64 OPHIDIAN EEPTILES. 



Prince de Wied observed it in Brazil. All the specimens in tlie 

 British Museum are from that part of the New World. This is sup- 

 posed to be the Tlicoatl and Temacuilcahuilia (the words meaning 

 " fighting- with five men "), described by Hernandez, the latter 

 name being derived from its size and strength. " It attacks," he 

 says, " those it meets, and overpowers them with such force, that 

 if it once coils itself round their necks, it strangles and kills them, 

 unless it bursts itself by the violence of its own efforts." The 

 same author states that he has seen Serpents as thick as a man's 

 thigh, which had been taken when young by Indians and tamed. 

 That this Boa attains an immense size is a well-established fact. 

 Shaw mentions a skin in the British Museum, in one of his 

 lectures, which measured thirty-five feet in length. 



Three other species — the Lamanda [B. diviniloqua), from Santa 

 Lucia; the Emperor {D. iniperator), a native of Mexico; and 

 B. eques, the Chevalier Boa of Peru — are all to be occasionally 

 seen in the Zoological Gardens, 



The Boa anaconda, more properly Eunectes imirinus, is also a 

 native of tropical America. The name of Anaconda has become 

 well known through Mr. Lewis's celebrated tale, so called, in which 

 its predatory habits are displayed in such a manner as to enthral 

 and fascinate the reader, as the author makes the reptile fascinate 

 its victim. The name, Mr. Bennett tells us, is of Cinghalese origin, 

 and is popularly applied to all very large Serpents. This species 

 is of a brownish tint, with a double series of colours extending 

 from head to tail ; the sides are covered with annular spots with 

 white disks surrounded by blackish riqgs. Seba has represented 

 this creature lying in wait for Mice ; but this is probably the 

 prey of the young Anaconda. Another j)rovincial name, "El 

 Troga Venado" (the Deer Swallower), is probably applied to 

 the matured Eeptile. 



The following description of the actions of one of these large 

 non-venemous Serpents, which accompanied a specimen sent to 

 the United Service Museum, by Sir Robert Ker Porter, is pro- 

 bably a fair description of the habits of all the large Pythonida : 

 — " This species is not venemous, nor is it known to injure 

 man (at least not in this j)art of the New World) ; however, 

 the natives of the plain stand in great fear of it, never bathing 



