SNAKES. 291] 
animals, portions of dead animals, or butchers’ meat cut into 
pieces, minced or scraped. 
Anyone who has a taste for anatomy may like to fill the tules 
with parts of dead animals. This, of course, is most suitable. 
but those who do not care for this kind of work should use 
butchers’ meat instead, together with a few feathers, bits 
of fur, and the like. The butchers’ meat which may be 
employed is the liver of bullocks, calves, sheep, and pigs 
for the larger Snakes, and beef-steak (which can be scraped) 
for the smaller reptiles. If the employment of raw meat be 
found to be unpleasant to some people, cooked meat may be 
substituted. 
The tubes can be filled easily and quickly in the following 
ways: (1) Raw meat when cut up into pieces, just small enough 
to go down the tube chosen, should be inserted in the tube by 
means of a pair of forceps, such as those used for dissecting 
purposes. Each piece of meat, as it is taken up by the forceps, 
ought to be dipped into milk and then placed into the tube, and 
being thus lubricated slips in easily and pushes forward its prede- 
cessors, if any, also lubricated, and so the tube is filled with meat 
from end to end, if necessary. (2) When raw meat, such as 
beef steak, is scraped into. very tiny parts by means of a sharp 
knife, a dry tube may be filled very rapidly with it, by placing 
the scraped meat in a mass on a board, and by dabbing quickly 
and repeatedly one end of the tube into the mass of meat. Under 
these circumstances, if the interior of the tube be quite dry, the 
meat is readily gathered up, and the tube soon becomes full from 
end to end. (3) When cooked meat is used, it may be prepared 
for the tubes by being passed two or three times through a mincing 
machine. When thus prepared, it should be treated as already 
suggested for the scraped meat. In both cases care ought to be 
taken that the meat does not become too closely packed, or it 
will not slip out of the tube sufficiently easily, and consequently 
it will enter the Snake in so compact a mass that the reptile will 
very likely get rid of it by disgorging. A Snake will seldom 
disgorge—I think less seldom than when it has swallowed prey 
naturally—if the food has been gently and loosely deposited 
within it. (4) A common metal squirt, having the aperture of 
. U2 
wt. 
