178 THE VIVARIUM. 
by a Snake need not be, after all, a very painful and terrifying 
operation to the victim: fear and appetite being, as a rule, in- 
compatible. 
Some forty years ago, a Python at the Zoological Gardens, 
London, swallowed another Python, and failing to digest its relative, 
died of blood-poisoning. Later than this, another Snake of the 
same species struck at a rabbit, but, making a bad shot, seized 
its blanket instead, and ultimately swallowed it ; but this proving 
too much even for a Serpent’s wonderful powers of digestion, it 
was, in course of time, disgorged. When the rug was washed and 
ironed out, it was found to be perforated by many small holes 
owing to the action of the animal’s gastric juice. 
The formation and position of the teeth of a Snake (Fig. 58), 
and the construction of its head, greatly conduce to such feats of 
deglutition as those just described. Owners of Snakes have taken 
advantage of these Reptiles’ great 
persistence in swallowing, when 
once they have commenced the act, 
to force a shy feeder among Snakes 
Fig. 58.—Lower Jaw (from to make a great meal if, haply, 
: Nature) (ro Sani aR it has been tempted to begin to 
a, dentary; 6, articular. eat, by tying on other prey or 
pieces of meat to the body of a par- 
tially swallowed animal. The Snake will then, under these circum- 
stances, continue to swallow until it has eaten all that is necessary. 
While the larger Boa Constrictor, mentioned above, was spend- 
ing the greater portion of a night in swallowing its not much 
smaller relative, its mouth must have been so full of its prey for 
hours as to prevent all passage of air to its lungs during this time. 
How then did it breathe or why was it not suffocated? These 
are questions which are likely to be asked, and which may be 
answered by saying that Nature has provided Snakes with a 
means of respiration under such circumstances. If a Snake be 
watched during the time it is making a lengthened meal, a small, 
tube-like substance may sometimes be seen protruding between its 
lower jaw and its victim, and if this pipe-like affair be more closely 
examined, its orifice will be observed to be opening and closing. 
Probably the first explanation of the phenomenon which the 
