A CANNIBAL. 137 
is of the nature of an accident—-as, for instance, when two 
snakes seize and attempt to swallow a frog, rat, or other prey, 
neither caring to let go, the bigger snake naturally engulphs 
the smaller. In the case of the Boomslang referred to, the act 
was deliberate in every sense of the word. 
Some live frogs were introduced into the cage containing five 
of these tree-snakes, one of which managed, by superior agility, 
Fic. 58.—A Cannibal Boomslang. Photographed from life at the Port Elizabeth Museum. 
He is in the act of taking another mouthful of his victim. 
to capture and swallow several of the frogs, much to the annoy- 
ance of one of its fellows. The latter worked itself into a state 
of great excitement, and attacked its companion viciously, seizing 
it in various parts of the body. Eventually it gripped the other 
firmly by the neck and gradually worked its head forwards until 
it reached the other’s jaws, whereupon it began deliberately to 
swallow it with a succession of spasmodic gulps, accompanied by 
heaving, forward movements. 
After a lapse of twenty minutes it had swallowed one-half of 
the struggling, writhing victim. I then had it removed and photo- 
graphed, and, during the process, so intent was it upon the work 
