

 outside air was maintained. During January and February 

 she coupled several times, and in February ate six or seven 

 pounds of raw beef that was tied on to a live rabbit of 

 middling size. Food offered her afterwards, for three weeks 

 in succession, she refused ; but, as described in chap, iv., 



