304 Mr. J. J. Quelch on the 



tlie presence of the other occupants, there was no doubt but 

 that the snake had retained the eggs until the young were 

 born, and thus departed from its normal habits. This case 

 was reported in this journal at the time (' Timehri/ 1890, 

 p. 370). 



The sense of hearing in the anaconda appears to be much 

 more acute than either sight or smell. On frequent occasions 

 when rats have been placed in close proximity to the cage 

 not until there was a squeak from them did the snakes begin 

 to move about from one part of the cage to another, as though 

 seeking them. And even when the rats have been placed 

 inside the cage, the snakes have often seemed unable to 

 detect their position unless they have come actually in contact 

 with them. The slightest touch, however, is generally suffi- 

 cient, not simply for the grasping of the prey by the teeth, 

 but for a rapid coiling of the body, independently, at whatever 

 part the touch may take place. In this latter way Teguexin 

 lizards have sometimes been grasped while moving about 

 (after having been in the same cage for months or years), 

 being mistaken, by contact, for the rats whose squeak had 

 been heard. 



It would appear that this acuteness of hearing, as compared 

 with sight, has been brought about by the conditions of life in 

 the water, in which sound would play a very large part in 

 notifying the approach or presence of animals. In the land- 

 and tree-boas, as in snakes generally, the sense of sight is 

 much more acute. 



Sight no doubt, even in the anaconda, must be of great 

 importance, since the recollection or remembrance of sur- 

 roundings would presumably depend on this faculty. A 

 noteworthy example of this may be given in the case of a 

 small specimen of about 8 feet, which, when placed on the 

 Museum floor while its cage was being cleaned, after a time 

 found out and occupied a dark recess — where it was entirely 

 hidden from observation — some distance away, and reached 

 by a circuitous route between the exhibition cases on the 

 floor. More or less time was occupied in finding or reaching 

 the shelter at first, but after a little while the snake invariably 

 made for this place as soon as it was taken out of its exposed 

 cage, and it was always found coiled up in the furthest 

 corner from the light. This was the regular procedure for 

 more than two years, until tlie cage was moved away into 

 another room. But the most striking feature in the matter is 

 that now, four months after the transference, it is still able 

 to remember the shelter and the way to it from its former 

 position. 



