4 
RINGED SNAKE. 51 
lizards; but, in preference to all these, upon frogs. I have 
seen one of these voracious creatures in pursuit of a frog, 
which appeared perfectly conscious of its approaching fate, 
leaping with less and less power as it found its situation 
more hopeless, and the crisis of its fate approaching, and 
uttering its peculiar weak cry with more than usual shrill- 
ness, until at length it was seized by its pursuer by the 
hinder leg, and gradually devoured. The manner in 
which the Snake takes its prey is very curious. If it bea 
frog, it generally seizes it by the hinder leg, because it is 
usually taken in 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 after- 
wards the rest of the animal, portion after portion, by 
means of the peculiar mechanism of the jaws, so admirably 
adapted for this purpose. It must be recollected that in 
the true Serpents, unlike the group to which the Slow- 
worm belongs, the bones of which the upper and lower jaw 
are composed, are perfectly and loosely distinct from each 
other, and connected only by ligaments. By this arrange- 
E 2 
