322 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



so they were transferred to the big tank on 

 the main floor of the Reptile House that for- 

 merly was occupied by the marine turtles. Here 

 they looked dwarfed in the big basin of deep 

 water, but soon evinced an inclination to in- 

 crease prodigiously in size. Early last summer, 

 some of the "babies" were large enough to 

 crawl over the side of the tank, which they 

 usually did at night. 



Our next resource was the old sea-lion pool, 

 depopulated by the removal of the sea-lions to 

 Baird Court. In this was placed the entire 

 nursery colony, some of them now so heavy 

 it was necessary to tie their jaws together 

 with rope, blindfold them and transport them 

 one at a time, on a wheel-barrow. In that big 

 rock basin the colony thrived and grew. 



When our first frosty weather came this fall 

 a most embarrassing situation was presented. 

 What should we do with the "small" alligators? 

 They had outgrown all accommodations. Sev- 

 eral of them were nearly seven feet long. There 

 were over thirty in the lot and the big alligator 

 pool contained the giant crocodilians that 

 would murder any but the largest and strong- 

 est. 



We solved the problem temporarily by giv- 

 ing them a mezzanine floor of wire netting in 

 one end of the big pool. A few of the strong- 

 est (and best fighters) were placed with the 

 big fellows, where they are holding their own 

 fairlv well. R. l. d. 



A NEW PYTHON. 



A RECENT addition to the collection of 

 reptiles is one of the largest pythons 

 ' ever exhibited alive in this country. 

 This is a female example of the Regal Python, 

 {Python reticulatus). gorgeous in a rainbow 

 coat of flashing irridescence, at least twenty- 

 four feet long, thirty inches in circumference 

 and weighing exactly two hundred and sixty 

 pounds. This splendid specimen was captured 

 in the jungles of the Malay Peninsula, and ob- 

 tained at Singapore by Captain Henry Wilkes 

 of the steamship "Indrasamha," who sold it to 

 the Society, ^^'e are not positive about the 

 creature's exact length as she is extremely 

 nervous and vicious, and it is not advisable to 

 handle her until she has commenced feeding 

 regularly. Regarding her circumference and 

 weight, we can explain that the former was 

 estimated while the snake was yet in the crate, 

 and the second was obtained by first weighing 

 the crated specimen, and afterward the empty 

 crate itself. 



In this serpent we w-ere fortunate in pro- 



curing a python freshly captured, \\hile cross- 

 ing the Atlantic, so Captain Wilkes explains, 

 the snake appeared imeasy, and finally dis- 

 gorged the thigh bone of an animal of consid- 

 erable size. After it had been placed in the 

 largest of our Reptile House cages it disgorged 

 a ball of coarse, bristly hair. This, on being 

 examined, was easily identified as the bristles 

 of an Indian wild boar {Sits iiidicus), and evi- 

 dently a mature individual. As the Indian 

 wild boar attains a weight of two hundred and 

 sixty pounds, and is a fierce and powerful 

 creature, the struggle between the snake and 

 its formidable prey may be imagined, r. l. d. 



A COLLECTION OF TRINIDAD 

 REPTILES. 



TO MR. R. R. MOLE, of Port-of-Spain, 

 Trinidad, the Society is indebted for 

 many interesting specimens. It is from 

 Mr. !Mole we have received all our specimens 

 of that most formidable of all South American 

 poisonous snakes, the Bushmaster, (Lacliesis 

 iiititiis) : also the greater number of our Lance- 

 Head Mpers, {Lachcsis atrox). Quite recently, 

 this gentleman sent us two more very mterest- 

 ing shipments of Trinidad reptiles. Among 

 the spOTJmens was an adult female example of 

 the LiKce-Head Viper — the Fer-de-Lance of 

 the Cr^le-French, (Lachesis atrox) : a large 

 Rat Snake, (Sl>ilofcs variabilis) : two species 

 of Water Snake, {Liophis cobella and 

 Hclicops angulata) : a tree snake, {Oxybelis 

 aciiiitiuaius). and a curious subterraneous ser- 

 pent, known technically as Glaucoma albifrons, 

 which spends most of its life in ant-hills, 

 where it feeds upon the larvae of the insects, 

 or upon the soft-bodied "white ants" them- 

 selves (the termites). Besides the collection 

 of serpents were several species of lizards. 

 Among these were two strikingly pronounced 

 types of the Family Teiidae — one represented 

 by a series of powerful Tegus, {Tupiuambus 

 tcguixin). the other by a degenerate, burrow- 

 ing lizard, {Scolccosaurus cuvicri), which is 

 worm-like, with diminutive legs. 



The Tegus are the most vicious lizards that 

 ever have come to the Reptile House. When 

 liberated in the big, sandy yards containing 

 the iguanas and the monitors, they rushed into 

 immediate combat. During the fighting, three 

 large iguanas were killed, and a number of 

 smaller examples had their tails chewed oft'. It 

 was found necessary to place the Tegus in the 

 pen with the powerful rhinoceros iguanas, 

 where anv individual on either side, with hos- 

 tile inclination, could find a worthy antagonist. 



